University of North Carolina Athletics
Davidson Game Guide
November 14, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2007
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
The preseason No. 1-ranked Tar Heels will open their season against Davidson (1-0) in the Charlotte Bobcats Arena Wednesday night. Carolina is 85-12 all-time in season opening games and has won 72 of its last 77 season-openers. Carolina will face Davidson for the 72nd time and it leads the all-time series, 60-11. Davidson's last win in the series was a 58-54 win in Chapel Hill. Carolina has not lost to Davidson outside of Chapel Hill since 1952 and holds a 163-18 record in Charlotte.
Game Time: North Carolina vs. Davidson in Charlotte, N.C., 7 p.m.
Last Time: The Tar Heels beat Davidson in the Smith Center 82-58 on January 3rd, 2006. Tyler Hansbrough had a then-career high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting (9-of-11 from the free throw line) and added eight rebounds. David Noel led the Tar Heels in rebounds with ten and in assists with seven, despite scoring just five points on 2-of-5 shooting. Reyshawn Terry was the only other Tar Heel in double figures with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Carolina held Davidson to just eight first-half field goals out of 30 attempts (26.7%) in the first half and 21-of-65 shooting (32.3%) on the game. Brendan Winters led the Wildcats with 18 points on 7-of-21 shooting. Jason Richards was the only other Davidson player in double figures with 12 points.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 6 p.m.
Injury Report: Tyler Hansbrough jammed his thumb in the second half against Lenoir-Rhyne but was back to full practice on Monday and is fine to play. William Graves had an ankle issue but he should also play. Michael Copeland will not play because of stitches and a concussion.
Storylines
Defense: Last season, Carolina allowed its opponents to shoot 41.6% from the floor last season, which is the second-highest percentage allowed in the Roy Williams era. The highest percentage allowed since 2004 was 44.4% in 2004. Much was made of the fact that Carolina missed quite a few shots late in the Georgetown game, but it also allowed the Hoyas to hit six of its last seven shots in regulation and 4-of-7 in overtime. Up until the last five minutes of regulation, Georgetown had shot 9-of-20 from the floor in the second half.
Last season, Carolina alternated between stretches of fantastic defense and stretches of defensive lapses and miscues. Coach Williams will likely add more and more as the season progresses, but right now his team is going through repetition of the concepts that they know very well but haven't made instinctual. "It's not habit yet, and I think when your defensive principles become habits, when it gets to be second-nature for them, I think that's always the best situation," Coach Williams said.
But Carolina's defense has come a long way already. In two exhibition games last season, Carolina allowed opponents to shoot 41.1% from the field (62-of-151), make 26-of-56 three-pointers (46.4%), and score 180 points (90 per game). But this year, Carolina allowed its exhibition opponents to shoot 41-of-126 from the field (32.5%), 11-of-44 from the three-point line (25%), and score 114 points (57.0 points per game).
The area where Coach Williams really wants the team to improve is communication on defense. Carolina's defense is almost entirely predicated on that; David Noel was identified by Coach Williams as one of his best at talking on defense and Bobby Frasor was named as this year's best. But the rest of the team needs to catch up. "He feels like we could be better defensively and we've been doing that more in practice. He just wants us to communicate more. That's pretty much the main emphasis - talking, communicating and doing what he asks us to do, the defensive principles that we have and pretty much just communicating to each other. If we communicate to each other, we're probably playing our best defense even if we mess up here or there. If we're talking, it's just better so that people can know to be in the right spots," Danny Green said.
Davidson has made at least one three-pointer in 405 consecutive games. Last season, Davidson shot 44.9% from the floor and 36.9% from the three-point line, averaging 81.3 points per game. In its season-opener, Davidson shot 46-of-92 (50%) from the field, 19-of-46 (41.3%) from the three-point line and scored 120 points against Emory. Davidson has an outstanding individual player in Stephen Curry, but in its season-opener for example, three different Wildcats hit four or more three-pointers and six of the 13 Wildcats to see action hit at least one three-pointer. Last season, Davidson made 328 three-pointers and generated 35.6% of its points from beyond the arc. Seven of Davidson's expected returning rotation made at least 15 three-pointers last season and six made 20 or more.
Shot selection: It's difficult to find a weakness on this Carolina team, but as Coach Williams pointed out, it's the job of the media to try to find one. The media seems to have selected a lack of three-point shooting as that weakness, especially with last season's most accurate three-point shooter, Reyshawn Terry, now gone. Facing arguably the best post player in the country in Tyler Hansbrough, teams are expected to try to do what they did last season - clog up the middle and force the Tar Heels to beat them with outside shooting.
