University of North Carolina Athletics
Dayton Game Guide
December 30, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2006
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
The No. 2 Tar Heels (11-1) will face their second Atlantic-10 foe of the season when Dayton (10-2) comes to Chapel Hill on Sunday. (The first was St. Louis.) Dayton is coming off an 84-54 loss to Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve. Dayton's only other loss this season was in its third game this season against a Matt Doherty-coached SMU squad. Before the Pittsburgh game, Dayton rattled off eight straight wins, beating teams like Louisville, Miami of Ohio and Holy Cross along the way. The Flyers lead the A-10 in scoring defense, allowing just 59.2 points a game.
The game will also feature a halftime ceremony honoring the jerseys of Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Rashad McCants. All three Tar Heel greats will be in attendance to watch their jerseys unveiled in the Smith Center rafters. The ceremony marks the debut of the revised jerseys, which feature easier-to-read nameplates and a more banner-like appearance.
Game Time: Dayton at North Carolina, 3 p.m.
Last Time: The 1966-67 Tar Heels were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the Final Four by Dayton, 76-62. The 1967 Tar Heels were Dean Smith's first Final Four squad and also his first team to make the NCAA Tournament. The roster included Tar Heel greats Bill Bunting, Rusty Clark, Dick Grubar, Bob Lewis and Larry Miller.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 2 p.m.
Injury Report: Quentin Thomas went out for 2-4 weeks following Gonzaga with a stress fracture in his foot. Bobby Frasor will not play.
Storylines
Playing hard, smart and together: Those three tenets of the "Carolina Way" have been become more and more a part of the personality of this Tar Heel team the last few games. This year's team has not yet taken on the personality of last year's group, but according to Coach Williams, they're getting there.
"Last year's team was a really, really tough bunch. Bobby's a tough little kid. He goes to Duke, it's a 1-and-1, they've cut an 11-point lead to three and he winks at the guy and makes the two free throws," Coach Williams said. "We're playing Illinois here, it's a big-time game and he and Marcus walk out on the court and say, `Hey, this is what we really want.' So it was really a tough group that was extremely competitive, and I'm hoping that this group is getting that. It's getting better. We just had a couple of competitions in practice today that were pretty fierce."
The best way to symbolize the Tar Heels playing harder recently is on defense. In the first six games of the season, Carolina's opponents were averaging 16.8 assists on 28.3 field goals, totaling 59.4% of field goals coming on assists. The Tar Heels are doing a much better job of getting in the passing lanes and pressuring the ball-handlers, resulting in fewer and fewer assists as teams have trouble moving the ball. In the last six games, Carolina's opponents are averaging 10.5 assists on 22.3 field goals, or 47% assisted field goals. Carolina's last three opponents have combined to shoot 8-of-47 from the three-point line, or 17%.
But as Coach Williams would be quick to remind you, defense isn't just hard work, and also involves playing smart.
"The last three games were our best three games where we've held our concentration defensively and tried to make our defense be a factor in the game," Coach Williams said. "We tried very hard against Ohio State, and we tried very hard against Kentucky, but the bottom line is we had to outscore those people. We didn't do much at stopping those people.
"Most people say that defense is just `want-to', and it's not just `want-to,' because I've never had a team that didn't want to do it. You've got to have the foot speed; you've got to have the instincts. You can improve the majority of those. It's hard to improve your foot speed or all of us would have had the chance to be sprinters. But I do think that you can improve your ability to see the big picture. I think you can improve your anticipation and see where you're supposed to be when the ball moves, because the ball's not going to be in the same spot."
The Tar Heels had 99 turnovers through their first six games, and just 69 in their last six. The Tar Heels have gone from averaging 16.5 turnovers in the first six games to 11.5 in the last six. Carolina's number of attempts in field goals, three-pointers and free throws is down in the last six games. However, the percentage in all three categories has gone up. In the first six games, the Tar Heels shot 198-of-383 (50.3%) from the field and have shot 191-of-372 (51.3%) since. The most significant increase came in three-point percentage. The Tar Heels made 36-of-101 three-pointers in the first six games (35.6%) and have made 41-of-94 (43.6%) since.
Part of that smarter play is due to Carolina playing together. The Tar Heels' assist totals are up from 17.5 assists per game in the first six games to 22.8 in the last six.
"We all buy into the team concept, that's what it really is. We are all selfless individuals, and we understand that in order to get it done we have to be selfless (and be) team first," Wayne Ellington said. "It's the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. I think we all understand that, and that's why we're playing so well together."
Of the Tar Heels' 33 field goals against Rutgers, 81.2% were assisted, which is a season high. A whopping 19 of 20 second-half field goals were assisted (95%).
"We talked in the first half, Wayne (Ellington) had two turnovers, Reyshawn (Terry) had one when they just tried to go on their own, instead of us moving the ball and I don't think we had any of those possessions in the second half," Coach Williams said. "I liked what we did offensively, too (in the second half) because we were not selfish and we did not try to go on our own and we moved the ball."
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.
Fox Sports Net coverage: The game will be available on Fox Sports Net.
Names To Know
Wayne Ellington: The freshman has a silky smooth jumper reminiscent of Walter Davis, but he has struggled in two games this year, going a combined 3-of-18 from the field and 1-of-11 from the three-point line against Gonzaga and St. Louis.
"Take away those two games and he's probably shooting 55% from the floor as a guard, even though he shoots several three's," Coach Williams said.
