University of North Carolina Athletics
Kentucky Game Guide
November 18, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 1/1 North Carolina (1-0) will host Kentucky (0-1) on Tuesday night in its final home game before a four-game stretch in California and Maui. Carolina is coming off of an 86-71 victory over Penn. Kentucky is coming off of a 111-103 loss at home to VMI. The 111 points given up were the most surrendered by a Kentucky team since December 27, 1989 when Carolina scored 121 points. It was the most given up at home since December 23, 1989 when it lost in overtime to Louisiana-Lafayette.
Carolina leads the all-time series between the two teams, 20-10. Carolina is 3-2 in Chapel Hill. After Carolina dropped four straight in the series between 2001-04, the Tar Heels have won four straight in the series.
Game Time: Kentucky at North Carolina, 9:00 PM.
Last Time: The Tar Heels traveled to Lexington on December 1st, 2007 and beat Kentucky, 86-77. Carolina was up by 16 with as little as 1:31 to go but a quick Kentucky flurry cut it to the final margin. In the first half, Danny Green, who led the Tar Heels with a career-high 20 points, scored 12 of Carolina's 14 points in a five-minute, 23-second span to give Carolina a 37-32 halftime lead. Eight of those 12 points came in a little over a minute. Carolina was up just 44-39 early in the second half but went on a 13-0 run to put the game away. Bobby Frasor hit two three-pointers back-to-back to cap off the run. Carolina had 33 points off of 19 Kentucky turnovers and out-rebounded Kentucky 42-31. Carolina had 13 assists to 13 turnovers. Carolina also shot 55.6% from the field in the second half after shooting 32.4% in the first half. Danny Green led the Tar Heels with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting; he also had six rebounds, a block and a steal. Wayne Ellington had 18 points. Tyler Hansbrough added 14 points on just 2-of-8 shooting from the field but 10-of-12 form the foul line. He also had a team-high 11 rebounds. Ty Lawson added ten points, six assists and two steals. Joe Crawford led Kentucky with 21 points. Patrick Patterson added 19 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Ramel Bradley also had 19 points.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 8:00 PM.
Injury Report: Marcus Ginyard will be out until mid-December after undergoing surgery on October 8th to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. Tyler Hansbrough has been held out of practice with a stress reaction and will not play. Michael Copeland tore his ACL in a pickup game in May and had surgery in June. He will be out until sometime midseason.
Storylines
Offensive patience: In past seasons, Carolina would have been content to jack up three-pointers against a zone defense like the one it faced against Penn rather than feeding the post. Last season, Carolina worked hard to find Tyler Hansbrough in the post against zones; this season, he is obviously not there yet. So the Carolina post players not as used to being the go-to guys in the post (particularly the freshmen, but also Thompson) have had to get used to moving more. While the post players were just as guilty of not moving, the Tar Heel perimeter players were particularly more willing to settle for three-pointers or long jump shots in the second half.
"Against a zone, I don't think we should just go around and shoot three-point shots because they want to play zone to take our inside game away," Williams said. "I told the guys at halftime, it was partly the perimeter guys not throwing it but the big guys didn't move as well. In fact, in the second half, I thought it was more the big guys not moving than it was the perimeter players."
Still, it's a tough balance - if a shot is open, should the Tar Heels take it? Williams always says that just because a shot is an open shot doesn't mean it's a good shot. But against Penn in the first half, Carolina made 4-of-12 three-pointers and 15-of-21 two-pointers; Carolina shot 10-of-12 in the paint and took just nine two-pointers outside of the paint, making five. In the second half, Carolina shot 3-of-10 from beyond the arc but many were rushed. The Tar Heels shot just 33.3% in the second half overall and 6-of-17 from two-point range and made four shots out of only eight attempts in the paint.
When only one-third of Carolina's shot attempts for the game come in the paint, that's not necessarily the formula Williams wants his team to follow. But Carolina also had six players score in double figures for the first time since a win at Arizona in January of 2007. When proven shooters like Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Bobby Frasor are the ones having bad shooting days and the team still wins by 15 points, that is a good sign.