But it is somewhat of a myth in college basketball that a team absolutely has to be able to make a lot of three-pointers to win games. What is true is that the Tar Heels will need to make open three-pointers that come through good ball movement - in short, they will need to improve their shot selection.
Carolina actually shot the ball quite well last season, both inside and outside the three-point line. In Carolina's 31 wins, it shot 51.6% from the field and 38.7% from the three-point line. While that is not a great percentage, 24% of Carolina's shots in its wins last season came from the three-point line. The Tar Heels averaged 5.8 made three's in 31 wins on 14.9 attempts. In contrast, Carolina shot 42.8% from the field and 26.1% from the three-point line in its seven losses. Thirty percent of Carolina's shots were from behind the three-point line and the Tar Heels averaged 5.1 made three-pointers on 19.7 attempts in those seven losses.
Against Georgetown, Carolina was 1-23 from the field in the final 15 minutes of the game (including overtime). The Tar Heels shot 15-of-31 from the field in the first half and canned 3-of-4 three-pointers. Carolina shot 9-of-27 in the second half, but 8-of-19 without three-pointers. In overtime, Carolina hit just 1-of-13 field goals and eight of their 13 attempts were three-pointers.
Certainly, a lack of consistent three-point shooting was, at times, a problem last season. But what hurt North Carolina down the stretch against Georgetown - and in quite a few other games last season - was poor shot selection. Carolina was jacking up three-pointers very early in the shot clock without even allowing its post players to touch the ball on too many possessions down the stretch. Carolina attempted six three-pointers in the final 6:27 and missed all six.
Coach Williams has tried to drum it into his teams' heads that his team will not just "take what the defense gives them," as the old adage goes. "You hear particularly football coaches say, `We took what they gave us.' I'm not like that. I don't want to take what they gave us. I want to get what I want. We're going to work exceptionally hard to get the basketball inside and make sure at the end of the game that Tyler has had his touches."
A lot of Carolina's poor shot selection was due somewhat to the freshman- and sophomore-laden team last season. For example, junior Danny Green was much-maligned for some poor shot choices last season. Green will play some at the four-position this season and after a month's worth of practice time in the post, he has gained a new appreciation for the frustration of being in the post and watching a three-point shot being launched without getting to touch the ball. "You do all that running, take the ball out, banging inside and somebody shoots a three and you don't touch the ball. It's pretty depressing sometimes, but I understand it because I've played both positions. But I appreciate the big men more for what they do," Green said.
Opening against a good team with a chip on its shoulder: Coach Williams was asked about the recent rash of well-established, top-25 programs losing to mid-majors like Gardner-Webb and Mercer. At the specific mention of Gardner-Webb, he recalled how his own team needed a David Noel three-pointer that rattled around the rim and through the hoop to beat Gardner-Webb at home in 2006. Now, make no mistake - Davidson is technically a mid-major school, but it has a rich basketball history, it won a school-record 29 games last season, it nearly upset Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and it has been ranked as high as 27 in some polls. It is ranked fourth in the mid-major top 25. Davidson is a team that is not afraid to challenge itself and its game against the Tar Heels is just one of four games against current top-25 teams over the next month and a half (Duke, UCLA, and NC State).
Last season, Carolina was a team last season that beat teams by simply out-manning them and at times struggled against teams with enough talent to hang in there, even if Carolina was considered the better of the two teams. Davidson is a team in a state that is college-basketball heavy and has had to struggle to be seen among the giants like Duke and North Carolina. Combine that with some of the recent top-25 upsets and Davidson's considerable talent level, and it could be a dangerous situation.
"We've got to make sure that our guys have the same kind of incentive that Davidson does. Davidson sees Gardner-Webb getting all the attention from beating Kentucky or somebody else beating somebody else. We've got to make sure that we have the same type of incentive or the same type of want-to that those clubs do," Coach Williams said. "It's hard being Davidson in this state, knowing how much attention particularly Duke and North Carolina get, and they feel that they're pretty doggone good, and rightfully so. So that's the biggest concern."
