University of North Carolina Athletics
Florida State Game Guide
March 13, 2009 | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 1/1 North Carolina (28-3) knocked off No. 8 seed Virginia Tech, 79-76, to reach the semifinals of the ACC Tournament for a fifth straight year. The Tar Heels will face the No. 4 seed Florida State (24-8). Florida State is coming off of a 64-62 win over the 12-seed, Georgia Tech, in the 2:00 game on Friday. The Tar Heels are now 84-37 in the ACC Tournament, 43-11 as the No. 1 seed and 13-2 in the Tournament as the No. 1 team in the AP poll. The Tar Heels are also now 9-3 in Atlanta in the event. Carolina holds a 9-3 record against the No. 4 seed when the Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed and a 13-7 record overall against the 4-seed. Carolina is 4-0 against Florida State in the Tournament. Florida State's quarterfinal win ended a skid of 11 straight quarterfinal losses. The Seminoles are making their first trip to the ACC Tournament semifinal game since 1992, its first year in the league.
Game Time: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Florida State, 1:30 PM.
Last Time: Ty Lawson hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to let Carolina escape with an 80-77 win in Tallahassee on January 12, 2009 against Florida State in the only meeting between the two teams earlier this season. Tyler Hansbrough played great defense down the stretch, not letting Toney Douglas get off a shot on Florida State's final possession. Lawson drove nearly the length of the court in 3.2 seconds to sink the three-pointer. Carolina out-rebounded Florida State 42-34 but had 21 turnovers to 11 assists. Carolina also shot just 38.1% for the game and no better than 39.1% in either half. Florida State shot 46.7% in each half and had 19 turnovers of its own but added 12 steals.
Lawson led Carolina in scoring with 21 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added a team-high nine rebounds and four assists. Danny Green had 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting (4-of-7 from beyond the arc), adding seven rebounds, three assists, six turnovers and six steals. Wayne Ellington had 14 points but shot just 3-of-13 from the floor and had four turnovers. Hansbrough was held in single digits with a season-low eight points on 4-of-9 shooting; he did not go to the foul line one time and played just 26 minutes. Toney Douglas led the Seminoles with 32 points on 9-of-20 shooting (13-of-14 from the foul line). He added one assist, two steals and four turnovers. The only other Seminole in double figures was Uche Echefu who had 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc) and a team-high eight rebounds.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 12:30 PM.
Injury Report: Ty Lawson injured his toe in practice on the Friday before the Duke game. He missed Carolina's quarterfinal win and his status Saturday is questionable. "It's real sore," Lawson said after Friday's win. "It's hard to push off of it. But the pain is going down and the swelling is going down. I'm hoping to have a chance to play tomorrow." Marcus Ginyard and the Tar Heel medical staff have decided it is best for him to take a medical redshirt this season. He had surgery on October 8th, 2008 to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. He attempted to come back and still had pain. He has gone through nearly a month's worth of intensive rehab to try to get back into game shape, but he still has pain in the foot. Will Graves has been suspended for the remainder of this season.
Storylines
Not settling for shots: Between the 7:01 mark and 2:49 mark of the second half against Virginia Tech, Carolina was never down by more than three points but for some reason, kept settling for three-pointers. Only one was taken less than 20 seconds into a shot clock (and that was on an offensive rebound and kickout) but of the ten shots Carolina took in that span, five were three-pointers and none were made. Of the other five shots, two were jumpers (1-2) and two were lay-ups (1-2); both made shots were in the paint. All eight misses were out of the paint. Then in the last 2:12, Carolina took nothing but lay-ups and made two of the three attempts; Carolina also made four free throws.
Last time against Florida State, one of the tallest teams in the country, Carolina struggled at times in its halfcourt offense to find good shots and relied on Ty Lawson to take over late. He will likely not play or at least will not be at 100 percent, so Carolina needs to have more patience this time around. Carolina's 38.1% shooting against the Seminoles was its third-lowest in ACC play and the lowest this season in a victory. But Carolina's 12 second-chance points on 21 offensive rebounds tempted fate a bit, considering Carolina could turn those second opportunities into just 12 points. Carolina cannot rely on either offensive rebounding or getting to the foul line against the Seminoles this time around. The Tar Heels must get the shot they want.
Only six of Florida State's 17 ACC opponents have been allowed to attempt fewer than 20 three-pointers. In fact, three of those teams to do it - Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest - all beat Florida State. Since losing to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, all but two opponents have attempted 40% or more of their shots from behind the arc. Florida State also allowed Wake Forest to score 40 points in the paint, the most allowed to an ACC team, and has held its last two opponents to 16.0 points in the paint per game. Georgia Tech has quite a few athletic slashers and made just 13-of-33 two-point attempts. Virginia Tech made just 11-of-32 two-pointers.
