University of North Carolina Athletics
Oklahoma Game Guide
March 29, 2009 | Men's Basketball
March 29, 2009
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 1 seed North Carolina (31-4) will face the No. 2 seed, Oklahoma (30-5) on Sunday for the right to go to the Final Four in Detroit and win the South Region. The Tar Heels knocked off the No. 4 seed Gonzaga by a score of 98-77 late Friday night. The Sooners are coming off of an 84-71 win Friday night over No. 3 seed, Syracuse. Oklahoma led by as many as 27 points in the second half. Carolina is 99-39 in the NCAA Tournament, the most wins by any school. The Tar Heels are 44-9 as the No. 1 seed.
The Tar Heels have made it to their 24th Elite Eight overall and the tenth since 1991. Carolina has a 3-5 record against No. 2 seeds, last losing to the No. 2 Georgetown Hoyas in the Elite 8 in 2007. Carolina actually has a better record against No. 1 seeds (7-3) than No. 2 seeds. Carolina has a 2-0 record against Oklahoma all-time, including 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament with the only meeting coming in 1990. No. 8 seed Carolina knocked off the No. 1 seed, Oklahoma.
Game Time: North Carolina vs. Oklahoma, 5:05 PM.
Last Time: In one of the more memorable finishes in Carolina history, the eighth-seeded Tar Heels upset the No. 1 seed Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 17, 1990. Carolina trailed the Sooners 74-73 with 55 seconds left when Rick Fox hit a three-pointer to give Carolina a 76-74 lead. Oklahoma would answer, King Rice would hit one of two foul shots and a Rick Fox bank shot gave Carolina a walk-off win as time expired, 79-77.
Carolina out-rebounded Oklahoma, 32-28. The Tar Heels also hit 7-of-10 three-pointers and hit 53.7% of its field goals while Oklahoma hit 48.3 percent. Fox led Carolina with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting (5-of-7 from beyond the arc). Pete Chilcutt added 17 points, Kevin Madden had 14 points (4-of-4 shooting) and King Rice had 12 points and seven assists. William Davis led Oklahoma with 22 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Jackie Jones added 15, Smokey McCovery had 13 and Skeeter Henry had 12.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 4:00 PM.
Injury Report: Ty Lawson injured his toe in practice on the Friday before the Duke game. He has played in the last two games and his toe has improved somewhat. Pending any setback, he should play. 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
Making something happen defensively: Gonzaga made quite a few of its shots against the Tar Heels and Carolina certainly did not play perfect defense against the Zags. But what Carolina was able to do was take Gonzaga out of what it wanted to do by forcing turnovers, scoring points off of those turnovers and generally being very active. It was one of the best games Carolina has had in recent memory against a team that runs an offense with so much screening and movement. To put it in perspective, Boston College and Maryland combined to shoot 46.9% in three games against Carolina, winning two of the three, and shoot 39.1% from beyond the arc to average 88 points. Gonzaga scored 77 points and shot 46.6%, including 30.4% from beyond the arc. In Carolina's other three games against flex teams, opponents averaged 17.3 assists to 14.3 turnovers (1.2 ratio); Gonzaga had ten assists to 12 turnovers (0.8 ratio).
"I have really pushed hard defensively. We've had to get better," Williams said. "Sometimes we haven't paid attention to detail. We've been too casual sometimes. ... But at times we've been pretty doggone good defensively. We've had some big-time stops when we've needed them. I'm one of those guys, I like to hold our opponents to 35% field goal percentage and get them to turn it over 25 times a game, and that usually doesn't happen."
Gonzaga did not necessarily turn it over 25 times but it must have felt like that many as Carolina took nearly every single one and turned it into points. To be more specific, Carolina took 12 Gonzaga turnovers and scored on eight of them. Once, Carolina missed two free-throw attempts. Carolina turned it back over once and missed a two-point try twice. Carolina has turned it over 441 times this season and 59.4% of the time, opponents have come up empty off of those turnovers, either missing free throws, two-pointers, three-pointers or turning it back over to Carolina. The Tar Heels, in contrast, have scored at least one point off of 295 of 556 turnovers (53.1 percent) and come up empty less than half the time.
