Nov. 20, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 6/4 North Carolina (4-0) will face off against No. 24 Syracuse (3-0) in the finals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tonight. Carolina beat No. 15 Ohio State 77-73 in the late game after Syracuse vanquished No. 12 Cal, 95-73. The Tar Heels have a 27-8 record in Madison Square Garden; its last loss came in the Preseason NIT to Gonzaga in November of 2006. Carolina has a 4-2 record against Syracuse with the first meeting coming in the 1957 NCAA Tournament in the Regional Final and Carolina won on its way to an undefeated season. That is actually Carolina's only win over Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament - the Tar Heels lost to the Orange in 1975 (Phil Ford's freshman year) in the second round, 78-76, and then again in 1987 in the Regional Finals, 79-75. Carolina is undefeated in three regular-season meetings against Syracuse, winning one at home, one on the road and one at a neutral site.
Game Time: Syracuse vs. North Carolina, Madison Square Garden, 7:15 PM.
Last Time: Carolina beat Syracuse 96-93 in overtime on November 21, 1987. It was the season-opener and the Hall of Fame Game. Syracuse was ranked No. 1 in the nation and Carolina was No. 3, but J.R. Reid and Steve Bucknall were suspended and did not play. Freshmen Rick Fox and Pete Chilcutt were thrust into the starting lineup, and they responded by making 13-of-16 shots combined, scoring 29 total points and pulling down 20 rebounds (13 by Chilcutt). Chilcutt also hit the shot that sent the game into overtime. Ranzino Smith led Carolina with 21 points, Jeff Lebo added 20 and Scott Williams had 14. Kevin Madden, who was normally a starter but was benched for being late, had 12 off the bench. Carolina shot 55% from the floor and Syracuse shot 54.6 percent. The Orange were led by Rony Seikaly with 23 points. Sherman Douglas added 22 points and four steals. Derrick Coleman added 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage will begin at 6:15 PM.
Storylines
The dreaded Syracuse zone: Many assume that a zone is designed to make people shoot three-pointers and the way to "break" a zone is to make three's and "force" teams to come out of the zone. Well, Syracuse plays almost exclusively zone and it's become a Jim Boeheim trademark. But Syracuse's zone is not designed to allow teams to shoot three-pointers - in fact, his zone became famous because of the quickness, athleticism and length of all five of his players to be able to contest shots and deflect passes. ESPN's Fran Fraschilla broke down the Syracuse zone in a 2003 article during the NCAA Tournament. Though the zone included stars like Carmelo Anthony, and Syracuse's post players are not as mobile as they were back then, the same principles remain.
Boeheim said that his team experimented with playing man-to-man once already this season - well, sort of. Syracuse played man-to-man against LeMoyne, an exhibition game that the Orange lost. "I don't think anybody has an off night. I think you have to force people to have off nights," Boeheim said when asked about Cal's struggles shooting. "We didn't play man-to-man. We tried that once this year, we won't make that mistake again. Our zone is designed to be effective against three-point shots. A lot of people think we are supposed to be playing man-to-man against a good shooting team. What they don't understand is that Cal shot 43% last year from the three-point line against man-to-man so it is obvious it didn't work. We led the league against three-point percentage last year."
The good news is that Carolina has worked on a zone offense - whether they wanted to or not - in every game this season, since that's about 85% of what they've seen defensively. The bad news is that the offense has not always looked fluid. Carolina's ball movement in the halfcourt offense has come light years even since the beginning of the year. It shows with the outside shooting especially - Carolina has gone from making 9-of-26 three's to start the season (34.6 percent) to making 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) in its last two games. Deon Thompson was double-teamed and found a wide-open Larry Drew II for a key late three. Marcus Ginyard and Will Graves also each made important late three-pointers.
