University of North Carolina Athletics
Radford Game Guide
March 18, 2009 | Men's Basketball
March 18, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 2/3 North Carolina (28-4) has the No. 1 seed in the South Region after winning the ACC regular-season title and will face No. 16 seed Radford (21-11) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in the Greensboro Coliseum. This will be Carolina's 41st NCAA Tournament appearance; the Tar Heels have a 96-39 record overall and a 41-9 record as a No. 1 seed. Carolina is a No. 1 seed for an NCAA-record 13th time and the fourth time in the last five seasons. Roy Williams is 49-18 in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. The Radford Highlanders won the Big South Tournament to get an NCAA automatic bid and have won 16 of their last 18 games. Carolina assistant coach Steve Robinson graduated from Radford in 1981 and was the team captain in 1980 and 1981. He also has a master's degree from Radford and is a member of the Hall of Fame there.
Carolina is 21-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with the only loss coming in 1999 to Weber State. Carolina also has a 3-0 record in Greensboro and last played there in 1998, winning two games over Michigan State and Connecticut on its way to a Final Four appearance. Carolina has a 25-1 record in NCAA Tournament games played in North Carolina and has won 21 straight after dropping the infamous "Black Sunday" game on March 11, 1979 to Penn. Five of the last six times Carolina has played in North Carolina in the Tournament, it has reached a Final Four (1993, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2008) with the lone exception being 2007. All three of Carolina's last national championships have begun in North Carolina.
Tyler Hansbrough is just three points away from breaking J.J. Redick's ACC career scoring record.
Game Time: North Carolina vs. Radford, 2:50 PM.
Last Time: This will be the first meeting between North Carolina and Radford.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 1:30 PM.
Injury Report: Ty Lawson injured his toe in practice on the Friday before the Duke game. He missed both ACC Tournament games and his status is questionable. "There is a huge, huge probability that Ty will not play tomorrow," Williams said. "We're still trying to wait and see. He was not able to do the things that I wanted him to do in practice. So some things would have to change drastically before I would change my mind on that." 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
Increasing tempo, with or without Ty Lawson: There are a lot of things that Carolina can't recreate if Ty Lawson doesn't play, but one of the things that Roy Williams insists that his teams do is run the floor well and get fast-break opportunities. That is not something that happened at the ACC Tournament and frankly, it's something Carolina has struggled with when Lawson has been injured over the last two seasons. "We need to run better and see if we can get some easy ones. We didn't do enough of that," Williams said. "It wasn't just Larry (Drew II) and Bobby (Frasor). We talked about Wayne and Danny have got to get out and give us another outlet guy and have Deon (Thompson) and Tyler (Hansbrough) and Ed (Davis) and Zell (Tyler Zeller) running to the front of the rim. So we've got to run better."
In two games without Lawson this year, Carolina averaged 83 possessions and 74.5 points in two ACC Tournament games (counting Duke when he wasn't at 100 percent, possessions drop to 81.3 and points go up to 76 per game). But with Lawson at 100 percent this year, Carolina averaged 92.1 possessions and 91.2 points (0.99 points per possession). In the last two seasons, Ty Lawson has missed 11 games and played at 49 at arguably full strength, including the first 30 of this season and the first 19 of last year. In 49 games with a full-strength Lawson, Carolina has averaged 93.3 possessions and 92.3 points, or 0.99 points per possession.
In the 11 games without Lawson, Carolina has averaged 90.9 possessions and 81.2 points, or 0.84 points per possession. Even those possession numbers are skewed by playing one overtime game and one double-overtime game without Lawson last season. But when he was healthy last season for 19 games, Carolina averaged a staggering 95.1 possessions and 93.9 points. In his absence, Carolina averaged 92.7 possessions in nine games (including three overtimes) and scored 82.7 points, or 0.89 points per possession. When Lawson came back for the final 11 games, Carolina averaged only 86.3 possessions but scored 84.5 points, or 0.98 points per possession.