Griffin is absolutely someone that Carolina has to worry about defensively. But the Tar Heels have at times been burned trying to double down in the post on much less effective post players, giving up a wide-open three. Griffin certainly has the supporting cast capable of making some of those shots and doubling down on him without rotating quickly enough could be dangerous. But the Sooners will want to run sets that concentrate on getting him open.
But what Carolina will really need to look out for is boxing out Griffin. Green pointed out at the press conference that it's the little things on defense that Carolina sometimes forgets to do. Boxing out was something he mentioned. Gonzaga got just four offensive rebounds in large part because they focused on getting back defensively to stop Carolina in transition. Oklahoma won't mind crashing the offensive glass; in the last two games, the Sooners have missed 53 shots and rebounded 28 of them, turning them into 28 second-chance points.
If Carolina loses Griffin or any one of his teammates after forcing a missed shot, it could be 30 seconds of halfcourt defense wasted as someone tips it in. Gonzaga managed to convert all four of its offensive boards into four second chance points. But in the first two rounds of the Tournament against pretty strong rebounding teams, Carolina allowed its opponents to turn 36 offensive rebounds into 35 second-chance points. But the biggest difference in Oklahoma's losses compared to its wins is that Oklahoma took nearly five more three-pointers - 23 compared to 18.6 - and so those opponents took the Sooners out of what they want to do. Oklahoma also averaged 16.6 turnovers in its five losses and 13.4 in 30 wins; opponents scored 17.6 points off of those turnovers in Oklahoma's five losses compared to 12.0 in the 30 wins.
Supporting Casts: Blake Griffin can score 40 points in a game and hope his teammates combine for at least 20-30 more, but Oklahoma is obviously a much more dangerous team when he is scoring over 30 and teammates like Tony Crocker, a guard in a shooting slump, pour in a career-high 28 points. In fact, Crocker and Griffin were the only Sooners in double figures, but Taylor Griffin added nine as did point guard Austin Johnson; the two combined to make 8-of-16 shots, pull down ten rebounds, dish out nine assists and nab six steals. But all five of Oklahoma's starters combined to play 30 or more minutes each while no other Oklahoma player saw more than seven minutes. But it didn't matter that Syracuse had 20 bench points and Oklahoma had just two - the Sooners still throttled the Orange by 13, a score that was closer than the game itself.
"When they're making their jump shots, you're in trouble," Williams said. "Syracuse saw that last night. I think that you can focus on Blake (Griffin) and Syracuse chose to play zone to try to surround him. OSU (Oklahoma State), they tried to play a lot of zone. Yet if they're shooting the ball like they did last night, you're going to lose. He is the number one concern, but Johnson and Crocker and Warren and those guys making the outside shots."
Carolina has a situation that is similar, although not nearly to the same degree, as Oklahoma. The Tar Heels absolutely roll through opponents when they can get any sort of bench contribution but struggle some when the bench struggles. Carolina's Big Four are certainly capable of carrying the load but the Tar Heel bench can't come in and hurt the Tar Heels. Preferably, it would even help them. During the NCAA Tournament, the bench has either not hurt or more often than not, helped Carolina. Even including the hot shooting of Ed Davis, the bench had been a liability for Carolina before the Tournament, shooting just 40.7% from the floor and averaging 12.1 points among the four of them (sometimes five, when Will Graves was in the line-up). The group had 123 assists to 123 turnovers and committed 5.1 fouls per game, putting Carolina's opponents that much closer to the bonus in each half. To attempt 11.1 shots per game and make just 4.5 is not what Carolina would want, either.
