University of North Carolina Athletics
Michigan State Game Guide
December 3, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 1/1 North Carolina (7-0) will travel to Ford Field in Detroit to take on No. 13/12 Michigan State (4-1) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Carolina is coming off of a 116-48 victory over UNC-Asheville and won the Maui Invitational, beating the three teams by an average of 29.7 points to set the record for the highest margin of victory in the history of the event. Michigan State lost in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic to Maryland but won its next two games, the most recent over Wichita State by a 65-57 score on Sunday. Carolina leads the all-time series between the two teams with a 7-3 record. This will be the third meeting between the two teams in the last five seasons; the two previous games were in the NCAA Tournament play. Carolina is 4-0 against the Spartans in the NCAA Tournament, beating the Spartans twice in the Final Four (1957 and 2005), once in the Sweet 16 (1998) and once in the second round (2007).
Carolina is 4-5 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and 4-1 in the Roy Williams era. The lone loss was a 68-64 loss at home to Illinois at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. Prior to Roy Williams' arrival, Carolina lost all four games by an average margin of 15 points. Since his arrival, Carolina has averaged a scoring margin of +6.0 points. Carolina has faced Ohio State twice in the last two seasons, defeating the Buckeyes in Chapel Hill 98-89 in the fall of 2006 and winning in Columbus last year, 66-55. Carolina has not faced Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge since the 2000-01 season when it lost 77-64 on the road. It was Matt Doherty's first loss as a head coach. Carolina faced the Spartans one other team in the event, in its inaugural year in the 1999-00 season when the Spartans beat the Tar Heels 86-76 at the Smith Center. Michigan State is 5-3 in the event, best in the Big Ten.
Game Time: North Carolina at Michigan State, 9:15 PM.
Last Time: Carolina beat Michigan State 81-67 in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament in Winston-Salem. The victory marked Tyler Hansbrough's rather infamous shedding of his protective face mask. He wore it after having his nose broken against Duke and for the next four games, he struggled. But he took it off at the 12:33 mark and went on to score 19 to end the first half. He had 29 of his 33 points after the mask removal. He had nine rebounds to go along with the 33 points. Michigan State rallied to take a 57-54 lead with 8:48 to go. Carolina responded with a 14-4 run to take a seven-point lead with 4:03 to go. Michigan State would get as close as five points with 2:45 to go but Carolina closed the game with an 11-2 run and held the Spartans without a point in the final 1:28 and without a field goal in the final 2:45. Carolina out-rebounded the Spartans 40-29 and shot 48.1% compared to 37.3% by the Spartans.
Ty Lawson was almost as dominant as Hansbrough as the duo combined for 53 of Carolina's 81 points. Lawson had 20 on 6-of-10 shooting and added eight assists. Carolina only had 12 in the game and both teams combined for only 27. Hansbrough and Lawson combined to attempt 23 of Carolina's 34 free throws and made 18. Reyshawn Terry had 12 of his 14 points in the second half in front of his hometown crowd. Drew Neitzel had 26 of Michigan State's 67 points on 9-of-27 shooting (6-of-17 from the three-point line). Raymar Morgan had 19 points on 4-of-12 shooting (10-of-11 from the foul line). Goran Suton led the Spartans in rebounding with nine.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 8:15 PM.
Injury Report: Tyler Hansbrough missed the UNC-Asheville game and is questionable. 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. Senior Goran Suton missed all three of Michigan State's games in the Old Spice Classic with a sprained left knee.
Storylines
Rebounding: After allowing just 23 offensive rebounds in its first three games (7.7 per game) and 14 second-chance points (4.7), Carolina has allowed 14.3 offensive rebounds and 10.8 second-chance points in the last four games. Out of 57 second-chance points allowed this season, Carolina's last two opponents have scored 35. Carolina had not allowed more than 11 offensive rebounds all season until the Maui Invitational Championship against Notre Dame when the Irish had 17 offensive boards and scored 16 second-chance points. UNC-Asheville, a team that is lacking in height, pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and scored 14 second-chance points. Almost one-third of the Bulldogs' points were off of offensive rebounds (14 out of 48).
Carolina is averaging a +10.0 margin on the boards this season. But the success on the boards has been spotty at best; Carolina dominated a physical and talented Oregon front line 58-33 (+25), its biggest margin of the season. That was just one game after out-rebounded Chaminade just 36-32. Carolina's 52-39 edge over UNC-Asheville was its second-largest margin of the season (+13) but it gave up far too many offensive rebounds. Michigan State is a team that relies heavily on its rebounding. The Spartans have given up double-digit second-chance points just twice this season and has ten or more second-chance points in every game. They have out-rebounded opponents by just 6.2 rebounds per game but after out-rebounding its first two opponents in Orlando by a combined five rebounds and losing one of the games, Michigan State out-rebounded Wichita State by a season-high margin of 42-24, including a season-high 19 offensive rebounds.