Coach Williams was right on the money - take away those two games, and Ellington would have shot 55-of-100 (55%) from the field and 24-of-47 (51.1%) from the three-point line. On the year, his three-point percentage has gone up from 11-of-32 (34.3%) in the first six games to 14-of-26 (53.8%) since.
"He was 1-for-7 at St. Louis, and the ball just didn't go in," Coach Williams said. "The last one he missed, I said, `That one looked good. Did it feel good when you shot it?' And he said, `Yes.' He is a scorer who never went through that kind of thing at the high school level. Not only was he a scorer, and he's still a scorer - he's going to be a big-time scorer at the college level - but he's worked so hard defensively to try to do a better job there. Every time he shoots it, I think it's going in."
His assist-turnover ratio is 19 assists to 22 turnovers (0.9) on the year, but it has improved from four assists to 11 turnovers (0.4) in the first six games to eight assists to 11 turnovers (0.7) since. Like the rest of the freshmen, Ellington has struggled with the musical chairs that is the Carolina rotation. He was used to being "the guy" in high school, like all the rest. But it became apparent that his freshman adjustment was nearly over when he hit three three-pointers in a little over two minutes, but was taken out seconds later because Coach Williams realized that it was six minutes into the second half and Marcus Ginyard had not played yet.
"Coach explained to me that he usually doesn't take out a guy when he's hot, but I understand that guys also need to get minutes," Ellington said. "For us to be a good team, guys have to rotate in and out, and I understood that. When you're hot, you're hot. It doesn't really matter if you're still in the game or you go to the bench and come back in the game."
Ellington proceeded to come back into the game, miss his first three-pointer of the night and make his second to put him at 5-of-6 on the game, setting his career high in made three-pointers. He has 10 steals on the season, which ranks fifth on the team, but his defensive improvement has been noticeable as he has been getting into the passing lanes and pressuring the ball much better.
"He's still been able to shoot the ball and score, but his biggest improvement has been on the defensive end. He's going to score a heck of a lot of points, but yet before it's all over with, he's going to be thought of as an extremely well-rounded guard," Coach Williams said.
"He's going to continue to improve. I think he's the kind of guy that in February, his numbers are going to be better even against better competition than they are right now, and as a sophomore they're going to be even better than they were right now, and on down the line. I really have a great deal of confidence in him. They may pay me to coach some guys, but I'd coach him for free."
Brandan Wright: From the first six games of the season until now, Brandan Wright has improved so significantly that his offensive game might be downright unrecognizable. He has improved his field goal percentage from 54.3% (25-of-46) in the first six games to 73.1% (49-of-67) in the last six games, and 65.5% on the year (second in the ACC). What most may not have noticed is how much his free-throw percentage has improved, also. In the first four games, Wright shot 14-of-29 from the line, or 48.9% (some perspective: only two Tar Heels who average double-figure minutes are shooting at a lower percentage from the field right now). Following the loss to Gonzaga when he turned in a 7-of-14 performance from the line, something appears to have clicked and he has shot 26-of-37 (70.3%) since. Wright has the sort of ambidextrous hook shot and easygoing demeanor on the court that have caused some to make the Sam Perkins comparison.
"It may look effortless, but I definitely have to concentrate and focus," Wright said. "My whole career, I've been focusing on trying to shoot at a high percentage. It's not good when you're a big guy and you're shooting 45-50%. You've got to do more than that offensively."
Wright has cut his turnovers by nearly half (10 in the first six games, six since). He has doubled his seven-block output of the first six games (he has swatted away 14 since). Rutgers managed to get quite a few uncontested dunks, and Coach Williams decided to challenge the freshman defensively to see how he would respond.
"I challenged Brandan (Wright), told him in that huddle that they were talking about that weak little freshman and they were taking it to the basket and dunking it and after that, he came back in the next time and he was really impressive to say the least," Coach Williams said.
Brian Roberts: The junior 6-2 guard has one of the most complete stat lines you will ever see: 17.3 points a game, 3.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals in 35 minutes a game. He leads the Flyers in scoring (the next-closest Flyer is averaging 9.6 points a game) and ranks fifth in the Atlantic-10. He leads his team in free throws made and attempted, and ranks second in the A-10 in free-throw percentage at 89.3% (50-of-56). He is tied for fifth in the conference with 3.7 assists a game and his 35 minutes a game rank third in the league. His 44.1% (30-of-68) shooting from the three-point line leads the Flyers and ranks as the seventh-best percentage in the league, and his 2.5 made three-pointers per game rank sixth in the league. He also leads his team in assist-turnover ratio at 1.42 (44 assists to 31 turnovers) and ranks eighth in the A-10.
In Dayton's recent loss at Pitt, Roberts scored 21 of his team's 54 points, played 36 out of 40 minutes, and shot 4-of-7 from the three-point line.
Quotables
"I threatened to put him (Bobby Frasor) in the other night, but he threatened to not put anything on under his warm-ups, so I said, `I'm not putting you in then.'" -Roy Williams
"In the old days, somebody had sore shins and then somebody called them shin splints, and then somebody called them stress fractures and then somebody said they were pregnant, so you had to make a decision which one you wanted to hear." -Roy Williams on the progress of modern medicine
"Torn rotator cuff - 20 years ago, everybody thought that was what happened with your lawnmower." -Roy Williams
"Ty (Lawson) is the mischievous little Dennis the Menace guy, there's no question about that. He's one of these guys that doesn't say too much early in his career, and if he were to stay around for four years, he'd probably be the head coach and I'd be doing something else, because he would take over things. He's one of those guys that you can't get him to talk, and then you can't get him to shut up." -Roy Williams
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