Without Davis, the numbers have been even worse. Again, it's more quality of minutes than quantity of statistics, but that group of three (and sometimes four) shot 35.8% in the regular season and 24.6% from beyond the arc, averaging 7.3 points in 36.8 minutes and adding 4.2 assists, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 fouls and 2.9 turnovers per game. But in the NCAA Tournament, that group without Davis has improved significantly. In three games, it has shot 61.1% from the floor, 66.7% from beyond the arc (4-of-6) and averaged 8.7 points in 37.7 minutes, adding seven rebounds, three assists, 2.7 steals and just one turnover per contest.
All of Carolina's bench contributors have managed to make big plays. Tyler Zeller has really added a spark to this team, showing some nice aggressiveness on both ends and getting some well-timed put-backs. Larry Drew II has looked much more comfortable and has even begun finding his scoring touch some. Bobby Frasor has made 5-of-6 shots from the floor and 3-of-3 three-pointers in the NCAA Tournament after making just 31-of-102 shots and 17-of-69 three's in the regular season. Frasor also had three steals against LSU despite not scoring and his three-pointers against Gonzaga were huge, thwarting a late run. Ed Davis' blocked shots and newfound offensive touch have also given Carolina an important lift.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency at the FedEx Forum 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
Wayne Ellington: In the first nine NCAA Tournament games of his Carolina career, Wayne Ellington averaged 12.7 points on 40.4% shooting (26.8% from beyond the arc) and added 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and an assist-turnover ratio of 0.67. He averaged 27.2 minutes per game and shot 48.5% from two-point range, attempting 7.6 and making 3.7. As a junior who has really expanded every aspect of his game, he has made 6.3 two-pointers in 9.3 attempts (67.9%) and is averaged 22.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists (1.4 assist/turnover ratio) and is shooting 60% from the floor, 47.1% from beyond the arc.
The junior has been incredibly efficient as well. Ever since scoring ten points in 15 possessions (ending with a shot attempt or a turnover) against Georgia Tech, Ellington has scored more than one point per possession in seven straight games. Since Lawson went out in the ACC Tournament, he has averaged 1.24 points per possession. In the NCAA Tournament alone, despite turning it over five times in 36 possessions (a 13.8% loss of ball) he has scored 42 points, averaging 1.17 points per possession.
Ellington has improved so much because his game is so much more versatile. He has only shot 5-of-12 from beyond the arc in the last two NCAA Tournament games but has made 11-of-17 from two-point range. Against Gonzaga, he added seven rebounds and four assists. It's not fair to him but when he's off - specifically, making just 10-of-32 shots and 2-of-15 three's in two NCAA Tournament losses - Carolina will lose. But the good news is that he made just 1-of-5 two-point baskets against Georgetown and he has made more than five two-point baskets in his last four NCAA Tournament games, including 7-of-12 n the Kansas loss (though he shot just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc). If he gets going early on the backboards and is running the floor like he has been, he can help set the tone for what Carolina wants to do on both ends.
Ty Lawson: The shooting woes of Tar Heels like Danny Green and Wayne Ellington are well-documented in Carolina's losses, particularly in the NCAA Tournament. But perhaps it has been Lawson's statistical discrepancy in NCAA wins compared to NCAA losses that is the most telling. In the two losses he has played in, he has shot 23.5% from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc (just 2-of-11 from two-point range), averaging seven points, four assists and 3.5 turnovers in 36 minutes. In the nine wins he has played in, he has shot 55.3% from the floor and 53.3% from beyond the arc, averaging 15.7 points, six assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 turnovers with an assist-turnover ratio of 4.9. He also shot 56.4% from two-point range and averaged 27.6 minutes.
But quite a bit of that has come in this Tournament. Prior to it, he shot 46.3% from the floor and 44.8% from beyond the arc, averaging 13.7 points, 5.2 assists and 1.9 turnovers in 29.1 minutes. But in the last two games, he has shot 63.6% from the floor, 71.4% from beyond the arc (5-of-7) and averaged 16 points, 7.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 turnovers (15 assists to one turnover). Even in the seven wins before this season he averaged 15.6 points on 52.3% shooting and added 5.6 assists and 1.4 turnovers (39 assists to ten turnovers), adding 1.4 steals and shooting 47.8% from beyond the arc (11-of-23). Those stats are still good but nothing like the roll that Lawson is on.