"You've got to do a good job on the defensive end and you have to finish the defense - by that I mean you have to box out. You have to secure the ball. You have to rebound the basketball," Williams said. "Last year, we led the entire nation in rebound margin which I think is the true rebounding statistic that you should go by. Michigan State has led the nation in rebounding margin five of the last ten years. That's a big part of Tom Izzo's game plan. We realize we have to compete with them on the backboards. We have to finish our defensive possession by getting the basketball off the board and not letting them have more than one shot."
Expanding the definition of a good shot: Roy Williams has been known to yank a player out of a game for an ill-advised shot attempt. But when Danny Green kept launching three-pointer after three-pointer from further and further out against UNC-Asheville, some might have been wondering if the head coach would throw his jacket down. Instead, he left Green in the game and was actually pleased with all of his shots. One important reason for that is that all but one of the shots went in. That approach towards Green encompasses the approach he has taken with many talented - and experienced - members of this team. The shot still needs to be a good one in the sense of a player being open, but he trusts the instincts and abilities of his team.
"I'll never forget 1981 - some of the shots that Al Wood took at the Final Four, they weren't the best shots but by golly when he let it go, it looked like it was going in and the net started moving," Williams said. "So I think you've got to go with some of that sometimes and not be so concerned that you put a little bit of fear or a little bit of doubt in a guy's mind. I do believe that the more confidence you give shooters, the better they're going to shoot it."
Carolina has never been as bad of a three-point shooting team as outsiders might suggest, but it has not generally been the first choice in a Carolina offense. It's still not necessarily the first shot but it has been a good shot for the Tar Heels this season so far. Part of the reason for that is that Carolina is moving the ball around enough before a shot goes up, waiting for a three-pointer to be a good shot rather than just an open shot. Guards are penetrating, drawing defenders and dishing to open teammates. The fundamentally sound juniors and seniors making up this team are getting their feet set and squaring their bodies before taking the shots. Even Tyler Hansbrough is getting in on the action in his limited playing time.
Carolina has hit double-digit three-pointers in three games this season. In all of last season, Carolina hit ten three-pointers in only one game. Carolina has also attempted 20 or more three-pointers four times this season after doing it just four times all of last season; one was in a loss to Maryland in which it hit 7-of-23 (30.4%). In the four games it has done that this season, Carolina has made 43.5% or higher in three of the four games. So is Carolina a better shooting team this season? Not necessarily, according to Williams. But Carolina is a team that is taking better shots this season. "We've been unselfish," Williams said. "For the most part, we've taken good shots. That's all I keep saying to the guys, `You know what's a good shot for you, so don't take a bad one. If a teammate is there and he's got a better shot, throw it to him.'"
Williams actually says that this team has yet to have the kind of shooting game that he thinks it is capable of having. That's quite a scary thought, considering Carolina is shooting 42.4% from beyond the arc and 51.9% from the floor. But when you consider the fact that Wayne Ellington has yet to really catch fire, Bobby Frasor went through a severe shooting slump, Tyler Zeller (who can shoot from any distance) is out, and Carolina's perennial leader in field-goal percentage leader Tyler Hansbrough has missed time, there's some truth to that. "We really haven't shot it that well yet," Williams said. "In the second half, Danny (Green) got rolling. Jack (Wooten) and J.B. (Tanner), everybody made one there at one stretch. But for a whole game, we really haven't come out and shot the ball like I really think that we can shoot it. So I'm looking forward to that day myself."
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in Ford Field should be 90.3 FM.
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, Dick Vitale and Doris Burke will cover the game.
Names To Know
Ty Lawson: Last time the Tar Heels played the Spartans, the freshman Lawson absolutely dominated the guard play even though he was facing off against the prolific Drew Neitzel. He made 3-of-5 three-pointers, 3-of-5 two-pointers, 5-of-6 free throws and scored 20 points. He had eight assists, one turnover and one steal in 36 minutes. Despite Neitzel's incredible scoring ability, there was no one on the Michigan State roster at that time that realistically stood a chance of staying in front of Ty Lawson. Senior guard Travis Walton, who has made the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for two years, would be the best option now but wasn't ready then. Now, Michigan State has not only Walton but also the speedy sophomore Kalin Lucas, the rare point guard perhaps quick enough to stay in front of Lawson.