And it was Carolina's post players that combined for nine of the 19 turnovers; even
veterans Deon Thompson and Ed Davis combined for eight. Syracuse is going to be double-teaming - and quickly - down low, so those two will have to do a better job of getting the ball out while their teammates will have to come to the ball a little more quickly as well. "The tempo was in (Ohio State's) favor, but it's hard for me to even say that because I think they want to run as well," Williams said. "What bothered us is their quickness in the zone. We'll face that tomorrow night with Syracuse because they do a great job in their zone as well."
Syracuse's defense does want you to shoot three's, but they won't be open. Still, last season Syracuse's opponents attempted a whopping 24.7 three's per game and made just 29.5 percent of them. Syracuse shot nearly 200 fewer three's than its opponents. This year already, in three games Syracuse's opponents have averaged 23.7 made three's and have made just 5.7, shooting 23.9 percent from beyond the arc. Carolina can't get sucked into taking three's just because it's easier than working the ball around and showing patience.
Using the height advantage: Carolina is going to be significantly taller than 99.9% of its opponents this season. That was certainly true against Ohio State. With all the unknowns about the team this year, one thing that should be a constant is Carolina's ability to rebound. But the Tar Heels were out-rebounded 37-33 by a shorter Ohio State team and the Buckeyes also got 15 offensive rebounds to 10 for Carolina, something Roy Williams certainly noticed. He didn't get to use his height advantage the way he would have wanted. "It's not a real advantage because (Ohio State) wants the outside. They are perimeter players. You look down the line they have 15 offensive rebounds to our 10, their quickness beat our size on the backboards," Williams said. "I did want it to be an advantage size-wise upfront but they went to the zone and they were successful with that but we did make some shots."
One of the weaknesses of the zone is it's harder to rebound. Last season - though, to be fair, Syracuse was guard-heavy - the Orange out-rebounded opponents by just 2.6 per game. Syracuse's opponents averaged about two more offensive rebounds than the Orange as well. Cal out-rebounded Syracuse, 43-38 and held a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass. Of course, Cal missed 45 shots while Syracuse missed just 27. But Syracuse out-rebounded Robert Morris by just a 37-36 margin and Syracuse's opponents are averaging 13.7 offensive rebounds per game. Carolina will have to be able to corral those rebounds and do something with them.
The Orange, on the other hand, are averaging just 9.7 offensive boards per game. But Carolina has let teams it had a significant height advantage against get some offensive rebounds already this season; Ohio State had 15 of its own and even the significantly-shorter FIU Panthers had 13 offensive boards. NC Central had 12. Carolina has to make sure that the Orange don't get second shots and that, when possible and/or necessary, the Tar Heels do.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in Madison Square Garden is unavailable.
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.
ESPN2 coverage: The game will be available on ESPN2. Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale will have the call.
Names To Know
Marcus Ginyard: Roy Williams learned from Dean Smith that you treat players fairly, but not the same. That said, Williams certainly has his "pets" - guys like Bobby Frasor, David Noel and Wes Miller, guys who will scratch, claw and fight and always do the smart thing on both ends. Marcus Ginyard is one of those pets, someone he can use to point out to the younger players things to emulate, like hitting the glass hard. Of course, Ginyard has just one rebound in the last two games and had none Sunday against Valparaiso, not to mention the five turnovers and five points he had against the Crusaders. Ginyard was despondent after last Sunday's game, but he did have to endure a rare tongue-lashing from his coach.
"I deserved it," Ginyard said after last night's win.
He may have, but he bounced back in typical Marcus fashion with 13 points, two assists, just one turnover (a season-low for him), three steals and just one foul, despite guarding two of the Buckeyes' best players most of the night. He also played 33 minutes, second-most on the team. Despite having to do quite a bit of work defensively on the 6-7 and versatile Evan Turner and then on the hot-shooting Diebler, Ginyard ha enough energy to drain two momentum-shifting three's, one to end the first half and another late in the second half during a Buckeye run. Williams has been saying that he wants his senior leaders to step up, not just off the court, but on it. Ginyard has shown he is willing to do that.