Lawson has ended a Carolina possession 27 times in the NCAA Tournament and has scored 42 points, turning it over just one time. He has been absolutely dominant, getting to the basket, running the break well and just seeming as confident as ever. It seems ridiculous at first, but Gonzaga head coach Mark Few seemed to think Lawson may have gotten better since the toe injury. "In some instances I think the toe injury might have helped Ty Lawson," Few said. "He's playing at a great pace right now. He's not forcing anything. He got in the lane a couple times where he was closely guarded and we shut down option one, option two, option three, and he was under control and found option four wide open out there on the back side of our defense."
Pundits said at the beginning of the year that this team would go as far as Ty Lawson would take it. There is certainly some truth in that, but he can't do it on his own. It does seem like his teammates have been much more aware of working with him rather than watching him work since the injury. If Carolina can continue to play five-on-five the way it has been, it will be difficult to beat and Lawson sets the tone for that.
Tyler Hansbrough: The senior's NCAA statistics over this year's NCAA Tournament are not dramatically different from his first 11 NCAA games. But what is fairly different is that he is averaging nearly three fewer minutes (33.2 in the first 11 to 29.3 in the last three). Also, in two of the last three games, he has put up his second and third-fewest shot attempts in NCAA Tournament games; the ten attempts against Gonzaga were his second-fewest and the fewest since the Sweet 16 win over USC his sophomore year. But in that USC game, Carolina struggled as Hansbrough picked up three fouls and just five points on 1-of-6 shooting, adding just four rebounds. But his +5 ratio of touches to points (19 FGA and FTA, 24 points) was his highest in an NCAA Tournament game since his monster performance against Louisville in last year's Elite Eight.
But that's the difference with Hansbrough - he can have a performance like that and it goes comparatively unnoticed since his teammates have stepped up their play so much. It used to be that only Hansbrough could be relied upon for constant points; that's why in Carolina's three NCAA Tournament losses in his tenure, he has attempted 13.7 shots and made just 5.7 (41.5%), averaging 17.7 points and 3.7 fouls in 33.7 minutes. He scored 17.7 points and had 21 touches.
After having to adjust to an injury earlier this season and to his teammates stepping up, Hansbrough appears to have finally settled in and permanently found his niche. These last two games of 54.5% shooting are better marks his first such consecutive-games stretch of good shooting since shooting 69.2% against Valparaiso and 66.7% against Rutgers back in December. And Hansbrough did it against two good teams with talented, athletic big men capable of really bothering him. The LSU big men certainly did that at times, but he didn't force the issue and make 6-of-11 shots.
The media hype with this game will revolve around "Hansbrough versus Griffin." While any time two National Players of the Year share the floor, it is unlikely that Hansbrough would spend a significant time guarding Griffin and likely vice versa; neither can afford foul trouble. Also, plenty of big men have had big games against the Sooners in wins and close losses. Damion James, a Texas forward who can also shoot from the outside, averaged 14 points and 6.5 rebounds (five offensive boards), fouling out of both games in 45 minutes but still putting in 16 points and adding ten rebounds in the win over Oklahoma late in the year. Kansas' Cole Aldrich (albeit without Griffin in the lineup) had 15 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks. In a Missouri win late in the year (with Griffin), Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll combined to shoot 13-of-22 from the floor and score 30 points. USC's Taj Gibson had 12 points, ten rebounds and two blocks against the Sooners early in the year.
The point is that this game won't come down to Hansbrough versus Griffin in the sense that one will guard the other and the two will attempt to out-do the other in terms of points and rebounds. But Hansbrough is so aggressive around the basket that he is capable of getting Griffin into foul trouble, something that would obviously cripple the Sooners. Griffin will certainly try to do the same to Hansbrough and the rest of Carolina's bigs. But if Hansbrough does find himself matched up against Griffin on offense, the senior's balance between aggressive scoring around the basket and the ability to shoot - and make - an open jumper could be the difference.