Stepping up, even the young and inexperienced: The team found out for certain that Ty Lawson would not play the night before their semifinal game. But the good news was that Bobby Frasor, who has started before and sees the court well, was still available. "Bobby was the quarterback his freshman year and we won 23 games," Williams said. "It's hard to duplicate what Ty gives us, there's no question about that. But Bobby gives us some different things. I thought he played to his strengths, and that's important to us."
The bad news is that losing around 16 points a game meant that scoring had to come from somewhere, and that was not something Frasor felt he needed to force. "No one's going to be able to fill in Ty's shoes ... Just by his raw speed, no one's going to be able to duplicate that," Frasor said. "I just wanted to come in and be a steady hand, not turn the ball over and get guys the ball where they need to be. I'm surrounded by scorers here so I don't need to be pulling a lot of shots and things like that."
That meant that a Carolina bench that has been inconsistent at best had to step up. It will need to continue to do that if Carolina wants to advance through this Tournament without Lawson. But what was especially impressive was the play of Carolina's freshmen. All four played four or more minutes for the first time all season in the same game. The four combined to shoot 6-of-11 from the floor and score 14 points in 42 minutes, adding 12 rebounds (six offensive), five assists and just four turnovers. Ed Davis stepped up with his first double-figure scoring effort since Michigan State, scoring ten points on 4-of-6 shooting and adding six rebounds in 19 minutes.
Larry Drew II saw his most action since the first Maryland game when he had 15 minutes. In four ACC games in which he has played double-digit minutes, he has scored just two points in 13.0 minutes per game but has 12 assists to just six turnovers and added five rebounds. In the 13 games with single-digit minutes, he scored 0.9 points in 6.2 minutes per game but has 11 assists to 19 turnovers in limited time. It appears that extra time allows him to get comfortable; at the end of the first half, he had two of his four assists in the final 44 seconds to give Carolina a one-point lead into the half. All four of his assists went to the Carolina post players, three to his freshman teammates Davis and Tyler Zeller.
"Larry did give us some good minutes," Williams said. "I do feel that Larry will give us more good minutes tomorrow. This was a tough game - freshman, first ACC Tournament game, the pressure that he perhaps felt without Ty. So I think he did some good things for us except his turnover on the break, which about drove me crazy."
Zeller has quietly provided a spark in his six games back, averaging just six minutes per game since his return but scoring 16 points and adding 12 rebounds. He has started to look comfortable; after making just 1-of-7 shots in his first two games back in 14 minutes, he has made 5-of-6 shots and scored 12 points in 22 minutes. Against the Hokies, he had four points on 2-of-2 shooting and added three rebounds (two offensive), one foul and no turnovers in four minutes. Even if it's just to come in to give someone a rest and he's not scoring, he's still being useful in his action. He had five minutes in the Duke game and recorded just one foul.
Justin Watts, who has been bothered by nagging injuries, saw his first extended game action since Chaminade. It was against a lesser opponent but the freshman showed what he is capable of, scoring nine points in 11 minutes and adding four rebounds. He made a great pass to Tyler Hansbrough for a score in the Virginia Tech game and if he plays solid, controlled minutes off the bench, that's all the Tar Heels will need.
"Right now, we're pretty thin," Williams said. "In the summer and fall, I was talking about the deepest team I've ever coached and right now, we're about as thin as any team I've ever coached. So everybody needs to step up."
Florida State's freshmen have done that for most of the season. Against Georgia Tech, the five freshmen combined to shoot 12-of-22 from the floor and score 25 of the Seminoles' 64 points in 76 combined minutes, adding 14 rebounds, six assists, three steals and all seven of Florida State's blocked shots.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency at the Georgia Dome will be 87.9 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.
Raycom/ESPN coverage: The game will be available regionally on Raycom and nationally on ESPN.
Names To Know
Danny Green: The senior struggled against Virginia Tech, hitting just 2-of-13 shots and 1-of-7 three's, playing just 29 minutes in a close game. His 15% shooting was his worst when attempting ten or more shots since the Duke game at home last year when he made just 1-of-10 shots, 1-of-5 from beyond the arc. In the next game against Clemson in the double overtime win, he had 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting (2-of-5 from beyond the arc), adding six rebounds, two assist and three steals in 24 minutes. He responded from his 2-of-10 performance against Virginia Tech earlier this season, his worst this season until this game, by scoring 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting against Duke, adding four rebounds and three assists.
In his career against Florida State, Green has averaged 11 points on 44.3% shooting, 50% from beyond the arc. He has added 4.7 rebounds, two assist, 1.1 steals and 2.1 turnovers in 20.7 minutes. He struggled in the ACC Tournament last year against the Seminoles, scoring four points on 2-of-8 shooting. But in the other three of the previous four games, he has shot 48.6% and averaged 17 points in 27 minutes. In the last meeting in Tallahassee earlier this season, he had 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting (4-of-7 from three), adding seven rebounds, three assists, six steals and six turnovers.
