Feb. 6, 2010
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
North Carolina (13-9, 2-5) will play its second road game in four days in College Park against Maryland (15-6, 5-2). A Maryland win would help the Terrapins keep pace with Duke for first place. A Carolina loss would tie them for last place. Carolina is coming off of a 74-70 loss at Virginia Tech on Thursday night. Maryland was playing Florida State in Tallahassee at the same time and beat the Seminoles, 71-67. The Terrapins are 2-2 on the road and 3-0 at home in ACC play. Carolina holds a 114-56 edge in the series between the two teams but has lost five of the last seven games in College Park. Maryland has won three of the last four games in the series.
Game Time: Carolina at Maryland, 2:00 PM.
Last Time: Carolina lost to Maryland 88-85 in overtime in College Park on February 21, 2009. Carolina led 52-36 with 14:17 to go in the game but Maryland chipped away and a three-pointer by Greivis Vasquez with 1:15 to go in overtime put Maryland up by one; he added two free throws with 5.4 seconds left to make it 88-85. Carolina shot just 37.7% from the floor and Maryland shot 45.6 percent, including 61.5% in the second half. Carolina had five assists to 15 turnovers. Ty Lawson led Carolina with 24 points. Danny Green added 18 points but fouled out. Wayne Ellington had 14 points and Deon Thompson added 13 points. Tyler Hansbrough had just 11 points and 11 rebounds. Greivis Vasquez had a triple-double with 35 points, 11 rebounds and ten assists. Cliff Tucker had 22 points on 5-of-7 from beyond the arc and Eric Hayes added 17.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage will begin at 1:00 PM.
Storylines
Getting good shots - or, just getting any shot: This problem began in the loss to Syracuse. The Tar Heels were up 39-37 at the start of the second half and surrendered a 22-1 run in a little less than eight minutes, going as long as 1:58 between field-goal attempts. At Kentucky, Carolina led 9-2 then proceeded to score once in its next 17 possessions, attempting nine field goals and turning it over eight times while Kentucky went on a 28-2 run. Against Texas, Carolina led 35-34 and were outscored 20-6 in the final 5:40. In the final 3:52 of that half, Carolina attempted four shots and turned it over three times. The Tar Heels had just five turnovers in the first 14:20. Carolina trailed 54-41 at half and that halftime.
In Carolina's ACC losses, this has been a similar problem, if not even more so. Carolina opened the first half against Clemson with three turnovers before they even attempted a shot with 1:37 to go; Clemson had already taken (and made) three shots. Carolina got it to 6-4 but with 10:19 to go, Clemson finished a 29-8 run to take a 35-12 lead. Carolina already had 11 turnovers by that point in the game. Down just 14-8 against Georgia Tech in the Smith Center, Carolina gave up a 15-1 run in 7:09 to go down 29-9. Against Wake Forest, Carolina took better care of the ball but still gave up runs of 10-2 in the first half and two 12-3 runs in the second. Virginia had the best unanswered run of ACC play against Carolina of 18-0 to go up 53-32. The whole thing took just a little over three minutes. Carolina gave up a 12-4 run in four minutes at Virginia Tech but fought back after trailing 22-10. A 26-13 second-half run turned a four-point Carolina lead into a nine-point deficit with 9:44 to go.
Carolina is going too long without attempting a field goal at all, much less making one. Against Virginia, Carolina did not attempt a shot for over a minute and had two turnovers in the first 1:59. After Virginia took a 53-32 lead with 14:20 remaining, the Cavaliers would not score a point for nearly five minutes, but Carolina scored just five points. Against Georgia Tech, Carolina attempted six shots and committed seven turnovers during the 15-1 run. Against Wake, Carolina had a stretch of 2:21 in the first half with three turnovers and just one attempted field goal. At Virginia Tech, Carolina did not attempt a field goal until the 2:11 mark and turned it over twice. Carolina's first made field goal came at the 2:47 mark. In the second half, Carolina didn't attempt a shot for 1:05 and had already turned it over twice. After taking a four-point lead with 18:10 left, Carolina was down by seven just six minutes later after turning it over seven times. And when Carolina faced a 66-61 deficit with 6:12 to go, Carolina scored just four points and turned it over three times in the next 4:46.
Carolina simply can't have stretches where it doesn't get shots, particularly when it's not like Carolina's opponents are making every shot. That has happened a few times, like the run Virginia had. But Carolina has hurt itself. And Carolina hasn't done a very good job of creating its own opportunities. Carolina now is averaging 8.6 fastbreak points in ACC play and has just 11 in the last two games. That's partly due to getting just 44 steals in seven ACC games (6.3 per game) and just 5.7 in the last three. Less than half of opponents' turnovers have been of the live ball variety, meaning Carolina can't get easy baskets on the break and even when they do get those chances, they aren't converting. Carolina's opponents in league play have 62 steals out of Carolina's 116 turnovers, which means 53.4% of Carolina's turnovers are live ball; opponents have 47 points off turnovers in the last three games and 35 in the last two.