Not only does Davidson have a chip on its shoulder from its mid-major status and second billing in the state, but it also is coming off of a somewhat disappointing end to its regular season. Like the Tar Heels, Davidson had issues down the stretch against Maryland in its final NCAA Tournament game. The Wildcats shot 34.3% from the floor and 27% from the three-point line. The Wildcats made 7-of-20 three's in the first half and 3-of-17 in the second. Davidson led Maryland 52-44 with 17:32 left, but Maryland scored the next eight points and finally took the lead for good with just under ten minutes left. Davidson would cut into the deficit at times, but it made just two field goals in the final 8:16 of the game and lost 82-70.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in Charlotte will be FM 87.9.
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
Wayne Ellington: Like almost any freshman, the talented shooting guard had an up-and-down season last year, with highs like scoring 19 points against Ohio State on his 19th birthday and lows like missing what would have been the game-winning three-pointer against Georgetown. Ellington had a very good ACC Tournament, shooting 14-of-29 from the field and 6-of-12 from the three-point line in three games, and carried that over into shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-5 from the three-point line to score 12 points in an opening-round win over Eastern Kentucky. But in Carolina's final three games, Ellington shot 9-of-31 from the field and 2-of-11 from the three-point line, scoring 22 points total.
Despite struggling in some of Carolina's NCAA Tournament wins, few players were as important to whether Carolina won or lost as Ellington last year. In Carolina's wins, Ellington shot 46.5% from the field and 40.9% from the three-point line. He attempted an average of 9.6 shots and made 4.5 of them, including 1.7 three's made and 4.3 attempted, in Carolina wins. In Carolina's losses, Ellington shot 31.7% from the field and 26.1% from the three-point line, averaging 3.7 made field goals per game and 11.7 attempts, including 1.7 three-pointers made to 6.6 attempts.
Ellington started off exhibition play well, shooting 9-of-18 from the field and 2-of-5 from the three-point line, scoring an average of 14 points in the two games. Ellington played in the Pan-Am games this summer, but his time was limited because of a shoulder injury. If Ellington can get off to a good start shooting the ball, that should not only quiet some of Carolina's early critics but also open things up down low and force people to step out and honor the jump shot.
Danny Green: Green is perhaps Carolina's best utility player this season and Roy Williams wants to use his lanky 6-6 frame to play some in the post at the four-position. "He's had more experience there, because last year he did it a couple of times with Reyshawn as well. With Danny, he's done it before, had that experience and I'd say that's 95% of it. He does some nice things around the basket, too. He's got some sneaky little things around the basket that some of the other guys don't have," Coach Williams said.
Green is a talented player that has found himself searching for his role on the team. Coach Williams would counter that there are no roles, but Green had trouble coming off of the bench and playing at a consistently high level. "Coming in and out of the game at different times and in spurts here and there, it got me used to adjusting and being able to try and get into a game faster, or faster than normal. Usually, it takes me awhile to get into the game but when you don't have that much time when you're in there, you have to make the best out of it," Green said. "So I would try to come in and be ready mentally. So on the bench I would get prepared, watch what was going on from the bench, who was doing what and who's not doing what and when I got in the game, try and give our team that lift."
With a little less depth in the post this year after the departure of Brandan Wright, Green's play at the four-spot could provide not only rest for the starters but also a smaller, quicker line-up that would be difficult to match up with. His bulkier and taller teammates have had a little fun at his expense on the offensive end backing him down and shooting over him in practice, but Deon Thompson has found himself surprised on both ends by what Green can do. "I'd just turn and shoot over him, but he really can block shots. He'll come from the weak side and that's what he's really good at is blocking shots and he doesn't give up on plays. The worst thing for me is on the defensive end guarding him. He goes to the backboards and you've just got to box him out," Thompson said.
Though Green shot 0-of-6 from the field against Georgetown, he showed the ability to step up when the team needed him at times last season. He scored a season-high 14 points at St. Louis when none of his teammates could hit a shot and hit 3-of-7 shots for eight points and added eight rebounds against Southern Cal when his teammates were struggling and helped pull the Heels through that game. Carolina needs a player that is able to do that offensively and Green could definitely be that player.
Deon Thompson: Some players simply come into their own gradually, but Deon Thompson had a game where it all seemed to click. Certainly, his performance against Arizona was impressive in the absence of Brandan Wright, but Thompson stepped up on the biggest stage - the NCAA Tournament Regional Final game - and tied his career high with 14 points (on 6-of-7 shooting) and six rebounds in 21 minutes. He came into the game in the first half with Carolina down 22-18 with 12:41 to go and proceeded to hit a lay-up, a dunk, and another lay-up in the course of a little over a minute to give Carolina a 26-22 lead. But it wasn't until Brandan Wright officially announced his intention to go to the NBA that Thompson finally realized his opportunity had arrived.
