University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Back-To-Back Battles
November 29, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Nov. 29, 2011
By Adam Lucas
Roy Williams and his Tar Heels picked a tough week to try and rebound from the upset to UNLV.
Check it: Roy Williams and his Tar Heels picked a historically tough week to try and rebound from the upset to UNLV.
Carolina will try to move on from Saturday's 90-80 setback, a defeat that cost the Tar Heels their No. 1 ranking, in tomorrow night's ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup against Wisconsin. Three days later, they'll be in Lexington for the showdown at Kentucky. By the conclusion of that trip, the Tar Heels will have traveled a robust 10,558 miles--more than a round-trip from Cape Hatteras to Fairbanks, Alaska--over the first three weeks of the season.
But jet lag won't be the primary concern this week. Instead, it's a challenging schedule that marks just the 17th time in program history that Carolina has played back-to-back regular season games against top-10 opponents (Wisconsin is ranked 9th in this week's Associated Press poll; Kentucky is 1st). It's just the sixth time the unique back-to-back has happened against non-conference opponents.
Overall, the Tar Heels are 16-15 in the difficult duos (the odd number is because of a particularly devious stretch of three straight games against top-10 foes in 1968) and 6-4 against non-ACC competition. It happened most recently in December of 2009, when Carolina stopped Michigan State in the Smith Center before being tripped by Kentucky in Lexington--almost the mirror scenario they face this year, with a game against a rugged Big 10 opponent at home followed by a trip to an electric Rupp Arena.
Historically, the most frequent outcome in this scenario is a split, with Carolina earning three sweeps and being swept just twice (both in 2002).
"This is part of the preseason," Kendall Marshall said. "You get these marquee matchups of powerhouse programs. You want to match up. You want to see how you stand against this competition. Wisconsin is known to be a great team, they win 25 games every year. Kentucky is obviously a powerhouse program. We look forward to these matchups, but we have to take them one game at a time."
The first leg of this particular back-to-back presents some unique challenges. Wisconsin is one of the most deliberate teams in major college basketball. The most eye-popping stat on their stat sheet is the fact that they allow opponents to score just 39.2 points per game, but that's not even the number that first hits Roy Williams.
"The most impressive thing to me is not the 39 points per game," Carolina's head coach said. "The most impressive thing to me is holding teams to 30.5% from the field. That is mind-boggling to me, to be honest with you.
"They do it on both ends. They control the tempo offensively until they get the shot they want, which is what you should do on the offensive end. Then they guard you like crazy on the defensive end. They're maniacal."
Offensively, the Badgers will put five legitimate three-point threats on the floor at all times, including Josh Gasser, who is making 71.4%--yep, seventy-one percent--of his three-point shots. Among the Wisconsin starters, Jared Berggren shoots the lowest percentage from beyond the three-point stripe at 38.1%; that figure would easily rank best among the Carolina starters.
Coming off a game when UNLV nailed 13 three-pointers on the Carolina defense, perimeter defense will be a point of emphasis.
"We have to contain the ball," Marshall said. "If we contain the ball, we won't have to help out as far. As well as being aware of their personnel. Everybody on the court can shoot the ball, so it won't be hard to identify the shooters."
Briefly: Expect to hear lots more between now and tomorrow night about the friendship between the standout point guards on both sides, Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor and Carolina's Kendall Marshall. "The first time I remember meeting him was at Chris Paul Camp this summer," Marshall said. "He's very cool to be around and I admire how much he's gotten better over the years."...
Williams did not have an update on the status of Harrison Barnes, who tweaked his right ankle in the UNLV game. X-rays were negative. "As far as I know, he's going to try and practice today," the head coach said...Badgers coach Bo Ryan had an interesting take on the need to play Carolina in a five-on-five halfcourt game rather than a three-on-three transition game...Williams reiterated Carolina's frequent strategy of putting Dexter Strickland on the other team's quickest, most effective scoring guard, which means he's likely to defend Taylor.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter and Facebook.