Blake Griffin: There's not much that can be said here about the likely consensus National Player of the Year that hasn't been said before. Griffin has been dominant all season, averaging 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds and shooting 65% from the floor. But his dominance has been even more pronounced in the NCAA Tournament; the 6-10 sophomore has shot 78.7% and averaged 30.3 points and 14.7 rebounds. He is the first player to average that many points and rebounds through the first three games of the Tournament since 1969. Two of the games that Oklahoma has lost this season were without Griffin for most of them, who went out early in the Texas loss with a concussion. Since his return, Griffin has shot 71% from the field and averaged 25.3 points and 16.7 rebounds.
It's not impossible to stop Griffin - or at least, slow him down - if a team can play solid post defense. Texas A&M saw Griffin in two games and though the Aggies did not win one of those games, it held him to a combined 12-of-28 shooting (42.9%), averaging 16 points per game and ten rebounds. Carolina has played good post defense overall this season but teams have to be careful how they play him. Against Syracuse, Griffin shredded the zone defense by making 12-of-15 shots for 30 points and adding 14 rebounds (eight offensive), three assists, a steal and just one turnover in 33 minutes. If there is an Achilles Heel for Griffin, it would be his foul shooting; he shoots just 58.9% from the charity stripe this year. But he gets there so often that he often decimates the opponents' front lines.
Willie Warren: The talented 6-4 freshman guard has been steady for the Sooners this year, winning unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors and averaging 14.5 points and 3.1 assists. He has the potential to be a lethal scorer but has been content to be a complementary piece to Griffin this season. His effort in two games without Griffin perhaps shows how deferential he has been this season In those two games, Warren averaged 25 points and 4.5 assists, shooting 50% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc, making 9-of-18 three's in the two-game span.
He went through a 6-of-21 stretch after that in the next three games but as the postseason - particularly the NCAA Tournament - has begun, he has regained his form. In three NCAA Tournament games, Warren has averaged 12.7 points on 46.2% shooting, making 7-of-17 three-pointers and adding 4.3 assists in 35 minutes per contest. If Carolina is content to double-team Griffin, Warren is the leading candidate among teammates most capable of making Carolina pay.
Austin Johnson: Griffin is certainly the most valuable player on Oklahoma but like with most every team, if its point guard is struggling, the team tends to struggle as well. The 6-3 senior has shot 25.6% from the floor and just 2-of-19 from beyond the arc in Oklahoma's five losses, averaging 6.8 points, three assists and 1.4 turnovers. In the 30 wins, he has shot 46.1% from the floor, 39.6% from beyond the arc and averaged 9.2 points, 4.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.7 turnovers. He is not necessarily known as a scorer but he has really run the Oklahoma team efficiently; he has not committed more than four turnovers in a game this season.
If it's possible, the senior has stepped it up even more in the postseason, shooting 50% from the floor and averaging 10.3 points in four games. In the NCAA Tournament only, he has averaged 9.3 points, four assists, 1.7 steals, one block and 35 minutes. In the last two games alone, Johnson has hit 4-of-8 three-pointers. Against Syracuse, Johnson played completely under control, scoring nine points (1-of-2 from beyond the arc) and added six assists, three steals, five rebounds and a blocked shot in 38 minutes.
Quotables
"I think as much money as we're making off this Tournament, we ought to be able to afford more than one freaking cookie back in the room there. We've got five players, one coach and one dadgum cookie. I think NCAA can afford more than that. Other than that, we're happy to be here." -Roy Williams
"Nobody got the cookie. I was about to take it, but everybody was looking at it and I didn't want to be selfish so I just left it there." -Ty Lawson
"I love playing golf. There's no freakin' Mulligans out there tomorrow. The end of the game, clock runs out, one guy's got more points than the other, and one guy's happy and the other guy's done. Suddenness is the harsh reality of it. It's a great position to be in because we've still got a chance." -Roy Williams
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
