University of North Carolina Athletics
Iona Game Guide
November 18, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2007
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 1 Carolina (1-0) will face Iona (0-2) for its 2008 home opener. The Tar Heels are coming off of a 72-68 win over Davidson in Charlotte on Wednesday while the Gaels lost at Princeton on Wednesday night, 66-58. The game will also be the 300th game in the Smith Center, a building in which Carolina has a 118-32 (.908) advantage over non-conference opponents. Carolina is 90-7 all-time in home openers, winning 74 of its last 76. Carolina has lost just two home openers since 1982 - in 2000 against Michigan State and in 2002 to Hampton. Carolina is 2-1 in the all-time series but has not beaten the Gaels since 1985 in a game in Carmichael Auditorium. Carolina lost the last meeting in 2002. This game begins a brief two-game homestand before the Tar Heels will go on the road for potentially six straight games outside of the Smith Center. Carolina face South Carolina State on November 20th and will not return to Chapel Hill until December 19th.
Game Time: Iona at North Carolina, 6:00 PM.
Last Time: An incredibly undermanned (and then ranked No. 22) Carolina team lost to Iona in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden 65-56 on December 27, 2002. The Tar Heels had to take the bus from Chapel Hill to New York because of an East Coast winter storm. Once they got to New York, they had to leave both Jawad Williams (stomach virus) and Melvin Scott (violation of a team rule) at the hotel. Already without two starters, Carolina was further decimated 20 seconds into the second half when Sean May broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot and ended up missing most of the remainder of the season. Rashad McCants led Carolina in scoring with 15 points. David Noel added 12 points. Raymond Felton had 11 points. Even though he only played 15 minutes, Sean May led Carolina in rebounds with nine but was 0-of-4 from the field. Carolina shot just 32.1%. Courtney Fields led Iona with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 5:00 PM.
Injury Report: Marcus Ginyard received three stitches after suffering a small gash on his chin in the final seconds of the win against Davidson but should be fine to play.
Storylines
The frontcourt reserves: Deon Thompson and Ales Stepheson are not the same person, but in basketball terminology, they are both trying to pick up the slack left when Tyler Hansbrough is forced a leave a game with foul trouble. The duo combined for four turnovers (Alex with two; Deon with two), three fouls (two offensive fouls); two missed free throws (Stepheson). "We didn't get anything at all out of Deon and Alex and I think they're going to be really good players for us, but they have to play better. I don't want us to go all year long having to play Danny as the four-man," Coach Williams said. "I have confidence in Deon or Alex - they just didn't play worth a darn tonight. But that's the reason that Danny is so valuable to us."
Danny Green was forced to play a career-high 29 minutes against Davidson because his backcourt mates don't seem ready right this second. These next two games could be an opportunity for Thompson and Stepheson to step up and show that Tyler Hansbrough is not the only threat to score in the low post. Stepheson's bright spot was that he ended up with four rebounds. Thompson made 2-of-5 shots on his way to four points but he did not get a rebound. When it comes to Hansbrough and his backcourt mates, the old adage rings true - he can't do it alone. Though neither Stepheson nor Thompson played a ton last season, both gained valuable experience and especially Thompson for playing on the National Team in the summer. Carolina will not need Thompson or Stepheson to score, just to provide valuable minutes in the post and not be a liability. Right now, they are not there yet.
Maintaining the edge: Last season, Carolina was a team that seemingly turned it on and off easily and seemingly without control. The Tar Heels would let late leads slip away as other teams would get hot and the Tar Heels would go hold, panic and then take quicker and quicker shots. But against Davidson, this now-veteran Tar Heel squad kept its cool and pulled out a four-point win over a tough opponent.
But what's perhaps more encouraging is that last season's team had a 1-3 record in games decided by five points or fewer.
"I told the guys in one of the huddles, I said, `You may not believe it right now, but I love this. This is great for us.' The exhibition games were not great for us. We win by 56 or 52, that doesn't challenge us, that doesn't test us. Tonight did. I think it's great even if you lose, but I think it's a heck of a lot better if you get tested like that and win," Coach Williams said.
This year's Carolina team is no doubt going to hear comparisons to the 2005 team, if they haven't already. The truth is that every team is different, and as much as people search for correlations or similarities, these teams are not even close to the same in terms of their respective personalities. However, one quality that should be universal is one that the 2005 team had - intensity, an ability to pull out close games but also an ability to put opponents away decisively and without mercy. Carolina certainly didn't play its best game on Wednesday, but the players constantly showed intensity and when it mattered, Wayne Ellington knocked in a key jumper and his teammates canned important free throws.
It was almost like a "survive and advance" type of game in which Carolina wants to start the season 1-0 and Davidson is a young and hungry challenger. But after the way last season ended, Carolina is hungry too. "With us, it feels like it's the whole season carried over, because we have everybody back and it's the same thing. Everybody's used to each other. It feels like the big whole season from last year carried on," Danny Green said. "The exhibition games kind of felt new, but this game felt like it was Tournament time. The blowout games don't help us out too much, but these games right here help us take that step forward."