"I just started to realize that I had a great opportunity this year. That's when I picked it up, turned it to a different level and got even more committed and dedicated of my body and being in the weight room, putting in the extra time with Jonas (Sahratian)," Thompson said. "(I can) run the floor faster, not get tired or as winded as I used to, just keep running, getting up a little bit higher and being able to finish above the rim. It just helps me a lot mentally and basketball is such a big mental game, so that helps me a lot also."
Thompson is the one that most outsiders assumed would start at the four-spot. However, Coach Williams has not yet decided between Thompson and fellow sophomore Alex Stepheson. That may be a situation that stays in flux the whole season, but both will need to combine to provide the scoring and rebounding to make up for Wright's absence. Thompson's time with the U-19 team that played in Serbia made him the most obvious choice, and though he admits he is still raw as a basketball player, he continues to improve and reshape his body.
Stephen Curry: The 6-3 sophomore guard has become much more well-known than any mid-major star other than perhaps VCU's Eric Maynor. It's not just because of Curry's father, Dell Curry. Stephen Curry had his national coming-out party against Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, scoring 30 points in 36 minutes on 9-of-21 shooting and 5-of-14 from the three-point line. He led both the Wildcats and the Southern Conference in scoring with 21.5 points per game (a figure that also ranked ninth in the country and second only to Kevin Durant among freshmen). He earned both Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors and First-Team All-Southern Conference. Curry also shot 46.3% from the field, 40.8% from the three-point line and made an NCAA freshman-record 122 three-pointers, shattering the old record of 109.
"Curry is a youngster who, like his dad, can shoot the dickens out of it and doesn't need a lot of room to get it off, but also can put the ball on the floor. You look at that frame he has, and you say, `Boy, he's a little guy,' but unless my information is wrong he averaged 4.6 rebounds a game last year. So it's a guy that is really more of a complete basketball player than most people make him out to be," Coach Williams said.
Curry did indeed average 4.6 rebounds and added 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals. The sophomore played on the U-19 USA national team with Deon Thompson this summer and averaged 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in addition to being among the leaders in steals and assists. In Davidson's season-opener against Emory, Curry had 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting (5-of-8 from the three-point line) and added seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and three blocks in 23 minutes. It was his 20th career 20-point game.
Jason Richards: The senior point guard is a preseason nominee for the Cousy Award for the nation's best point guard. Richards ranked second in the country last season in both assists (249) and assists per game (7.3). He also averaged 13.5 points per game and shot 53-of-141 from three-point range. He had a 2.35 assist-turnover ratio. He had six games of ten assists or more and two with 15 or more, including a 16-assist game and a 19-assist game. In Davidson's exhibition game against Lenoir-Rhyne, Richards just missed a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. In the Wildcats' season-opener against Emory, he notched his fourth career double-double with 14 points (5-of-7 from the field, 4-of-6 from the three-point line) and ten assists in just 20 minutes of action. "Richards gives them a really effective point guard who can score but also plays with a great deal of passion and a great deal of savvy. He is a really, really good basketball player," Coach Williams said.
Boris Meno: The 6-8 senior forward appears to be Davidson's most rapidly improving post man. Last season, Meno averaged 11.2 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. He also led the team in blocks with 34. Meno shot just 45.1% from the field. But he can also shoot three-pointers, making 16-of-49 last year. He has not attempted one yet this season. Against Emory, Meno started off the season very well with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 13 rebounds, one steal and two blocks in just 19 minutes. It was his 11th career double-double.
Quotables
"I was a student here, so it was 1971 or 1972 and they had a deal at the golf course, you could write in your name and how many points you thought were going to be scored in the North Carolina-North Carolina State game and I put down 67. We were ahead 34-27 and my roommate was with me. I said what I wanted them (NC State) to do was go down the field and score and make it 34-33 and go for two and miss it. He said, `No, you don't want that.' I said, `Really I don't, because I'd be scared to death.' Sure enough, they went right down the field and scored to make it 34-33. I won $63 that day because they went for two and missed it and we won 34-33. They went right down the field and scored to make it 34-33 and went for two and missed it. I went out of the stadium so fast and went straight to the golf course. Sixty-three dollars, folks, that's a lot of money. I was a college student." -Roy Williams on his personal history watching the North Carolina - NC State football game
"I've seen some people eat sushi, but not the way he does - and it's disgusting." - Danny Green on Tyler Hansbrough's sushi-eating habits
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