But perhaps the most important aspect of adjusting to life without Lawson is in the halfcourt set. Lawson is capable of breaking down defenses with his penetration and getting to the rim, creating shots for his teammates. That's not the strength of Frasor and not yet a strength for Drew II as a freshman. Too often last weekend, though, Carolina players stood around waiting for something to happen, particularly on the perimeter, rather than moving and working for the best shot. "We've got to execute better in the half-court offense and not expect Ty to break down the defense in a halfcourt situation and get everybody a better shot," Williams said. "We've got to get better shots out of the team concept of it."
Rebounding: Carolina finished out the regular season as the No. 10 rebounding team in the country in rebounding margin at +7.4 per game. That margin was +6.0 in ACC games only but it was a statistic in which Carolina improved steadily throughout the year. The Tar Heels out-rebounded its last ten opponents by 7.5 per game, all ACC opponents. But Radford is actually a team that is ranked higher than any other ACC team in rebounding margin. The Highlanders are 14th in the nation in rebounding at +6.9 per game. Radford actually out-rebounded Wake Forest 45-39 at one point this season. But after starting out the season 4-9 and out-rebounding opponents by 3.6 per game, the Highlanders won 17 of their final 19 and out-rebounded those opponents by 9.2 per game.
Radford is 64th in the country according to Ken Pomeroy in offensive rebounding percentage, nabbing 36.1% of its own missed shots. Carolina has played nine teams ahead of Radford in that category and has actually held the teams to below their average in six of the nine games. But against Florida State, a team that is 83rd in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (35.3%), Carolina allowed the Seminoles to nab 48.3% of their missed shots. In a close game in which Florida State missed just 29 shots and got 14 offensive rebounds, that can make huge difference, and certainly did. In the second half alone, Florida State missed just eight shots from the floor and pulled down three offensive rebounds, converting those into eight second-chance points.
Carolina is a team that has relied heavily on its ability to retrieve its missed shots, ranking eighth in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (40.3 percent). Radford will be the second-highest ranked team in offensive rebounding percentage allowed by opponents (28.6 percent). The highest-ranked team Carolina has faced is Michigan State, which allows 26.4 percent and Carolina had its lowest percentage of missed shots rebounded against the Spartans, nabbing 11 of its 37 misses. Wake Forest is the highest-ranked ACC team in offensive rebounding percentage allowed (30.6 percent). Carolina is second at 117th, allowing 31.4 percent. Only two other ACC teams - Miami and Virginia Tech - are even in the top 150.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency at the Greensboro Coliseum 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.
CBS coverage: The game will be available on CBS. Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg will have the call.
Names To Know
Danny Green: Plenty of people have home remedies and weird solutions to Ty Lawson's toe problem, but Danny Green's recent shooting slump is really what could use some voodoo, weird magic, mojo, whatever the word. "Danny and I met individually for 45 minutes yesterday and had a great conversation," Williams said. "I don't know if it'll work, but I'm trying to do some things and we'll see how it is. But he's a wonderful kid who has gone through a lot adversity. If his first shot goes in Thursday, there will be a lot of Tar Heel people that will feel awfully good."
But a big influence on Green's recent struggles has been the absence of Ty Lawson. While Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington thrived carrying the team last season and last weekend in his absence, Green seemed to sorely miss the speedy point guard. This season, he has shot 50.5% from the floor and 44.4% from beyond the arc in 30 games with Lawson in the lineup. In the two games without him in the ACC Tournament, he shot 12% from the floor and 8.3% from beyond the arc (1-of-12), averaging 4.5 points. In his career without Lawson in 11 games, he has shot 31.8% from the floor, 26.5% from beyond the arc and averaged 9.6 points. He also has 18 assists to 22 turnovers. In the 60 games with him, he has shot 50.3% from the floor, 42% from beyond the arc and averaged 12.7 points. He also has a much better assist-turnover ratio, dishing out 147 assists to 110 turnovers.
Still, it could just be a coincidence as Lawson's absence should not have much to do with Green missing even open three-pointers and lay-ups, something Green almost never does. Wayne Ellington, who saw countless beautiful-looking shots go halfway into the basket and come out again in the beginning of the season, had a few words of advice for his teammate. "I think it's all about getting into a groove of things and a rhythm of things and look at it that way," Ellington said. "Get some easy ones, don't come out shooting jumpers. Get some lay-ups, get some steals and get yourself going. The rest is losing yourself in the game and not really worrying about it."
