University of North Carolina Athletics
Oregon Game Guide
November 25, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
North Carolina (4-0) will face Oregon (3-1) in the semifinal game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Carolina is coming off of an 115-70 victory over Chaminade. The Ducks beat Alabama 92-69 in the game following Carolina's victory. Carolina is 11-2 in the Maui Invitational and has won the event twice, in the 1999-00 season and the 2004-05 season. The winner of this game between the Tar Heels and the Ducks will face the winner of the Texas-Notre Dame game in the championship on Wednesday. Roy Williams is 9-1 in the Maui Invitational. Carolina is 3-0 against Oregon. The two teams first met on consecutive days in 1968 and then once more in 1976.
Game Time: North Carolina vs. Oregon, 9:30 PM.
Last Time: Carolina beat Oregon 86-60 on December 29, 1976 at Portland Memorial Coliseum. Mike O'Koren led the way with 16 points and six rebounds. Tommy LaGarde added 14 points and five rebounds while Walter Davis and Phil Ford each had 11 points. John Kuester had nine points, five assists and four steals.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 8:30 PM.
Injury Report: Tyler Hansbrough's shin looks to be feeling better but he tweaked his ankle on his other leg against Santa Barbara and did not play against Chaminade. Williams and the Tar Heels will continue to take a cautious approach. Tyler Zeller broke his wrist against Kentucky. He had surgery and will likely miss the rest of the season. Marcus Ginyard will be out until mid-December after undergoing surgery on October 8th to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. Michael Copeland tore his ACL in a pickup game in May and had surgery in June. He will be out until sometime midseason.
Storylines
Field-goal percentage defense: Chaminade was on fire in the second half (though most would have hardly noticed, considering what the Tar Heels were doing). The Silverswords actually had the best shooting half against Carolina all season, making 17-of-32 shots (53.1 percent). Ironically, that was one half after Carolina had its best defensive half of the year, holding Chaminade to 28.6% shooting in the first half and forcing 13 turnovers. Only Kentucky has had more turnovers in a half and the lowest percentage a Carolina opponent had shot this season was 37.5% by Kentucky in the first half. Ironically, the Wildcats shot 52.4% in the second half.
It was the Penn game that Carolina was the most consistent, holding the Quakers to 41.9% or less the whole game. In the last three games, Carolina's opponents have shot 50 percent or better in one half after shooting 40 percent or worse in the other half. Carolina allowed 42.6% shooting by its opponents last season and Williams has said that is too high. This season, it's almost identical: 42.7%. But if this team looks dramatically different defensively already even if the numbers don't bear that out yet, it's because last year's team forced 16.1 turnovers per game and this season's team has is averaging 22.3 opponent turnovers.
Carolina held Chaminade to 0.54 points per possession in the first half, a season-low by a team in the first half against the Tar Heels. In the second half, Carolina allowed the Silverswords to convert one point per possession, the highest it has allowed in any half this season. Still Carolina has held all four opponents to 71 points or fewer this season. Carolina did that just twice in its first four games last season with Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard.
Like the Tar Heels, the Ducks are a team that took a few games to find their rhythm offensively. After hitting 47-of-130 shots in its first two games (36.2%) and 16-of-45 (35.6%) from beyond the arc, averaging 72.5 points per game. In the last two games, Oregon has shot 58-of-111 (52.3%) from the floor and 20-of-44 (45.5%) from beyond the arc, averaging 88.0 points per game. Oregon is the type of team that gives Carolina fits from time to time; it relies on the three-pointer but has versatile players at most positions, including down low, that are trickier for any post other than Tyler Hansbrough to guard.
Rebounding: If there was one thing Carolina didn't do well against Chaminade, it was rebound. Against an undermanned squad that lacked a lot of height, Carolina held a slim 36-32 rebounding edge. In its first three games, Carolina allowed its opponents to pull down a total of 23 offensive rebounds. Chaminade managed to get almost half of that total, pulling down 11 offensive rebounds (the most Carolina has allowed this season). The rebounding was dead even in the second half at 14 apiece although Chaminade held a 6-5 edge on the offensive boards. Chaminade scored 11 second-chance points. Carolina's first three opponents combined for 14 second-chance points.