Ed Davis: Carolina's 6-10 sophomore forward has seemed quiet this season, although he has played well for the most part. But with Deon Thompson's emergence, Davis' 10.5 points per game (tied for third on the team) and 7.8 rebounds (second) to go with seven assists and a whopping 11 blocks have not stuck out. Davis is also shooting 73.9% from the floor and 88.9% from the free-throw line after struggling from the charity stripe last year. But against Ohio State, Davis committed four fouls early and added three turnovers, though he did have seven points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks. But needs him to play more than that and stay out of foul trouble. Yes, they have people that they can put in for Davis to spell him if he gets into foul trouble, and Roy Williams did that more than once. But he is a veteran and Carolina could really use his presence on both ends of the court.
Wes Johnson: It's scary to think about how good Syracuse might have been had the 6-7 junior transfer been allowed to play last season, but he had to sit out a year per transfer rules. He was a freshman in the Big 12 at Iowa State when Kevin Durant was at Texas and most of his numbers were second to only Durant's (12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds) for freshmen. He had 11 double-doubles as a freshman and broke several freshman records for the Cyclones. As a sophomore, he started in 25 of 27 games and was slowed by an ankle injury, but still made the Honorable Mention All Big-12 team, averaging 12.4 points and 4.0 rebounds.
It's rare that a team gets a starter from a major program that transfers to their team, and Syracuse has a rare find in the versatile Johnson. He is leading the Orange in points (14.7), rebounds (7.3), blocks (nine) and is tied for the lead in steals (10). His 29.3 minutes per game also lead the team. He is shooting 56.3% from the floor and 44.4% from beyond the arc as well. Against Cal, he had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting (2-of-4 from beyond the arc) and added a game-high 11 rebounds and six blocks in 32 minutes. He usually gets at least one steal; in the Robert Morris game, he had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added three blocks and four steals in just 25 minutes. The athletic Johnson will be someone the Carolina post players will have to watch.
Scoop Jardine: Sophomore point guard Scoop Jardine got his first start this season against Cal and he made the most of it, pouring in a career-high 22 on 8-of-13 shooting in just 27 minutes. On the season, he now has 19 assists to just five turnovers in doing his part (combined with freshman Brandon Triche) to replace departed point guard Jonny Flynn. But Jardine certainly has experience - he redshirted last season but had a very good freshman year in 2008, starting the final ten games after Eric Devendorf injured his knee. He managed to play well, averaging 9.2 points, but he never told the coaches he was playing in pain. It turned out at the end of the season, he had been playing on a stress fracture practically the whole year and the damage was so severe that he had to miss the 2009 season to make sure it healed fully.
It certainly has healed, and Jardine is still learning to run the team the way Coach Boeheim wants. It helps that he and Triche are carrying the load together, both playing around the same amount of minutes (22 for Jardine and 20 for Triche). But the 6-2 sophomore has the most experience, and it shows. "I think Scoop is getting better. He has really done a lot of good things. I want him to be better," Boeheim said. "He has been really solid. I think Brandon (Triche) has been good. They can play together. They are making some progress. It is going to take awhile. They are really fortunate that they have some upper classmen."
The duo combined for 31 points last night, but Boeheim said he doesn't necessarily need that from them. Triche, at 6-4, and the more experienced and quick Jardine help set his zone defense as well. "We're really not looking for them to score this much. I think they got some opportunities in transition," Boeheim said. "They both played well and didn't turn it over much, particularly in the first half. It all starts with our defense. When we are active on defense we are a better team."
Quotables
"If I'm going to chew (Marcus Ginyard) out, it scares the dickens out of everybody else on the team because he's one of my pets anyway. So if I'm going to chew his rear-end out, Larry is scared to death. I chew Marcus out one day out of every hundred. I chew Larry out one second out of every one second." -Roy Williams
"He got one more than my wife tonight. The other night, he got the same number as my wife." -Roy Williams on Marcus Ginyard's rebounding total
"This is not the NCAA Tournament - is it okay to have a Coca-Cola cup on my table?" -Roy Williams
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
