University of North Carolina Athletics
Droschak: Defense is Key to March Hopes
February 19, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2005
by David Droschak, TarHeelBlue.com
CHAPEL HILL - The nation's highest scoring team was off and running again Saturday - this time against a Clemson team that looked like it threw up the white flag a few minutes in.
A half century of losing in Chapel Hill can do that to ya.
But North Carolina's scoring outbursts have become so common few of us really noticed. What is becoming more glaring is a tenacious defense that didn't exist with this club last season.
North Carolina (22-3) forced 27 Clemson turnovers in its 88-56 blowout win, marking the 13th time in 25 games the Tar Heels have forced the opposition to cough it up at least 20 times.
Coach Roy Williams talked ad nauseam in the preseason about needing to play much better defense to become a championship contender. The Tar Heels took him up on his offer and are inching ever so closer to becoming as good defensively as they are offensively with March Madness fast approaching.
Just ask the team's defensive leader - Jackie Manuel.
"Guys are down in a defensive stance, in the passing lanes and our defense is helping us get easy baskets," Manuel said. "It's just practice. We've had like 73 practices, so we've got no choice but to get better."
There were just as many practices last season at this point of the season when H-E-L-P on defense was sometimes nothing more than a useless four-letter word to this group. So, what has changed with virtually the same cast of characters?
"It's second nature to us now," Manuel said. "Guys do it without even thinking about it now."
Yes, the players are the ones executing on defense, but Williams gets the major credit for this improvement. He refused to let the program move ahead in his second year here without demanding vast improvement on the defensive end of the court.
Williams even refused to ease up on buddy Oliver Purnell, who helped coach the USA Olympic team with Williams.
The Tar Heels were up by more than 20 when they decided to work on their full-court trapping press. It worked and the lead was soon 30, giving North Carolina its ninth blowout of that margin this year, matching the national title team of 1993.
"They kind of took us out of our game," Purnell said. "They took us out of our comfort zone."
Yeah, I know Oliver, it was pretty cushy playing against the Tar Heels of 2004. Teams are learning fast it's a totally different ball game in '05.
"We're just more consistent this year," Manuel said after the Tar Heels allowed just 33.3 percent shooting to the Tigers. "Guys were able to play defense last year, but we just weren't consistent with it. Some games we played D, some games we didn't. Some halves we did, some halves we didn't.
"This year, from the beginning of the season it has been drilled into our heads that we've got to play defense and guys have been consistent with it so far."
Manuel said there have been "quite a few games" where the defense has been better than the offense.
"That's a very good step for us because sometimes you're going to be off on the offensive end and it's going to take defense to win games." "Our defense has to be our trademark," added Sean May. "Guys are starting to understand that. We're a more mature team and we're starting to put it together."
One thing is clear, it's no longer a missing piece.
David Droschak is the former sports editor for the North Carolina bureaus of the Associated Press, the largest news-gathering organization in the world. In 2003, Droschak was named the North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year. He currently works in public relations at Robbins & Associates International, based in Cary.