Without Hansbrough, Carolina has struggled to rebound consistently (in the UCSB game, it out-rebounded the Gauchos by 12, its biggest margin this season). Carolina teams under Williams have been some of the best in the country and right now the rebounding on this team is mediocre. Oregon has out-rebounded opponents by an average of +3.8 per game, including a +3.5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Ducks out-rebounded Alabama 35-33, even though the Crimson Tide had a 13-11 edge on the offensive boards.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency has been shut down by Civic Center officials.
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. Jay Bilas, Dan Shulman and Bill Raftery will call the game.
Names To Know
Danny Green: Danny Green's stat line against Chaminade was very impressive, even if he were playing against no one - a career-high 26 points in 22 minutes on 11-of-17 shooting. He also had seven rebounds (five offensive), three assists, a steal and two blocks. Green has always been known as the Tar Heels' resident stat stuffer but what makes his line even more remarkable is the fact that at halftime, he had eight points on 4-of-9 shooting to go along with five rebounds, two assists and one block in 15 minutes. In the second half, he played just seven minutes. He had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and added two rebounds, one assist, one steal and a block.
By himself, Green went on an 11-2 run against Chaminade, making 4-of-4 shots (including one three-pointer), blocking a shot and hitting 2-of-3 free throws. He did all this in the span one of one minute and 25 seconds, putting Carolina up 83-39. Green brushed off his big game rather modestly. "I was just doing what Coach (Williams) told me to do," Green said. "We were just running in the lanes, we got a couple steals, pressured them, got some traps going. Just running the floor I got a lot of easy baskets and a lot of good passes from Ty (Lawson)."
In the absence of Hansbrough, Ginyard and now Zeller, Green has been forced to be Mr. Everything this season and he has embraced that role quietly but effectively. He has run the floor well on the break and taken care of the basketball, dishing out 12 assists to just three turnovers. He has ten steals and three blocks this season to go along with 19 rebounds (seven offensive). He has also shot a very solid 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. Now, Green has been forced to go back to something he had to do last season, particularly late in games - play the four-spot. "We had a lot of bigs, but right now we're shorthanded," Green said. "So we have Will (Graves) and myself playing the 4 position. I think tonight we had advantages running and getting out up the floor."
Wayne Ellington: Just as quietly as his teammate Danny Green, Wayne Ellington has begun to turn around his season. In the first two games, he shot 10-of-29 from the floor and 5-of-12 from beyond the arc, averaging 14.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals. In the last two games, he has shot 12-of-19 from the floor (63.2%) and 5-of-10 (50%) from beyond the arc, averaging 15.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals. He still hasn't had one of the typical Ellington games yet, though his play has been solid. In the last five halves of basketball starting with the second half of the Kentucky game, he has shot 50% or better from the floor. In the second half of the Chaminade game, he had his best half in terms of efficiency, shooting 3-of-3 from the floor and scoring seven points in nine minutes, also adding an assist and two steals.
If there is a concern with Ellington it would be that he has never fouled out of a game at Carolina yet has four fouls in each of the last two games. Carolina hasn't needed him per se in those games but down the stretch, it could be a problem. He has really tried to turn around his defense, getting in the passing lanes and being aggressive, but sometimes that backfires. With the thin Tar Heel bench, Carolina will need him to stay out of foul trouble.
Michael Dunigan: In a season in which the Ducks have struggled to find consistency, the 6-10 freshman center has been very consistent all season. He has shot 24-of-36 (66.7%) from the floor, averaging 14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. Against Alabama, Dunigan had 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and added nine rebounds and a block.
Joevan Catron: The 6-6, 235-pound sophomore forward struggled in Oregon's first three games, shooting 5-of-22 from the field (22.7%) and averaging 3.0 turnovers. He did average 3.3 assists, 2.7 steals, one block and 8.3 rebounds. But against a very physical Alabama front line, Catron appeared to find his groove, notching 17 points (after scoring 27 in the first three games) and adding 12 rebounds (four offensive boards). He also had six assists and hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor and 7-of-12 from the foul line. Catron has averaged 8.0 free-throw attempts per game and has made 5.8. Last season, he averaged 8.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and shot 51.2% from the floor. With or without Tyler Hansbrough against the Ducks, Catron will present a challenge in the post to Carolina's thin rotation in that spot to guard a powerful player that can also step out and shoot three-pointers.
Quotables
"If he does, I wish he'd figure out how to get there again." -Roy Williams (when Danny Green was asked if he was aware of what he was doing to go on his second-half run)
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
