
{"id":23499,"date":"2012-02-09T10:06:42","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T15:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=23499"},"modified":"2012-02-08T16:24:21","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T21:24:21","slug":"gaining-confidence-through-positive-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/02\/09\/gaining-confidence-through-positive-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaining confidence through positive action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Eddy Landreth<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Carolina-Duke men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basketball game is the premier product in the Atlantic Coast Conference\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s television inventory.<\/p>\n<p>The bi-annual regular-season game is recognized universally as one of the top rivalries in all of sports. Whether the game is played in the Smith Center or Cameron Indoor Stadium, the arena is packed with eager fans and a media hoard.<\/p>\n<p>These games draw some of the best television ratings across the country for a regular-season game.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday night, the two renewed the contest that has become a brand unto itself. Both sides benefit from the spotlight in recruiting, memorabilia sales and attention from would-be students who want to be a part of such a collegiate atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just know that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s North Carolina against Duke,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d UNC coach Roy Williams said before the game, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to play our best game of the year, regardless of where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playing or what time the game is.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Yet having said all of this, the most important game the fifth-ranked Tar Heels may have played to date could well be last Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 83-74 victory at Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>The Terrapins always give Carolina fits at College Park. Maryland had won four of the previous six games between the two entering Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contest. This one proved no different in terms of competition. The Terps led 40-37 at halftime.<br \/>\nWhat makes this game so important in the overall spectrum of the season, which includes the Tar Heels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hopes for a run at the national championship, is that UNC underwent genuine progress on the road. The crowd fits every description of fanatical at the Comcast Center, and the Terrapins always play with peak emotion there.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carolina team has not played particularly well on the road. To come from behind and play its best basketball in the second half, with Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller carrying four fouls, can only boost the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spirits and fertilize its confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great win for our team,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshall said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was big for us to get a win on the road. That is what we have struggled with this year. When we have had road games, we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t played 40 minutes. Tonight we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play 40 minutes; we played 20 minutes. But we still found a way to win it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>One of the critical developments for Carolina is the way Reggie Bullock continues to play since taking Dexter Strickland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s starting spot after he suffered a season-ending knee injury.<\/p>\n<p>Bullock guards one of the top scorers from the opposition in each game, and so far he has done nothing but produce. He works hard to move his feet, and he utilizes a far more lengthy reach than Strickland had at his disposal.<\/p>\n<p>Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin leads the ACC in scoring at more than 21 points per game. Stoglin scored 20 against UNC, but he went 8-of-21 from the floor to get those points. He only took four free throws as well, making three.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have to give Reggie a lot of credit for being able to hold Stoglin to 8-of-21,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshall said.<\/p>\n<p>This kind of win is an ideal memory to lodge and draw upon in future tight games. One thing Carolina and Duke have always done is execute with the game on the line, and each often finds a way to win when it appears it should not.<\/p>\n<p>That is one of the qualities that make them Carolina and Duke.<br \/>\nThe victory at Maryland could be the one that finally jump-starts Carolina to become just such a team.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it will help us a lot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zeller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Last year we had a lot of games like this, but it shows that we can be tough enough in the end to make the plays and get the stops we need.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are a few things we want to fix down the stretch, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to fix that now instead of in the NCAA Tournament when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life or death.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina-Duke men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basketball game is the premier product in the Atlantic Coast Conference\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s television inventory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-23499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23499"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23503,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23499\/revisions\/23503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}