University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: Tar Heels Battered, Not Beaten
February 26, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
Sylvia Hatchell came into the media room, sat down heavily, and sighed. "Well, we won. That's about all I can say, I guess," she said with a wry smile.
And that pretty much sums it up. There would be no statistics to point to in order to prove what an uncharacteristically sloppy, arrhythmic game this was. It certainly wouldn't be Carolina's season-low eight turnovers. It could be Carolina shooting 20-of-41 (48.8%) from the free-throw line, or allowing NC State to score 25 second-chance points on 18 offensive rebounds.
Carolina has been out-rebounded on the offensive glass in four of its last five games. Granted, Carolina has been shooting the ball much better (the NC State game ended a seven-game streak in which Carolina shot 50% or higher from the field). But Carolina held its first 11 ACC opponents to 17 or fewer second-chance points. The last two opponents (Miami and NC State) had 18 and 25 second-chance points, respectively. The last team to have more than 20 second-chance points against Carolina was Connecticut, which had 24 second-chance points.
"Normally, we're animals on the boards and we were like marshmallows tonight on the boards - very soft. But if we can not rebound and shoot like that from the foul line and then beat a really good team like NC State, maybe we're pretty good. We can correct those things and hopefully be much better," Hatchell said.
Part of the problem was that the game was incredibly physical. It featured a match-up between two of the ACC's hardest-working players, Erlana Larkins and Khadijah Whittington. The mutual respect between the two was obvious; Whittington nodded her agreement when NC State Coach Kay Yow talked about Larkins' soft shooting touch and Larkins had nothing but good things to say about Whittington.
"I just have to go out and play well every night because I know that post players like Tina Charles (of Connecticut) and Nicky Anosike (of Tennessee) and those people, they will prepare you for a player like Khadijah Whittington. She's giving it all she has for 40 minutes. She has a pad everywhere just like me. So it's like, okay, hey, the least we can do is beat each other up and whoever comes out with the most scars will probably win the game," Larkins said.
Whittington had the most fouls - four - and in fact, she played 16 minutes in the second half because she picked up her fourth with 16:12 to go. It was a possession in which Larkins struggled to free herself from Whittington, who banged into her at every opportunity as she ran around and set screens, then tried to post up.
When Larkins made her final basket of the game with one minute to go and put Carolina up eight points, she let out a guttural yell, one that she normally reserves for a big moment such as this one. One where she had, yet again, come through in the clutch for Carolina. But this time, it was something else.
"I was just sick and tired of being beat up. I just had to let it out because I felt like I was getting beat up all night. You guys all know that I'm a big girl and I really don't complain. At 215 (pounds), it really takes a lot for somebody to push me around," Larkins said. "I had people stepping on my feet and chest-bumping me on the pass. So I was just like, `Okay, at this point, I feel like there is nothing you can do. Just keep beating me up. I'm just going to keep scoring.' I was just happy."
Larkins had 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting but made just 2-of-5 free throws. LaToya Pringle normally makes 78.3% of her free throws; she was 6-of-12. Rashanda McCants has shot 62.9% from the line this season and made just 4-of-10 free throws. Cetera DeGraffenreid has shot 76.2% from the line and made just 3-of-6.
Carolina's 47.8% from the charity stripe as a team was tied for the second-worst percentage of the season and only the third time the Tar Heels have made fewer than 50% of its free throws in just two other games this season. Once was against Coppin State when Carolina made 11-of-23 (47.8%) and the second time was a 3-for-8 outing (37.5%) against Virginia Tech. But this was much worse - 20-of-41 (48.8%). Carolina missed them any way you can imagine (except for the airball) - hitting the front rim, hitting the back of the rim, rattling around and falling out of the hoop, and even most importantly, missing down the stretch.
But in her usual style, Hatchell will not demand anything extra from her players that they aren't demanding of themselves.
"That's telling the players, `Hey, you've got 24 hours in the day. You choose how you spend that time.' I've learned that people spend their time doing what's important to them. So they can come in and shoot on their own. We've got a combination on the back door; they can come in here any time and shoot. So it depends on what's important to you," Hatchell said. "Knowing these kids, there will probably be some of them in here tonight."
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