"I thought we were a little more tight than I wanted us to be," Williams said. "Early in the game I thought every shot we took was a good shot, but we didn't make very many of them. We did some nice things - we just didn't shoot the ball very well. Wayne Ellington, for example, has just been shooting it fantastic. Yesterday in our dummy offense he made six straight three's, so he's not normally going to go 5-for-15. We didn't shoot the ball as well as we have been shooting and I think we're really going to be a very, very good shooting team."
Carolina will need to be patient against a Kentucky team that will be very tough defensively and would love to force the Tar Heels into a bunch of long-distance shots. VMI scored 111 points but just 36 were scored in the paint. Forty-two were off of three-pointers (the Keydets shot 14-of-31) and 27 were from the foul line.
Rebounding: The long arms of Ed Davis were constantly outstretched to either grab a rebound or bat it to a nearby teammate. But his 14 rebounds made up for a third of the Tar Heels' 42 boards. Carolina narrowly out-rebounded the shorter Quakers, 42-32. The absence of offensive rebounding aces Marcus Ginyard and Tyler Hansbrough was certainly felt, although Carolina did have a 14-9 edge on the offensive boards. Six of Penn's rebounds came in the second half on 18 missed shots; Carolina had nine offensive rebounds on 18 missed shots in the second half. Carolina out-rebounded Penn by a slim 22-18 margin in the second half.
"I think we definitely need to push more and get on the offensive glass more and the defensive glass as well," Danny Green said. "Now that Tyler and Marcus are out, we're missing a lot of those rebounds. Tyler, he led the ACC in rebounding and Marcus, he was one of our best perimeter rebounders. So we need guys to pick it up. Right now we're doing an okay job but we still need to keep emphasizing that and keep trying to do better."
Williams repeatedly has stressed the importance of rebounding, particularly without Hansbrough. He also enjoyed Tyler Zeller's performance but was quick to add that he needs the freshman to pull down at least one defensive rebound (he had two rebounds, both offensive boards). In the second half, Davis' six rebounds led the way but Wayne Ellington was a close second with four rebounds of his own. Bobby Frasor, Will Graves and Larry Drew II combined for another five rebounds in the second half. Green, Zeller and Thompson combined for five rebounds as well.
"I don't care this stuff about you've got to replace Tyler (Hansbrough's) points - we've got to find somebody to rebound the basketball," Williams said. "The guy that rebounds the best is going to make sure that he still gets an opportunity to go out there. It's something for everybody."
Carolina will face a Kentucky team that out-rebounded the Keydets 48-29, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass. The Wildcats had 21 second-chance points and VMI had 21. Kentucky will not give you many chances but certainly Carolina will need to do better than converting 14 offensive boards into 16 second-chance points against Penn.
Transition and forcing tempo: The Carolina transition game wasn't always clicking on all cylinders against Penn, which is understandable - three freshmen played double-digit minutes. But when it did get out, it looked good. Four of Carolina's 13 turnovers came in transition or trying to start the break; of those, three were by freshmen. But Carolina did score 24 points on the break, 14 in the first half. Carolina shot 9-of-11 and 2-of-3 from the three-point line. Carolina was able to get its transition going in the second half particularly because of suffocating defense. Williams extended some of his traps and even utilized some full-court pressure to throw off Penn. Turning defense into offense is exactly what Carolina wants to do.
But transition defense has at times been a concern for Carolina. At one point in the first half, Carolina made a basket and Penn beat the entire team make down the court to make the score 9-7. Carolina will be playing a Kentucky team who is certainly used to going up and down after chasing around a fast-paced VMI team. Despite playing only eight players, Kentucky still managed to score 103 points themselves and nearly pull off a victory after being down as many as 23 points with 13:41 to go. Forty one of those points came in the final 13:41 and 22 in the final 9:18.
