University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels And Vols Are Familiar Foes
April 1, 2007 | Women's Basketball
April 1, 2007
By Lauren Brownlow
CLEVELAND--After Carolina lost to Duke at Duke this year, Sylvia Hatchell and the Tar Heels felt badly but the lone bright spot they found seemed silly at the time: the Tar Heels had not played their best basketball yet.
"I told my kids in the locker room, `We haven't played our best basketball. We can play better than we're playing.' So that's what we're going to try to do, is play our best basketball in March and hopefully move to a higher level," Coach Hatchell said on February 25th. "If I felt like we were playing about as good as we could play, I would be worried. Again, I think it's a challenge for us to keep working hard and realize that we haven't played our best basketball and that we can play better than we're playing."
Carolina has not lost a game since its loss to Duke, and won three ACC Tournament games and four NCAA Tournament games for a seven-game win streak.
"I think that (the team has played better) because we knew we had not played our best and that we had more to give and we could do better than we were doing. Even though we had only lost those two games to Duke and he one to State, we knew we had not played as well as we could play and so I don't think any of my players disagreed with that. We (agreed) that we just had to keep pushing buttons and elevate to a higher level for Tournament time," Coach Hatchell said.
The Tar Heels have maintained good numbers in scoring, scoring margin, rebounding, and field-goal percentage. However, Carolina shot 33.4% from the three-point line this season and allowed its opponents to shoot 26.7%, while in NCAA Tournament play so far it has shot 26.3% and allowed 35%. Carolina leads the nation in assists with 18.1 per game but has averaged just 15.5 assists in the Tournament. Carolina averaged 19.4 turnovers a game and is averaging 20.0 in the Tournament so far.
The game against Tennessee on December 3rd, 2006 which Carolina won 70-57 was not exemplary of either team's best basketball. The two teams combined for 49 turnovers (25 by Carolina and 24 by Tennessee) and just 37 assists. The Tar Heels held the Lady Vols to 36.2% shooting from the field in the December 3rd win, which was their third-worst shooting performance of Tennessee's season. The Vols also made a season-low 21 field goals against Carolina. Tennessee has turned it over more than 20 times in just seven games this season. Carolina forced 24 turnovers, the most Tennessee had until it turned it over 25 times against Vanderbilt on January 25th.
Coach Hatchell said Saturday that both teams are better now, and attributed the sloppy offense to the fact that both teams had only played a few games. She still said it was one of the best all-around defensive performances by both teams that she had seen in awhile.
"I told the (Tennessee) players, `Let's meet again for the national championship.' It was an honor to play that game," Coach Hatchell said on December 3rd. "We bring out the best and the worst, I guess, in each other, because both teams defensively beat each other up. It was tough and physical, but it was a great game."
It's not quite the national championship, but it's close enough.
Candace Parker, who has already won some National Player of the Year awards, had 27 of Tennessee's 57 points in the December meeting. On the season, Parker led the Lady Vols with 19.8 points per game, 9.8 rebounds a game and shot 54.2% from the field. In the NCAA Tournament so far, Parker is averaging 20.8 points a game, shooting 73.5% from the field and pulling down 10.3 rebounds a game.
Parker did not have much help last time against Carolina and will need it this time. Sidney Spencer, who shoots 42.7% from the field, shot 2-of-13 against Carolina. Spencer and Shannon Bobbitt both shoot over 40% from the three-point line and both have made more than 60 three-pointers. The duo has combined to make 124 three-pointers, or 61% of Tennessee's total three-pointers this year. In the NCAA Tournament so far, Spencer is averaging 13.0 points per game on 45% shooting and Bobbitt is averaging 11.5 points per game on 48.4% shooting.
Bobbitt, 5-2, is the shortest player to ever be on scholarship at Tennessee. Latta, listed at a generous 5-6, was able to take advantage of that defensive match-up. Last time against Carolina, Bobbitt had seven points, three assists, and led the Lady Vols in turnovers with six. That was the most turnovers she had in a game all season.
"I'm definitely going to use that to my advantage somewhat. Bobbitt, she's definitely a quick guard, so I'm going to have to control her penetration. But my size - which is not that much - over Bobbitt, I'm going to use that to my advantage," Latta said.
Last time against Tennessee, Latta had five points in a little over 30 seconds to put the Tar Heels up 46-38 with 12:05 left after Tennessee had closed the gap to five points. She also had three straight assists down the stretch to ice the game for Carolina. For the game, she had 12 points, eight assists, five turnovers and two steals in 35 minutes. But the real star of the last meeting was Erlana Larkins, who had 17 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block and just one turnover and one foul. She did not miss a free-throw and shot 7-of-15 from the field, including one missed three-pointer.
Carolina out-rebounded the Lady Vols 43-33 in December. Tennessee has been out-rebounded 12 times this season and just twice in the last 14 games (eight in the first 20). Larkins, coming off her first double-double off the NCAA Tournament against Purdue, knows that Coach Hatchell's favorite word - rebounding - will be important on Sunday.
"I would have to say, number one, rebounding. We talked about it this morning and it's very important that we win the rebounding match because they're a great offensive rebounding team and Nicky Anosike and the taller guards like to rebound," Larkins said.
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
