University of North Carolina Athletics
Wake Forest Game Guide
February 14, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2011
By Lauren Brownlow
The Basics
No. 19 North Carolina (18-6, 8-2) will try to hang on to second place in the ACC against Wake Forest (8-17, 1-9) on Tuesday. Carolina is coming off of a 64-62 win at Clemson on Saturday. Wake Forest lost 80-55 at home to NC State on Sunday afternoon. The Tar Heels will finish the season with four of their final six games at home. Carolina leads the all-time series, 152-65, and is 70-19 in Chapel Hill and 17-5 at the Smith Center. Carolina has won five of the last seven meetings dating back to 2006, but Wake Forest has won two of the last three after beating the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill last year and handing them a road loss in 2009. Carolina won at Wake Forest last year.
Game Time: Wake Forest at North Carolina, 8:00 PM, Raycom
Last Time: Carolina beat Wake Forest 77-68 in Winston-Salem on February 27, 2010. Carolina led by 11 with 4:44 to go but the Deacons chipped their way back into the game and cut it to just three points with 59 seconds to go. A big reason for that was Carolina made just 4-of-10 free throws in that stretch. Leslie McDonald's lay-up with 51 seconds left gave Carolina a five-point lead with 51 seconds left and Carolina would not score again. Carolina held Wake Forest to just 29.7% shooting; the Tar Heels shot just 40.7% themselves. McDonald led Carolina with a then-career high 16 points. Will Graves added 13, Larry Drew II had ten (to go with eight assists and three turnovers) and John Henson and Marcus Ginyard had 12 and 13 rebounds, respectively. Ari Stewart led Wake Forest with 16 points (4-of-8 from three) while L.D. Williams added 14 and Ishmael Smith had 12.
Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage will begin at 7:00 PM.
At The Game
Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium frequency in the Smith Center will be FM 92.7. That station will have a non-delayed feed of WCHL 1360, the local affiliate.
Watching At Home
Turn down the sound: If you're watching the game 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 coverage: The game will be available on Raycom. Tim Brant and Mike Gminski will have the call.
Storylines
Three's and free throws: These are the two most common offensive issues for the Tar Heels this season, and it's pretty simple - when they hit them, they do well offensively. When they don't, unless they hit three's OR free throws - lose. In Carolina's six losses, they have shot 19-of-81 from three (23.5%) compared to 35.7% in 18 wins. Free throws have been a little more consistent - 65% in losses, 65.2% in wins, and averaging 23.8 attempts in losses and 25.2 in wins - but their opponents' attempts go way up in losses (14.7 attempts by opponents in Carolina wins, 20.2 in losses). And Carolina's opponents shoot 36.2% from three in wins and 31.4% in losses. But Carolina is not only shooting badly from beyond the arc in losses, they are also averaging just 3.2 made 3's per loss (5.9 in wins). In Carolina's four lowest-scoring games in ACC play, it made just 12-of-58 (20.7%) from three. In all other games, the Tar Heels made 35-of-103 (34%) - still not great, but at least reasonable. Wake Forest has scored 51% of its points from the foul line and three-point line combined while Carolina has allowed 43.7% of its points from those two areas. In ACC play, 51% of the points Carolina has allowed are from beyond the arc and the foul line combined. Teams are averaging 8.4 made three's (and 23.9 attempts) against Carolina in ACC play and scoring 37% of their points from beyond the arc. And Carolina has found itself in trouble so far twice in the Smith Center - hosting Virginia Tech and Clemson - both as a result of three's. Those two teams combined to hit 21-of-52 three's (40.4%) and score 50% of their points from beyond the arc. Carolina handled NC State and Florida State fairly easily in the Smith Center and those two teams combined to make just 7-of-33 three's (21.2%). That's not a coincidence. Carolina absolutely cannot let Wake Forest get good looks. Five different players have made at least 17 three's, and those are the five that have started most games for the Deacons. Those kinds of matchup problems have hurt Carolina in the past. As for the foul line, Wake Forest shoots 74.2% from the free-throw line and is outscoring opponents by nearly 100 (412 to 331) there. Wake Forest's opponents average 19 attempts per game but Wake averages 22 attempts. In ACC play, the Deacons have attempted 18.6 free throws per game on the road but have struggled a bit more to make them (64.5%). Carolina's ACC opponents have struggled in the Smith Center as well, shooting 56.5%. But any team can get hot from three, and if the talented Deacons get confident, it could be a scary night for the Tar Heels.