The Keydets did play fast but according to the box score, they had just four fast-break points while Kentucky had 28 fast-break points. But VMI scored 38 points on 25 Kentucky turnovers (13 of which were steals). Kentucky managed just six steals but still had 22 points on 14 VMI turnovers. Kentucky can obviously score in transition and if Penn is savvy and quick enough to beat the Tar Heels down the court after a made basket, Kentucky could certainly do plenty of that. "It looked like VMI, we watched some of it - they had a pretty good shooting day. They came out hot, they hit some three's and they kept pushing it," Green said. "It looked like they would get up and down the floor and they were just about scoring and running. So we're going to have to do a better job of playing defense. Hopefully they don't get 100 points on us. Hopefully we can push and run on offense and get 100 points on them."
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.
ESPN coverage: The game will be available on ESPN. Dan Shulman will handle the play-by-play, Dick Vitale will be the analyst and Erin Andrews will be the sideline reporter. College Gameday shown Tuesday night will be filmed in Chapel Hill.
Names To Know
Danny Green: Danny Green got just his second-ever start and had a nice game, scoring 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting (2-of-4 from beyond the arc) and adding four rebounds, four assists, three steals and no turnovers in 24 minutes. It was a typical stat-stuffing game for Green, but the senior ran the floor very well against Penn. While at times Green has looked erratic while dribbling and made questionable decisions, he was nearly flawless. Three of his four assists were on the fast break. The highlight was a beautiful no-look pass to Zeller, who finished with a nifty lay-up. Green passed the ball well and his shot selection for the most part was great and his four assists with no turnovers tied his most assists in a game without at least one turnover.
He guarded Tyler Bernardini for most of the game who ended up with 26 points and Carolina will certainly need more from Green on that end of the court. But Green had his career high against Kentucky with 20 points last season and played a terrific game, single-handedly keeping Carolina in front in the first half. He had a knack for providing Carolina a spark off the bench at just the right time. Green might have felt the need to play over his head against Penn and try to score all the Tar Heels' points. But in the end, he created quite a few more points by staying within the flow of the game. He is a veteran now in this line-up and if he plays like it again against Kentucky, not only Green himself but the young Tar Heels have a chance to be successful.
Tyler Zeller: The talented 7-foot freshman now has just one fewer start than senior Danny Green. He is one of 27 Tar Heels to start his first game as a freshman and it sure didn't appear that he was a freshman most of the time. In his debut, he led the Tar Heels in scoring with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting (8-of-10 from the foul line) in 23 minutes. It was the first time a freshman led Carolina in scoring in his collegiate debut since - guess who? - Tyler Hansbrough did it against Gardner-Webb.
What was most exciting about Zeller was his ability to run the floor; he often beat some Tar Heel guards back in transition. At one point late in the second half, he missed a free throw on one end and sprinted back the other way in time to swat away a Penn lay-up try. But he is also one of the more fundamentally sound Tar Heels in the post (not just of the freshmen) and made quite a few nifty moves to either make shots or get fouled. The seven-footer was still chastised by his coach for getting just two rebounds. Thompson has noticed his younger teammate at times doing what tall men do "shrinking" a bit. "With him being so big, I think he forgets how big he is at times," Thompson said. "He gets small when he gets the ball. Coach tells him that all the time to try and stay big. That's something he's working on and using his size."
It can't be just one player to replace Hansbrough's contributions. But Zeller did a great job not only with his 18 points but also with his ten free throws attempted (and eight made), both team highs. He drew two offensive fouls in the first 1:39 of the game alone. Of Penn's 12 first-half fouls, four were committed against Zeller. He ended the game drawing seven of Penn's 30 fouls. He will face a much bigger and stronger test in the Kentucky front line than he did against Penn. But the willowy Zeller held his own in the post and he with his shooting range and running ability, he has the potential to be a matchup problem as well.
