University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Notebook
February 9, 2010 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 9, 2010
By Adam Lucas
Between now and Wednesday night at 9 p.m., there will be numerous Carolina-Duke storylines. The Tar Heels are down and Duke is trying to stay on top of the league...Tyler Hansbrough will have his jersey retired at halftime...Can Carolina rebound from three straight home losses?
Come tipoff, though, Roy Williams thinks the biggest question surrounding this year's first renewal of the rivalry is as follows:
"We have to do a better job of guarding the basketball so dribble penetration doesn't hurt us as much and so quickly," the head coach said. "We have to be able to guard our own man so our teammates don't have to help as much."
Some teams drive to score. Duke often drives to pitch back to the perimeter, and the Blue Devils are shooting 39.0% from the three-point line, the top figure in the league. The Tar Heels are giving up 33.9% from three-point range, second-worst in the league. Maryland dominated from the 3-point line on Sunday, hitting 12 of 23 from beyond the stripe. A similar output from Duke on Wednesday would quickly sour the usual festive rivalry crowd.
Stopping the three-point shooters begins with stopping the dribble, something that will be an emphasis in practice this week.
"You have to keep the man in front of you in the first place so he's not penetrating all the time," said Larry Drew II. "That way we're not relying so much on help and they don't get as many open shots."
Briefly: There's encouraging news about Tyler Zeller, who has been out approximately one month with a stress fracture in his foot. The big man has x-rays and a CT scan on his foot on Monday. "Things look really good," Williams said. "He's been released to do shooting and straight-ahead running. I think that's all he will do this week. If no pain comes, they would release him to do more next week."...The usual take is that records don't matter when Carolina and Duke tangle, with the 1995 double-overtime classic the typical example. And it's true that there will be more emotion than usual involved. But Duke has won seven of the last eight games against an unranked Carolina team, with an average margin of victory in those games of 15 points. Of course, some of those games were overmatched Tar Heel teams against very powerful Duke teams. The last time a ranked Duke team played unranked UNC in the Smith Center, Carolina prevailed, 82-79, in 2003...
Perhaps the most important insight of the day came from Drew, who watched Ty Lawson carve up the overplaying Blue Devils last season. What did he learn about the best way to play offensively against Duke? "Attack," Drew said. "Attack, attack, attack. Don't be tentative and don't be shy. Go in, look to make things happen when I get in the paint, and look to score." He's exactly right. The primary Carolina point guard has scored in double figures in 11 of the 12 Carolina-Duke games played during the Williams era, including the last 10 in a row...Best line of the day came from Deon Thompson. Deon, what have you enjoyed most about the Carolina-Duke rivalry. Thompson: "The winning."...Tyler Hansbrough's jersey is already hanging in the front row at the Smith Center. His number will officially be retired at the beginning of Wednesday's halftime. "It'll be fantastic," Williams said. "It'll be a lot more fantastic if we're playing well." Despite the assortment of injuries he's battled this season, Hansbrough is flying into Chapel Hill on Wednesday and will be in town through the weekend.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of five books on Carolina basketball, including the just-released book on the 2009 national title, One Fantastic Ride. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