Names To Know
Leslie McDonald: Last year, Carolina had yet to win on the road in the ACC on February 27th. (This year, Carolina already has four road wins.) But Leslie McDonald wouldn't let the Tar Heels lose another one. In Winston-Salem, he got hot and stayed that way, scoring a then-career high 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting (2-of-5 from three) in 23 minutes. He took more two's than three's in that game, which is rare for him, but he can hit two's even this year. In the eight games that he has attempted three or more two-pointers, he has averaged 9.0 points per game compared to 5.9 in the 15 games when he attempted two or fewer two's. And though he shoots worse from beyond the arc in those games where he attempts more two's (11-of-30 compared to 22-of-55 in all other games), he is so valuable to the Carolina offense. With Dexter Strickland still struggling to find his way a bit, Carolina doesn't need McDonald to turn into a one-dimensional, spot-up shooter. In the last six games since his return from injury, he has shot just 11-of-35 (31.4%) from the floor and 6-of-24 (25%) from three, but he has made 5-of-11 two's in that span and 18-of-43 (41.9%) in his first 17 games. Carolina needs the multi-dimensional version of McDonald who can score - and his 22 minutes against Clemson were his most since getting 23 at Wake last year. But he had just 1 point compared to 16. Carolina needs those however they can get them, even if it's not from three.
Tyler Zeller: A likely reason that Carolina and Clemson were still close at the end of both games is that the Tigers held him to 21 points (10.5 per game) in two meetings on 6-of-13 shooting. In the other eight ACC games, he has shot 43-of-72 (59.7%) and averaged 14.8 points. But his 37.5% shooting against the Tigers was his lowest percentage in a league game since 2-of-6 at Georgia Tech. Still, he has averaged 16.4 points in the last five ACC games after averaging 11.4 in the first five. His rebounds had dropped, but he averaged 10.0 boards (5.0 offensive) over the weekend in two tough road games and added two blocks, just five total fouls and a steal in 62 minutes. He has averaged 14.3 points in ACC home games and 15.0 in the last two, adding 6.3 rebounds (2.5 offensive), 1.3 blocks and just one turnover (none in the last two home games). He has also shot 11-of-16 in the last two home games, or 68.8 percent. He has been so good recently that he is up to 15th in ACC-only scoring (13.9 points), 14th in rebounding (6.3) and fifth in offensive rebounds. He is also eighth in free-throw percentage (75.9%). Wake Forest freshman 7-footer Carson Derosiers has bothered some shots of opponents recently, but Wake doesn't have anyone else taller than 6-8 in the rotation. He had taken ten or more shots in 10 of Carolina's first 16 games and has done it just once in the last eight games. He's picking his spots well and he has more help than he did at the beginning of the year, but this is the type of game he could take over if his teammates can't hit shots, as he nearly did at Duke on Wednesday.
C.J. Harris: The 6-3 sophomore guard has struggled to find his shot as well as he did last year (probably at least in part due to a lack of Ishmael Smith) but he is still averaging 11.3 points per game on 43.4% shooting. He is also 120-of-144 from the free-throw line (83.3%) and is getting there 5.8 times per game. But he is not shooting as well from beyond the arc; he has made just 17-of-43 (39.5%) this year. In his last trip to the Smith Center, Harris had 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting (4-of-7 from three) and added a rebound, a steal and a block with no turnovers in 33 minutes. In the second meeting, he played just 14 minutes and had zero points on 0-of-3 shooting. He is a tough matchup for the Tar Heels and one that has a tendency to get opponents in foul trouble, something the Tar Heels can ill afford on the perimeter. In ACC road games, he is shooting better than he is (40.1%) in home games (36.7%), though he has averaged fewer points (11.8 on the road, 14.2 at home). And he has hit 9-of-20 three's (45%) in the last eight games and 7-of-13 (53.8%) in the last six, so that's not a good sign for Carolina. They will have to keep him off the foul line as much as possible and not let him get going from three.
Travis McKie: The 6-7 freshman forward has been good in ACC play, ranking ninth in rebounding (6.8 per game). He has seen his production fall off a bit in recent games as he has taken fewer shots, but since managing a season-low six points at FSU, he has averaged 13.7 points in the last three games on 13-of-31 shooting (3-of-5 from three), adding 7.0 rebounds (2.7 offensive), 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks. He has also picked up just three fouls in his last four ACC games. He had 15 points against NC State on 6-of-16 shooting, the most shots he has taken all year. He is talented enough that if he gets aggressive and is successful, it could be trouble. But he has struggled on the road in the ACC - as freshmen tend to - averaging 12.4 points at home to 9.4 on the road and shooting 49.1% at home to 44.2% on the road. He has also made 6-of-10 three's in ACC home games but is 0-of-6 on the road. The athletic freshman still presents all kinds of nightmare matchups to opponents, which is the reason he leads Wake in scoring this season with 12.5 per game.
Lauren Brownlow is the executive editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
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