Carolina has to do a better job of both creating and capitalizing on second chances, either opponent turnovers or offensive rebounds. Their opponents are not making every single one count but with all the chances Carolina is giving up, they're converting enough. In nine losses, Carolina has turned opponents' turnovers and its own offensive rebounds into 70 two-pointers, 17 three's and just 24-of-44 free throws (54.5 percent). Carolina has turned it over 39 times on those possessions and missed 115 shots. In 13 wins, Carolina has missed 115 shots and turned it over 60 times but made 117 two's and 16 three's, adding 76-of-98 free throws (77.6 percent). In Carolina's losses, opponents have turned offensive rebounds and turnovers into 84 two-pointers, 18 three-pointers and 22-of-32 free throws, turning it over 30 times and missing 107 shots. In Carolina's 13 wins, opponents have turned those chances into 97 2-pointers, 27 three's and 34-of-48 free throws but turned it over 61 times and missed 157 shots.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in the Comcast Center will be 98.3 FM.
Watching At Home
Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.
A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.
Fox Sports Net coverage: The game will be available on Fox Sports Net.
Names To Know
Deon Thompson: In the last two games - both losses - Thompson has made 5-of-14 shots (35.7%) and averaged 7.5 points, adding three turnovers and making just 5-of-11 foul shots after starting ACC play 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) from the foul line and shooting 55.8% from the floor, averaging 12.4 points. When Thompson attempted ten or more shots, Carolina is 11-4 but is 2-6 in games when he attempts fewer than ten (including the last two). He has attempted double-digit shots in just two of seven ACC games.. In the overtime loss at Maryland last year, Thompson had his third-highest scoring output in ACC play with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, adding 3-of-4 foul shots and seven rebounds (five offensive). He also had one assist, one steal and just one turnover in 30 minutes, tying his high for ACC minutes played. He did pick up four fouls, but two were in overtime, and he had an assist on Carolina's only field goal of the extra period.
John Henson: Before the first Virginia Tech game, Deon Thompson said of Henson that if he went off for 20 against the Hokies, it would not surprise him. While it wasn't 20 points, it was certainly a coming-out party for the freshman, who had a career-high 14 points, hitting a career-high five field goals (in six attempts) and a career high 4-of-4 free throws. In his first six ACC games, he had nine points on 4-of-10 shooting and eight turnovers. Part of the change was due to playing some at the four-spot. Henson started playing the four in practice after Virginia and he feels that along with an increased effort has helped things click for him. Sometimes, it takes freshmen time to realize how hard they need to play on the next level. "Looking at the tape, I just had to start playing harder and that's what I did. Things just came together when that happened," Henson said. "These last couple of days it's kind of clicked for me. My intensity's been up a lot and in practice, so I've just got to keep it going." Maryland has some undersized big men that aren't quite as burly as some he has faced and Henson might have a chance to continue to find some consistency.
Greivis Vasquez: Maryland's point guard has averaged 17.5 points against Carolina, but that was largely skewed by his 35-point outing against the Tar Heels in College Park last year. In his first three career games against Carolina prior to that, he had a total of 35 points and had shot 12-of-32, 2-of-9 from beyond the arc. In that game, he shot 13-of-24 and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. When he tries to do too much, even this year, Maryland generally loses - the Terps have lost two ACC games and in those, he shot 31.6% from the floor and averaged 4.5 assists to 7.5 turnovers. But in their five wins, he had shot 48.6% and averaged seven assists to three turnovers. In Maryland's most recent win, he had 23 points against Florida State and added seven rebounds and seven assists. That was his bounce-back after a ten-point outing against Clemson that included four fouls and nine turnovers. He doesn't have those kinds of days very often but Clemson's defense had a lot to do with that. While Carolina's defense took steps forward, they still have major problems containing opposing guards and this will be their biggest challenge yet.
Cliff Tucker: While it would normally make more sense to pick a player like a Landon Milbourne, who is Maryland's second-leading scorer, Cliff Tucker has become a Carolina killer. Last year, he averaged 20 points against Carolina in two games on 16-of-26 shooting (61.5%) and 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. In the other 32 games he played in, he shot 38.1% from the floor and 8-of-29 (27.6%) from beyond the arc, averaging 3.5 points. As Tucker is yet another athletic wing that can also shoot the ball, he has had success against Carolina due to the matchup problems he presents. Dorenzo Hudson and Sylven Landesberg both have had very good games against Carolina recently and that is no coincidence. In Maryland's first three ACC wins this year, Tucker averaged 16.7 minutes and 11.0 points on 70.6% shooting (5-of-7 from beyond the arc). He played just 22 minutes combined in Maryland's last two wins and has two points but he is capable of taking - and making - plenty of shots.
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