Green is Carolina's wild card and that has generally been a good thing. It seems like in recent games, he has alternated his good plays with the head-scratching plays and Carolina certainly needs only the good plays, or as many as possible, with less of a margin for error.
Deon Thompson: Deon Thompson had his first-ever double-figure scoring effort in an ACC game and it couldn't have come at a bigger time. He had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, adding seven rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocked shots in 23 minutes. He did have two of Carolina's nine turnovers. When Thompson comes out aggressively, it sets the tone for the rest of the team. Thompson had all of Carolina's points in a little less than four minutes, making two jumpers and adding a blocked shot.
He had an assist on the Wayne Ellington three that tied the game in the first half and made two free throws to give Carolina a two-point lead with a minute left in the first. He also scored Carolina's first two baskets of the second half. But his most important basket was late in the game when he rebounding Tyler Hansbrough's missed lay-up with 1:55 to go and put it back in to cut the Virginia Tech lead from there points to one point. On the Hokies' possession before, he helped Carolina get a stop by blocking a Jeff Allen lay-up.
Thompson did not have the best start to ACC play, but seems to have quietly really picked things up. He went from shooting 38 percent from the floor and averaging 7.6 points, less than a block and less than a steal in the first 12 games to averaging 11.4 points, 1.4 steals and one block in Carolina's last five games on 47.9% shooting. He has also come up big in some big games, giving Carolina a spark early on in three of its most recent games - at Duke, at Virginia Tech and most recently, the Virginia Tech ACC Tournament game.
Last time against Florida State, Thompson had just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting but did add 4-of-6 free throws and seven rebounds, there offensive. He picked up four fouls but still played 32 minutes. But Williams has shown faith in the sometimes spotty Thompson by keeping him in late in games and Thompson has responded by really coming through. With Lawson out likely again, all the help Carolina can get from its two big guys will be absolutely vital, particularly as teams are clogging the lane and really concentrating on Tyler Hansbrough.
Toney Douglas: Douglas was the runner-up for ACC Player of the Year voting and has carried this young team to a fourth-place finish in the ACC. The senior guard is also from Jonesboro, GA, just south of Atlanta, and played like he was trying to entertain his hometown faithful. He shot 11-of-16 from the field, his most made field goals all season, including 3-of-5 three-pointers, on his way to 25 points. He also had one assist, two steals and three turnovers in 39 minutes. As the Yellow Jackets concentrated on Douglas late, things opened up for his teammates as well and that's how Florida State got the win. But the senior has made clutch plays down the stretch all season long and will be tough for Carolina to contain.
In Florida State's last four games, including three wins and a narrow loss at Duke, Douglas has shot 46.4% from the floor and 56% from beyond the arc, averaging 24.3 points, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals. He has also averaged 6.0 free throw attempts and made 79.2 percent of his attempts. Last time against Carolina, he had a season-high 32 points on 9-of-20 shooting but made 13-of-14 free throws, mostly late when it seemed like Carolina couldn't keep him off the charity stripe. He did make just 1-of-5 three-pointers, but without Lawson to make him work defensively, he will likely have fresher legs and at least one Carolina defender will need to tire the Seminole star.
Solomon Alabi: The talented freshman who made the ACC's All-Defensive squad and All-Freshman team has blocked shots all season long, averaging 2.2 per game, but his offense has also been steadily progressing. After notching just seven double-figure games in the first 22 games, he has six double-figure scoring games in the last ten contests. Florida State is 7-3 in that span. He had 17 points and nine rebounds against a tough Clemson front line to begin that streak, adding two steals and five blocks. After shooting just 4-of-13 against Boston College in a loss, he has found it again in the last four games.
He has shot 19-of-29 from the floor (65.5%) and averaged 9.8 points, 6.3 rebounds (2.8 offensive boards), one steal and 2.3 blocks in the last four games. Against Georgia Tech in the quarterfinal win, he shot 7-of-10 on his way to 14 points in just 26 minutes. He added six rebounds, one steal and two blocks. Last time against Carolina, Alabi had just one block but did add six rebounds, two steals and two turnovers in 28 minutes of action. He also had six points on 3-of-5 shooting. But his presence was significant defensively in making Carolina change and alter shots, even if he couldn't quite block all of them. The Tar Heels will need to be aware of the increasingly-savvy freshman.
Quotables
"He (Justin Watts) was really intelligent one time. We threw him the ball in the corner and Tyler (Hansbrough) was open inside, and he threw the ball to Tyler. So if you're in doubt, that's a pretty good thing to do." -Roy Williams
"Yeah, I did. I ran to the wrong tunnel. I was just excited that we got the win." -Tyler Hansbrough on nearly running into the wrong locker room
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
