University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: The Joy Of Defense
November 7, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
Roy Williams loves offense as much as anyone. But he will set postgame records for frickin's, dadgum's and `sure as the dickens' references when his teams don't give a good enough effort on defense.
On November 11, 2006, Carolina beat Pfeiffer in an exhibition game, 140-101. Had it been a real game, it would have broken the Carolina scoring record. But Williams might have broken his own shattered clipboard record. Pfeiffer shot over 40 percent and scored 28 in the final 3:59.
"I know at Kansas we broke whatever (the scoring record) was and as a team we guarded everybody's rear end like it meant something, not just stand out there and play frickin' like a matador," Williams said. "We guarded people the same way I did from the bench, not at all. If I'm playing my mother, I'm not going to let her do that."
This team has a different look than perhaps any Carolina team in the Roy Williams era. There is no Tyler Hansbrough to take over the scoring load left behind by guys like Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Sean May. There's no Wayne Ellington or Ty Lawson.
But there is defense, and plenty of it. There was no Pfeiffer-like effort against Belmont Abbey, a very game team that did not have a player taller than 6-8. Carolina has six. But that height advantage doesn't have anything to do with Deon Thompson moving his feet to stay in front of a guard on the perimeter - something that seemed unimaginable not long ago - or with Larry Drew II setting the tone with his pest-like defense on the opposing point guard.
It has nothing to do with Dexter Strickland fighting hard through a screen to stay on the hip of a defender or with Leslie McDonald drawing an offensive foul or Justin Watts (6-4) catching up on a fast break and swatting away a lay-up attempt.
Blocked shots are highlight-worthy plays, and there will be plenty. But there will also be forced shot-clock violations. There will be opponents forced to use a timeout when they can't inbound the ball against the Carolina full-court press or when double-teamed by two impossibly tall Tar Heels. There will be ball-hawking, pass-deflecting, shot-altering, offensive foul-drawing defense.
Williams said the 2009 national champions improved more defensively perhaps more than any team he has ever coached. But as Drew pointed out, he set the defensive ceiling of last year's team at `good.' This year, he has changed `good' to `great'.
"I think that as long as people realize the potential that we have, the length, height, the agility, the versatility that we have on the defensive end, we're going to eventually end up being a great defensive team," Drew said. "You saw Ed (Davis) and Deon (Thompson) and especially John (Henson), all those blocks that they were getting. I don't think there's ever going to be a clean look at the basket for the opposing team as long as one of those guys are in the game."
Marcus Ginyard is Carolina's best fundamental defender, and he is reluctant to over-praise. He knows how important it will be for this team to play defense consistently and that during the non-conference schedule, things will get difficult quickly. "I don't know if we really established a certain stance on our defense and what our defense can mean to this team," Ginyard said. "There's no question that these next couple of games when we get to Monday and Wednesday's game and on to playing those big-time schools, that will definitely start to really show this team and really get a chance for this team to show how we feel about how important defense is going to be to this team."
It won't be fun to watch offensively at first. There is still some sloppiness; 20 turnovers are way too many, even in an exhibition game. But as the team struggles to pick up offensive spacing and ball security, Williams felt comfortable enough to install his full-court press earlier than he normally would, particularly with such a young team. That says something about where he thinks this team is now, not to mention where it could be.
"It's just fun when you see John blocking shots and Ed blocking shots and Marcus blocking shots. I guess we find a little bit of joy in defense," Thompson said.
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