That's something that Green has never lacked - confidence. But even Green himself seemed a little shaken up and Carolina needs that swagger back. The Tar Heels have benefited from the spark that Green can provide in the NCAA Tournament, but he had some slumps in that event before. Starting with the opening-round game of his sophomore year and extending to the opening-round game last season, Green went five straight NCAA Tournament games without making a three-pointer. But in the last four NCAA Tournament games last season, he made 9-of-23 in four games, including 6-of-14 in Carolina's next three wins.
Larry Drew II/Bobby Frasor: Unlike most freshmen, Drew II played very well early on this season. He has never scored a ton of points but his court vision and savvy was enough to impress Tar Heel fans. He dished out 42 assists to just 19 turnovers (2.2 assist-turnover ratio) in Carolina's 14 out-of-conference games. Even more impressively, he did not get jitters outside the Smith Center with 22 assists to nine turnovers in his first seven games outside of the friendly confines of home. But then once ACC play started, Drew II began to struggle. He ended the ACC regular season with 19 assists to 23 turnovers. In ACC road games, he had six assists to nine turnovers. But his ACC Tournament gave him 26 assists to 25 turnovers against ACC opponents as he dished out seven assists to juts two turnovers in the two games without Ty Lawson.
It's worth noting that the experience given to Quentin Thomas when Lawson was out last year as the starter led to him scoring eight points and dishing out 18 assists to just two turnovers in last year's NCAA Tournament. Obviously, Thomas had a lot more experience than Drew II but even as a freshman, he played 21 minutes in the six games and had seven assists and five turnovers (three in the opening-round game). So the minutes can be very valuable to Drew II as he gains confidence. "I think it should have helped him," Williams said. "I think that he saw some good things that he was able to do and I think he saw some mistakes that he made and how crucial those mistakes are."
Drew II also has the benefit of Bobby Frasor, who started both ACC Tournament games and averaged 35 minutes (Drew II averaged 16.5). Frasor was a steadying influence for the Tar Heels and played more minutes than he has in a very long time, but handled it very well. He may not be the player that he once was before his ACL injury but the intangibles he provides to this team are still important. "I think last year that we were kind of lacking Bobby's leadership and him coming off the bench and giving us that extra step at times," Tyler Hansbrough said. "I think it was good for him to get out there and get that, `We need you out here,' kind of feeling again. He's stepping up big for us right now, and I think if Ty doesn't play, he'll come out and perform like he has in the past when we called on him."
The two have different skill sets and sometimes play at the same time. Drew II can penetrate and create for teammates while Frasor is always a calming influence in the halfcourt and leads the team on both ends. Interestingly enough, when one played well, the other struggled and vice versa. Against Virginia Tech, Frasor played 19 second-half minutes while Drew II played just six; Frasor had three assists and no turnovers in the second half while Drew II had one assist and one turnover. But against Florida State, Frasor struggled some and Drew II played 17 minutes; in his ten first-half minutes, he had three assists, no turnovers and a steal. "I feel like Bobby and Larry did a great job for us," Wayne Ellington said. "That was good for us, especially for Larry, to be able to come in and get some big-time minutes and play well for us and gain some confidence. We may need him down the stretch."
The duo went without an assist in one game - Wake Forest - and Carolina lost. They combined for 50 assists to 35 turnovers in 18 ACC games (11 assists to four turnovers in the ACC Tournament) and Carolina would take similar numbers in the NCAA. But the two have shot just 27.4% in ACC games, 16.3% from beyond the arc and even 47.6% from the foul line. Without Frasor and Drew II's shooting, Carolina would have shot 46.3% in ACC games (it shot 45.1 percent). Carolina shot 47.7% from the floor in its ACC wins; without Frasor and Drew II, it shot 48.9 percent and three-point shooting improved from 39.5% to 42.7 percent. The two did not impact the numbers in losses much, bringing Carolina's three-point and overall percentages slightly, but the two combined to shoot 3-of-15 from the floor, 1-of-10 from beyond the arc and had seven assists to nine turnovers. In the Wake Forest loss, they combined for no assists and four turnovers; they had just one against Maryland. Even if the two are struggling to shoot, if they can continue to lead the team and make plays when called upon, any scoring from the two would be fantastic.
