Nov. 28, 2006

By Lauren Brownlow

The Basics

Two of the most heralded recruiting classes in the country will face off in what will be the biggest game for each team so far this season. The Carolina freshmen (and their recruiting rankings) include Ty Lawson (No. 1 point guard), Wayne Ellington (No. 1 shooting guard), Brandan Wright (No. 1 power forward), Deon Thompson (No. 5 center) and Alex Stepheson (No. 11 center). The Ohio State freshmen include Greg Oden (No. 1 center), who will not play because of a broken wrist that will sideline him until January, Mike Conley Jr. (No. 3 point guard), Daequan Cook (No. 2 shooting guard), and David Lightly (No. 8 strong forward).

After some top-five teams lost last week (including Carolina), Ohio State (6-0) climbed to No. 1 in the USA Today poll and No. 3 in the AP Poll. Carolina is coming off their fifth loss in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge last season in a 2005 national championship game rematch with Illinois, losing 68-64 in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won just twice in this event, beating Indiana in the 2005 season and Illinois in the 2004 season. Ohio State earned its first victory in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge last season, beating Virginia Tech 69-59.

Game Time: Ohio State at North Carolina, 9 p.m.

Last Time: On December 18, 1993, Carolina beat Ohio State 81-68 in Chapel Hill, just two years after the Buckeyes knocked the Tar Heels out of the 1992 NCAA Tournament in the third round. Junior Donald Williams had 26 points and then-freshman Jerry Stackhouse added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in just his eighth game as a Tar Heel. The Buckeyes are 2-7 all-time against Carolina, and the 1993 loss was the only time they have faced the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.

Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 8 p.m.

Storylines

Feeding the post: Carolina was able to use its height advantage to dominate the inside against Tennessee on Friday, scoring 40 of their 56 first-half points in the paint. Wright's long arms shot up to catch passes that the 6-7 defenders had no chance of getting, and Hansbrough simply imposed his will down low.

"We needed to go inside; we needed to get the ball inside where our big guys do have such an advantage," Roy Williams said. "If we keep going inside, hopefully we'll shoot more free throws than the other team."

Without the 7-0 Greg Oden, the tallest Buckeye to see significant minutes is Reyshawn Terry's former high school teammate, junior college transfer Othello Hunter (6-9, 22 minutes a game). Matt Terwilliger (6-8) plays 18.5 minutes a game, and 6-7 starter Ivan Harris averages 21.3 minutes. But that is literally the extent of the Buckeye front line. The Ohio State guards can shoot three-pointers well, but if Carolina is able to get the ball into Hansbrough and Wright as much as possible, the higher-percentage shots should eventually win out. With the thin Buckeye front line, if Hansbrough and Wright should be able to use their offensive skill sets to get the Buckeye big men in foul trouble early on.

Carelessness: After a 14 assist/nine turnover first half against Tennessee, the Tar Heels committed 15 turnovers and doled out just 8 assists in the second half. The Volunteers scored 22 points off those 24 turnovers, while the Tar Heels managed only 12 points off 14 Tennessee turnovers.

What was perhaps most perplexing about the Carolina turnovers is that they weren't necessarily just errant passes in transition. Five different Tar Heels were whistled for an offensive foul apiece. Lawson is still learning to take care of the ball, getting his pocket picked from behind on more than one occasion. Both Reyshawn Terry and Ellington were whistled for palming violations. In the first half, Terry attempted a baseball pass on an inbound that bounced harmlessly out-of-bounds to try to break the Tennessee full-court pressure. But that was just one of many Carolina passes that left you wondering who the pass was intended for.

"The mistakes we made, we seem to do the same thing that the other person did the play before. We kind of repeat the same plays over and over with the same mistakes," Terry said. "We have a lot of talent on this team, (and) Coach has high expectations for this team. We know how capable we are as a team, and we're just not putting it together out there. It's frustrating."

In the second half, there was a particularly bad stretch starting when Wright picked up an offensive foul at about the 16-minute mark, then with about 14 minutes to go Ginyard and Terry had two offensive fouls on successive possessions, likely prompting Coach Williams's intense timeout lecture in the huddle during the break after Hansbrough was flagrantly fouled.