Patrick Patterson: The 6-9, 235-pound sophomore forward gave Carolina all kinds of fits last season, scoring 19 points and pulling down nine rebounds before fouling out. As a freshman, he played 40 minutes or more in eight games and missed the final five games of the season with a stress fracture in his ankle. He successfully rehabilitated the injury in the off-season but despite coming in feeling great physically, he was not as much of a factor in the VMI loss just because of the nature of the game. He had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and added seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks in 27 minutes.
"He scored 19 against us last year and physically, he is extremely imposing. Physically, when he posts you up down low, you stay posted up. He can bury you underneath the basket and you cannot get around him," Williams said. "In their game against VMI, I watched the tape of that yesterday - it was such an up-and-down game, Patrick never got any opportunities. The type of game didn't let Patrick be as big of a factor as I think Billy wanted him to be."
Williams said only Tyler Hansbrough guarded Patterson `worth a flip' last season. Now the much-improved Deon Thompson will have to test his defensive mettle. "(I have to) just wall him and make him score over me, that's the best I can do is just make him score over me and don't pick up silly fouls while trying to battle him trying to get position. If I do front him, just make sure that a teammate is there on the backside when the pass comes," Thompson said. "He's very tough down low. I'm pretty sure their team is going to be focusing on getting him the ball with the way that they didn't get him the ball last game and then losing."
Jodie Meeks: The 6-4 junior guard not only broke his career high against VMI - he obliterated it, netting 39 points on 13-of-27 shooting (3-of-11 from the three-point line and 10-of-12 from the foul line). He added four rebounds, one assist, three steals and five turnovers in 34 minutes. Twenty of those 39 points came in the second half when the Wildcats clawed their way back into the game. His 39 points were most by a Wildcat since Tayshaun Prince had 41 against Tulsa in the 2002 NCAA Tournament.
Meeks missed 20 games last season, including the final eight games. He was out with a stress fracture in his pelvis in November and then struggled with a hip flexor later in the season. He played in a few brief stretches but got over 30 minutes only twice out of six games played in January through March. His final game last year was when he played 12 minutes in a narrow 67-63 win at LSU; he hit 2-of-3 three's and had two assists. He had three double-figure outings last season; two were 20-point games (both his career highs until the VMI game). He had 21 in a loss against Houston in his first game back from the stress fracture on 7-of-14 shooting (4-of-9 from the three-point line) and had 21 in a win over Florida International on 5-of-10 shooting (5-of-9 from the three-point line).
It's a shame that the junior was so limited last season because he showed a lot of potential his freshman season, playing in 34 games and averaging 8.7 points and 2.8 rebounds, shooting a team-best 89.7% from the free-throw line and adding 51 assists and 32 steals. But if Carolina doesn't keep track of him on the defensive end, it will be in for a long night.
Quotables
"I can't slap my hands together like Mr. Miyagi and make them well." -Roy Williams on missing some of his top defenders due to injury
"Ed (Davis) doesn't look nearly as good in drills as he does when you throw the ball up and starting playing. I'd rather have a guy like that as opposed to the other way, looks great in drills and can't play dead in the cowboy movies - not a good mix." -Roy Williams
"He (Ty Lawson) is still Dennis the Menace but he's just not Dennis the Menace as often as he has been in the past. In saying all that, you've got to understand that I think even Mr. Wilson thought that Dennis the Menace was a pretty good guy and that's the way I feel about Ty." -Roy Williams
"He (Tyler Hansbrough) has done things with Jonas (Sahratian) in the weight room. He's punched a heavy bag. He's punched Jonas. He's probably wanted to punch me. ... He comes walking in with Jonas about halfway through practice last week and he's sweating like crazy. I asked him why and he told me. I said, `Well, why don't you miss? If you miss, you've got a good excuse for cracking Jonas right upside the head.' He said he thought it was a good idea." -Roy Williams
"I didn't like the shot he (Deon Thompson) took there at the end. He said the guy fouled him and I said, `Well then both of you aren't very bright because you're taking a bad shot and he's fouling a bad shot.'" -Roy Williams
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