Artsiom Parakhouski: The 6-11 junior from Minsk, Belarus has barely been playing basketball but it certainly doesn't show. He has developed his game so much so that he has been carrying this Radford team, dominating the Big South and steadily improving both his shooting, rebounding and blocked shots in each game. Both the offense and defense revolve around him; he can score almost at will and can roam the paint to swat shots or just protect the basket. He has 17 double-doubles this season and three in the last four games, averaging a ridiculous 14.5 rebounds per game in that span. He has also averaged four blocks in the last three games.
In the first 19 games of this season (Radford was 9-10), Parakhouski averaged 13.8 points and 10.2 rebounds, shooting 51.6% from the floor and adding less than a block in 29.6 minutes per game. He also had 17 assists to 44 turnovers in 29.6 minutes per game, averaging 3.7 offensive rebounds and getting to the foul line 4.8 times per game. As Radford has won 12 of its last 13 games, Parakhouski has shot 59.3% from the floor and averaged 20 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 blocks in 33.8 minutes. He also has 20 assists to 26 turnovers and has gone to the foul line 7.9 times per game and has pulled down 4.4 offensive boards per contest. In the Big South Championship win over VMI, he had 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting and added a staggering 18 rebounds, nine offensive. He also had a steal and three blocks in 39 minutes.
Radford has played against two other NCAA Tournament teams this season, West Virginia and Wake Forest. He shot just 10-of-25 in those two games but averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and a steal in 32.5 minutes. Against Wake Forest, he actually had 15 points and 16 boards, seven offensive, adding one assist, two steals and a block in 34 minutes. The key to stopping Radford is stopping Parakhouski, which is certainly easier said than done. But NBA scouts will be on hand to see what the talented center can do and he will be eager to show not only them but also the nation how good of a player that he really is.
Kenny Thomas: The 6-3 senior guard is a three-point specialist and the second-leading scorer on the team, but he is more versatile than just shooting three's. He also averages 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in 33.3 minutes of action. He has been an important weapon for this team, forcing opponents to respect the perimeter and not just collapse on Parakhouski in the post. He can be streaky - after setting a Big South Tournament record for points in a game with 35 against UNC-Asheville, he managed 15 in the next game on 4-of-10 shooting - but when he is on, he is very dangerous. In that UNC-Asheville contest, his 35 points came on 10-of-18 shooting, 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 10-of-11 from the foul line. He also added five rebounds and two steals in 40 minutes. Even though he had 15 points in the final, he still managed ten rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes and got to the foul line 13 times.
In the last six games, he has been on and his emergence has been the key for Radford's resurgence. In the first 26 games this season, Thomas averaged 12.8 points on 40.5% shooting (38.5% from beyond the arc), averaging 2.3 made three-pointers and 2.3 free-throw attempts per game. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals. But in the last six games, he has really exploded, shooting 48.8% (40.5% from beyond the arc) and averaging 23.5 points, getting to the line 9.7 times per game and making 2.8 three's per game. He has also increased his rebounds (6.3 per game), assists (3.2 per game) and still averages one steal. He is someone that Carolina will really need to keep an eye on as he is very good at finding the open spots and draining three-pointers in addition to making things happen by getting to the line. If he gets going, Radford could be a lot more of a handful than anyone might have anticipated.
Quotables
"There's a picture of him (assistant Coach Steve Robinson) in their (Radford's) media guide. The guys will have fun looking at that if somehow the media guide just gets left in the locker room with some instructions on which page, and that will probably happen today." -Roy Williams
"She's a coach's wife only in that statement but she doesn't try to coach me, except when I'm frickin' driving. When she's in the front seat or the backseat, she can always do that. It's amazing. When I'm sitting in that passenger's seat and she's driving, I don't say one word. I try to sleep. I don't say anything. My God, she gets over there and it's, `You're going too fast,' `You're going too slow,' `Turn right,' `Turn left,' `Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight!'" -Roy Williams on his wife, Wanda
"Nah - no way. Gerald (Henderson), that's one of my best friends, but I'm not a Duke fan at all. I wouldn't mind watching them lose." -Wayne Ellington, when asked if he would be rooting for Duke in Greensboro
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