"I don't think I've ever had a team that ran and charged into people as many times as this team does," Williams said. "I got very frustrated with our play for the last 20 minutes. But at the same time, if you don't care enough about your kids to be frustrated with them when they don't do things right just because the score is in your favor, then I don't think you're really coaching."

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in the Smith Center will be FM 92.7. That station will have a non-delayed feed of WCHL 1360, the local affiliate.

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.

ESPN coverage: The game will be available on ESPN.

Names To Know

Brandan Wright: The reigning ACC Rookie of the Week is tied for tenth in the league in scoring with 16.6 points per game and ranks eighth in rebounding with 7.4 a game. He ranks sixth in the league in field goal percentage at 60.7%. The 6-9 freshman will be part of the slight height advantage the Tar Heels may have over the Buckeyes on Wednesday, but perhaps more important is how his touch around the basket and his defensive instincts continue to develop. The Carolina faithful have seen stretches of brilliance in both areas, as Wright had three key blocks in a key stretch against Gonzaga and led the Tar Heels in scoring with 21 points. But Wright is still a freshman, and the four-block performance against Gonzaga only amounted to 7 total on the year, despite those long arms and that endless athleticism. Despite playing the second-highest average minutes per game on the team (27.8), Wright is only averaging 0.05 turnovers per minute. Of the Tar Heels averaging more than 20 minutes, that is by far the best. Next-closest among that group is Tyler Hansbrough with 0.068.

Wright rebounded well from shooting 7-of-16 from the field and 7-of-14 from the free-throw line against Gonzaga to shoot 9-of-10 from the field and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line against Tennessee. He needs to continue taking the smart, higher-percentage shots and either making them or taking contact and making free throws. But Wright needs to play a "complete game." If he can combine a great offensive performance like Friday's with his four-block, two-steal game against Gonzaga, he will eventually develop into not only one of the best freshmen in the country, but also one of the better big men.

Marcus Ginyard: The sophomore guard is coming off perhaps his worst performance of the season, going only 1-of-3 from the field, committing five turnovers and four fouls, and adding just one assist and one steal in 17 minutes. During a particularly bad stretch for Ginyard, he came into the game at the 14:33-mark, committed a foul on a JuJuan Smith three resulting in a four-point play, then commits an offensive foul on the very next possession.

Despite struggling in most areas, he did grab four rebounds for the Tar Heels, and four of them were offensive. He put one of them back in for his only two points, and missed two other tip-ins. Ginyard has 18 total rebounds on the season, nine of which are offensive, ranking him third behind Hansbrough and Wright in that category. He has shown an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. He only had four turnovers in the Tar Heels' first four games, so the Tennessee performance was obviously a bit of an aberration for Ginyard. But the freshmen are going to turn the ball over, and as one of the veterans, Ginyard and the rest of the older players need to do a better job of taking care of the ball to allow for the freshmen to take their lumps early on without hurting the team. As perhaps the best defender on the team, Ginyard will be desperately needed to shut down some of the sharp-shooting Ohio State guards on the perimeter on Wednesday night.

Ron Lewis: The senior guard leads the Buckeyes in three-pointers made, shooting 17-of-36 (47.2%) from beyond the arc. He is the second-leading scorer, averaging 17 points a game, 5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals. Lewis led the Buckeyes to the BCA Classic Title last week and earned Tournament MVP honors, averaging 20 points a game and shooting 56% from the floor, including 10-of-19 from three-point range and 12-of-14 free throws. Lewis and Jamar Butler are the only starters on Ohio State with any Division I playing experience last season.

Daequan Cook: With the absence of fellow super frosh Greg Oden, Cook and Oden's high school teammate Mike Conley have become the early stars on this Buckeye squad. Cook comes off the bench to lead the Buckeyes in scoring with 17.8 points a game and adds 7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 steals a game. He ranks fourth on the team in total made three-pointers but leads the team in three-point percentage with 12-of-25 (48%). The 6-5 guard could create a match-up problem unless some taller Tar Heels like Terry or Ginyard are able to stay in his face.

Quotables

"I told them to go home and tell their parents that what they wanted for Christmas was some brains. One of the parents heard me in the back and he said, `Good, because that doesn't cost very much.'" -Roy Williams

"Yeah, take some more pictures, because right now I've got gray hair, but if we keep playing like that ... I'll have no freaking hair whatsoever." -Roy Williams as a photographer snapped away during his press conference.

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.