But Lawson has gotten off to an excellent start this season and said that he feels he is playing his best stretch of basketball as a Tar Heel. That's hard to argue; Lawson has a four-game stretch of 30 assists to three turnovers (an unbelievable 10.0 assist-to-turnover ratio). In that span, he has shot 24-of-34 from the floor (70.6%) and 6-of-10 from the three-point line (60%), averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 assists and 2.3 steals. In the last two games, he is averaging 22 points and has 19 assists, seven steals and just two turnovers. His defense has certainly gotten better, as both he and his coach have pointed out - Lawson was prone to foul trouble earlier in his career nad has just nine fouls in seven games this season.
Part of the reason Carolina has survived and in some games thrived without Hansbrough is that with Lawson penetrating and drawing defenders, Carolina is able to get quite a few open shots. In fact, Carolina is able to get those shots because Lawson has learned to balance driving with forcing the issue and his instincts are much better. But Lawson is thrilled that before this season, Williams took the reins off of him and decided to let Lawson run a bit more freely. He has not abused that privilege and instead is embracing it and treating it with respect. But it has also allowed him to get back to basics, in a sense. "In high school, I was a scorer," Lawson said. "That's what I mostly did. I shot the ball a lot in high school. So for him to tell me that means he has a lot of confidence in my ability. I felt like I was running the team more last year. This feels like I can just play the way I want to like I did in high school."
Larry Drew II: Ty Lawson can't play the entire game against Michigan State. Physically he could perhaps, but he will not be at his best if he has to. Drew has been a solid contributor off the bench this season filling in at the point guard slot. It's difficult to remember a Carolina freshman point guard in recent years who has had such an easy transition and the chance to learn behind a star point guard. Even Quentin Thomas had to start his first game as a Tar Heel and had a rough transition to the Roy Williams style while spelling Felton the rest of the year. But Drew has made it look even easier. Drew has an uncanny knack for making just the right pass; some of his needle-threading attempts look much more like Thomas as a senior than Thomas as a freshman. "I guess I can see the floor like that. I just kind of have a feeling of where the players are going to be or where they're going to go," Drew said. "I try to read the situations ahead of time. I already know what pass I'm going to make and if that pass isn't there, then I know my second option that I'm going to look at."
But Drew will be tested. Kalin Lucas is an incredibly quick point guard for the Spartans and as mentioned, Walton is an incredibly capable player on both ends. Drew has 15 points, 14 rebounds, 26 assists, nine turnovers and seven steals in just 89 minutes of action this season. Carolina will need that kind of efficient and relatively mistake-free play when Lawson is on the bench.
Deon Thompson: Deon Thompson has stepped up overall this season quite a bit in the absence of three Carolina post players, but his progression into the type of player he wants to be is still ongoing. Carolina will need Thompson's work with or without Hansbrough against the Spartans, both in the post on offense and defense and particularly on the boards. While the talent disparity was vast between Carolina and UNC-Asheville, what Williams wanted was to see Thompson bring a little bit of Hansbrough's style to the game, starting out strong and bringing energy. Without Zeller out for likely the season and with Hansbrough's status uncertain, Carolina needs quite a bit from both Thompson and Davis.
On Sunday, the two of them displeased Williams so much that he pulled them after a lackluster 2:43 and put in an all-guard lineup. Thompson began the game with a turnover that bounced off his foot, getting a shot blocked and allowing two field goals, one when he was blown by for a lay-up. The junior was very frank last season in admitting that a lack of early success would get him out of games mentally very early on. So when Williams pulled him, both the coach and the Tar Heel faithful held their breath, wondering if Thompson would disappear. "I didn't like what they were doing. They didn't act like to me that they were into it as much. It was more casual and careless. So I took them out and gave them some wonderful advice and put them back in," Williams said. "I even told him, he walked out and I said, `Deon, now we're going to find out because in years past, you'd get that look on your face and you'd go south. Now we're going to find out if you really have matured more.'"
So Thompson responded by finishing the game with 15 points (he scored two points in the first few minutes) on 6-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds (four offensive), three steals, three blocks and just one more turnover. He did all that in just 27 minutes. In the first half alone after the benching, he played 15 more minutes and scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, adding seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. "I think that his maturity and being able to handle some setbacks, being able to handle some unsuccessful plays or being able to handle any negative thing is easier for him now because he's so much more enthusiastic, he's more mature," Williams said. "I tell all the guys this, you can convince yourself into being that way and I think that he's doing a nice job of that. You wouldn't look at UNC-Asheville and the margin and think it was very important but I think it was important to him."