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.
ESPNU coverage: The game will be available on ESPNU.
Names To Know
Ty Lawson: Lawson played just four first-half minutes against Davidson and picked up three fouls (averaging nearly a foul a minute), missed a field goal and had two turnovers. The Lawson of last year might have melted down, but he came out in the second half and played 17 important minutes and gave opposing point guard Jason Richards all kinds of trouble. Richards hit 3-of-9 shots in the first half (1-of-4 three-pointers) and has 10 points. In the second half, Richards had just one basket in four tries and had six turnovers total, three in each half. He didn't give the Tar Heels much offensively, but he converted a three-point play with eight minutes left to break a tie and give Carolina a three-point lead. With 1:33 left, he avoided what would have been his first no-assist game as a Tar Heel and found Wayne Ellington for perhaps the most important shot of the game, a jumper that gave Carolina a 68-65 lead. Lawson, who struggled at times from the charity stripe last season (68.8%), hit 3-of-4 down the stretch to seal the victory.
Despite that, certainly Lawson's stat line - 2-of-7 for eight points, one assist, three fouls and four turnovers in 21 minutes - is not great. Lawson has never had a no-assist game as a Tar Heel, but he had one game last season with just one assist (Gonzaga) and Carolina lost. He had just three games last season with two assists or fewer and Carolina was 2-1 in those games. Lawson had just three games with more turnovers than assists and Carolina won all three games. The only game in which Carolina was in serious danger was the Winthrop game when Lawson had four assists and five turnovers. Lawson had eight games last season with four or more turnovers and Carolina was 6-2.
Lawson had a slow start last season, notching 16 assists to 15 turnovers in his first five games. But he was able to finish strong and even had a 16-game stretch to end the season in which he had a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio (101 assists, 29 turnovers). But in that same stretch, and throughout the whole season, Lawson had issues with foul trouble. He had at least three fouls in 19 games last season, at least four fouls in six games and fouled out of two (both Carolina wins against Kentucky and Duke). Carolina was 2-2 in Lawson's four-foul games and 8-6 in games in which Lawson had three fouls. Three of those six losses were down the stretch of the season when Carolina was beginning to increasingly rely on Lawson - Maryland, Georgia Tech and Georgetown. This season, Carolina has a re-energized Quentin Thomas and a healthy Bobby Frasor to spell him if he gets into foul trouble. But certainly Carolina is a better team with Lawson able to go.
Tyler Hansbrough: Hansbrough got out quickly against Davidson, notching a double-double by the 6:30 mark in the first half, ending the opening period with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. "I thought that Tyler was unbelievable on the backboards and yet we did a very poor job of getting him the ball in the second half, but yet, that's what their team wanted to do as well. Every time he touched it, they doubled him and we've got to get him more than six shots in a game. I'd like for him to have 20 shots every game, and that means adding his free throw attempts to his field goal attempts. He only had 16, so we've got to do a better job of that," Coach Williams said.
What limited Hansbrough in the second half was foul trouble brought on by a technical foul. Hansbrough picked up a personal foul and as he put it, "things got congested" as both he and Davidson's Andrew Lovedale were returning to their respective huddles. The two collided and it looked as if Hansbrough pushed back into Lovedale with his body, prompting an immediate technical foul. Carolina's opponents know that the offense runs through Hansbrough and if opponents think they can get inside the head of Hansbrough, they will certainly try. "There is a target on my back, but I'll be prepared for it. I've just got to do things to help my team a little better tonight. I made some stupid decisions with my fouls, but that's on me. I have to do what I need to do to help the team," Hansbrough said.
Dexter Gray: The 6-7 senior forward averaged 10.3 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game,. 3.3 assists per game and 1.5 steals per game last season. This season, in two games Gray has averaged 32.5 minutes per game, shot 48.1% from the field (13-of-27), and has two steals, four blocks, eight turnovers and 18 rebounds (six offensive). His 32 points this season come out to 16.0 per game and he has also hit 1-of-2 three-pointers and 5-of-8 free throws. The senior had a very good game in the loss to Princeton, scoring 18 points in 35 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor and adding nine rebounds, one assist, two blocks and two steals.
Milan Prodanovic: The 6-2 sophomore guard is coming off of a freshman campaign of 7.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game and 1.4 assists per game. He has started off this season very well, leading the team in minutes played (35.5), three-pointers made and three-point percentage (4-of-9, 44.4%). He has averaged 14.5 points per game in two games for the Gaels this season (second on the team), is shooting 50% from the field and averaging 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game. In a narrow loss to Princeton, Prodanovic shot 4-of-8 from the field, 1-of-4 from the three-point line and hit 7-of-8 free throws on his way to 16 points. He also added a rebound, an assist, two turnovers and a steal in 34 minutes. In the Gaels' season-opener against Robert Morris, he had 13 points but shot 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from the three-point line, adding two rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in 37 minutes.
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
