University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Different Hogs Await Tar Heels
March 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 22, 2008
By Adam Lucas
For Carolina fans who still associate Arkansas with Dwight Stewart's fortuitous pre-halftime heave at the 1995 Final Four, Sunday's second-round NCAA matchup may require some reconstructed perceptions.
The last time the Tar Heels and Razorbacks met, Arkansas was in the middle of the Nolan Richardson "40 Minutes of Hell" era. They ran, they pressed (the `Hogs forced over 21 turnovers per game in their national title season of 1994) and they played a sticky man-to-man defense. They weren't blessed with tremendous raw talent--peruse the 1995 Arkansas roster and the best future NBA player is probably Corliss Williamson, who averaged a workmanlike 7.5 points per game over nine professional seasons--but they had tremendous college players who understood what Richardson wanted.
In addition to the 1990 UA team snuffing out a Cinderella UNC run to the Sweet 16, Carolina and Arkansas had two postseason meetings in three years in the mid-90s. The Tar Heels won the first meeting in 1993 thanks to a timely backdoor layup and the Razorbacks claimed the 1995 meeting thanks to a momentum-shifting shot by the portly Stewart and an ill-timed injury to Jerry Stackhouse.
In this case, however, the past is not prologue. The past is simply the past.
Eager writers tried to deem the John Pelphrey era in Fayetteville "40 Minutes of Pel" in a throwback to Richardson's glory days. But through the first season--and based on Friday night's win over Indiana--the resemblance is in name only.
According to Ken Pomeroy, Arkansas' adjusted tempo stats for this year place them just 117th in the nation in adjusted tempo (Carolina ranks seventh), a measure of how many possessions a team creates in a game. Their defensive efficiency is better than average (at 33rd nationally, it's just eight places behind the Tar Heels) but they do it much differently than Richardson's squads.
Arkansas thwarted Hoosier super-freshman Eric Gordon with an active zone that proved largely impenetrable. Indiana heaved 24 three-pointers, shot 43 percent for the game, and never got into an offensive rhythm.
"They wanted to take my drive away," said Gordon, who shot 3-of-15. "Having that big 7-foot guy in the middle took away my opportunities to score on the inside. You couldn't really get inside that zone, so you had to figure out other ways to penetrate."
Arkansas is big, athletic, and experienced. In addition to "that big 7-foot guy," who goes by the name of Steven Hill, the Razorbacks have two other 6-foot-10 players in their regular rotation. They're also experienced (although it's not necessarily successful experience), as four of the six players who received the bulk of Friday's minutes are seniors.
If this sounds ominous, it's because in recent years Carolina has occasionally struggled with big, experienced teams that clog the middle with a zone. That's the recipe Georgetown used to keep the ball away from Tyler Hansbrough in last year's regional final. The Tar Heels gave in and chucked 20 three-pointers while shooting just 35 percent for the game. In that game, Carolina eventually reverted to playing outside-in against the zone--exactly as the Hoyas had hoped.
But this is an older, wiser Carolina team. Mount St. Mary's tried to follow the book and play zone on Friday, and the Tar Heels shredded it for 113 points. It's hard to describe a team that scored 113 points as patient, but Carolina continuously probed the Mount St. Mary's zone for good, high-percentage shots rather than settling for shooting over the top of it.
"We're more comfortable with our zone offense," Wayne Ellington said. "We've worked on it more and our perimeter guys are more comfortable. We understand how to get the ball inside and play inside-out."
A healthy Ty Lawson could be the perfect antidote to a zone. Lawson, whose penetration is key to breaking down the defense, has 31 points, 7 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers over his last three halves.
In fact, add in the reemergence of Deon Thompson (15 points and 8 rebounds) and Friday was the first time in over a month that the full Carolina rotation has looked more healthy than gimpy. In the battle of two tall front lines, the Tar Heels will need the more aggressive version of Thompson against Arkansas.
"At times this year I have just sat back and watched Tyler," Thompson said. "I get myself in trouble when I'm trying not to get in his way. I think too much about trying to make sure I'm not taking my man his way or things like that.
"Coach Williams and Coach Robinson have really helped my mental game. They talked to me about playing strong, grabbing the ball with two hands, going to the glass, and not trying to do too many moves."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