Kalin Lucas: The Michigan State sophomore point guard is similar to Lawson in many ways - both are around six feet tall (Lucas is 6-0, Lawson 5-11), both are strong, both can penetrate effectively and most importantly - both are very fast. "They're two of the quickest guys in college basketball. Ishmael Smith at Wake, Tajuan Porter from Oregon - I might be leaving a couple of other guys out, but I think Ty and Kalin have got to be in that top level. Nobody is above them, let's put it that way. I think it would be interesting to see how they attack each other."
Lucas has 31 assists to six turnovers this season and leads the team in steals with seven. He is second on the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game and has been in double figures all but once this season and that was in the loss to Maryland. He had six points on 3-of-11 shooting and shot 0-of-3 from the foul line. He has missed only five free throws all season, ranking second on the team in both free throws attempted (23) and made (18). He had his first double-double of his career against Oklahoma State, notching 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and adding ten assists. Going into the Wichita State game, he had 26 assists to just three turnovers (a ridiculous 8.7 assist-to-turnover ratio). He had five assists and three turnovers in that game.
Raymar Morgan: The 6-8, 225-pound junior forward came back to Michigan State this season as the third-leading returning scorer in the Big Ten. He's gotten off to a hot start this year, averaging 17 points and four rebounds and shooting 70 percent from the floor. He's also averaging one assist and one steal a game. He leads the team in free throws attempted with 39 and for a team that has had trouble hitting them, he has shot 71.8% from the line this season, including 14-of-18 in the last two games (77.8%) and averaging 9.0 attempts in those games.
Morgan played just 14 minutes in the loss to Maryland as he had foul trouble the whole game. In the Oklahoma State game that followed, he had a season-high 29 points on 9-of-11 shooting, adding two assists and a steal. He was removed from the starting lineup for that game and was back in it for Wichita State after that performance. Carolina had trouble guarding Morgan two years ago; the Spartans attempted 17 free throws and Morgan attempted 11 on his way to 19 points.
Delvon Roe: The true freshman has already dealt with more setbacks than most freshmen. As a senior in high school, he made it through just one game before getting hurt. He had microfracture surgery on his right knee in December 2007 (one of the most difficult surgeries to come back from) and had another surgery in August of 2008. He is still attempting not only to get adjusted to the Michigan State system but also to get re-adjusted to playing basketball, period. He is averaging 6.2 points and 15.8 minutes per game but against Wichita State, he had a season-high 19 minutes and also set a season high in rebounds with 11. He tied his season high in scoring with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting. Despite the limited minutes, he is tied for the lead on the team in blocked shots with four, is second in offensive rebounds with nine and third in rebounds per game with 5.0. Roe was recruited by Carolina and as Williams said, they "thought (Carolina) had a great chance." Roe went with Michigan State instead but after spending a lot of time with Carolina and the staff, this game will undoubtedly have significance for Roe.
Quotables
"In 2006, I stopped the team on the expressway down in Atlanta before the Georgia Tech game and said, `There's where they're going to be playing the Final Four.' We didn't make it so I'm never showing them the frickin' arena again." -Roy Williams on the significance of playing at Ford Field, the site of this year's Final Four
"When Ed (Davis) and Tyler (Zeller) got here, it's a pretty easy deal. I just tell them, `You're standing on the block. You cannot shoot a lay-up. I'm going to throw you the ball and you turn and make a shot. If you miss it, I'm going to kill you. So tell me what you're going to shoot.' So if a guy turns to his left shoulder, I say, `All right, that's your favorite move because if you miss it and you're going to die, you're definitely going to shoot your favorite move. So now you've got to have something going to the other shoulder. So if someone starts overplaying you and that's your favorite side, then you've got to have something going to the other side.'" -Roy Williams on molding young big men
"Marvin Williams called and had a really good friend of his that's going to be up in Detroit. He wanted to know if he could get a couple of tickets for the game against Michigan State. Eric Hoots was talking to him and told me Marvin was going to get another tattoo. I told him, `All right Marvin, I'll give him two tickets but if you get a tattoo, I'm not giving him any tickets.' So the kid is going to get two tickets." -Roy Williams
"It was almost embarrassing because Tyler came up and said, `Geez Bobby, you only make one shot and the whole crowd goes wild.'" -Bobby Frasor (when asked about the crowd cheering when he broke a shooting slump in Maui)
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
