University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Face The Fire
February 7, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 7, 2012
By Adam Lucas
Harrison Barnes has studied it, and he has a name for it.
Although Duke currently ranks last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in field goal percentage defense, the Blue Devils have made their reputation during the Mike Krzyzewski era with uncomfortably tight defense that requires an opposing offense to make plays.
"When you watch Duke on tape, what you see is that most teams aren't running their offense against them at the three-point line," Barnes says. "They're running it back at halfcourt and passing it back and forth at the timeline."
Starting as far back as Tommy Amaker and Johnny Dawkins and running through Thomas Hill, Steve Wojciechowski, Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith, the Devils have seemingly always had at least one guard who applies relentless pressure on the ball. That player might not be the quickest guard or the purest defender, but he has made a specialty of harassing the opposing ball-handler for 40 prickly minutes.
That philosophy carries over throughout the team. Passing lanes are denied. Entry passes are overplayed. Once the ball crosses halfcourt, nothing is easy.
What, then, is the formula for breaking down the Duke defense?
"You know they're going to pressure up a lot," says Reggie Bullock. "Duke is a great defensive team. They defend you like you wouldn't want to be defended. You have to cut hard to get open, you have to set good, hard screens and you have to play as a team."
Barnes thinks it's even simpler.
"You have to get penetration and get through their pressure," he says. "As I like to say, you have to face the fire. If you can do that, you can get to the basket and make more plays."
In Roy Williams's press conference Tuesday afternoon, the very first question posed to him suggested tomorrow night's game will match Duke's guards against Carolina's big men. But the numbers support Barnes's theory that successful plays against the Blue Devils are often made by guards off the dribble.
In 10 of the last 12 Carolina-Duke games, the Tar Heel starting point guard has scored more than his season average. In six of the eight Carolina wins in the series during the Roy Williams era, the starting UNC lead guard has outscored his season average. It's been true in the relatively distant past--Bobby Frasor scored 10 points at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2006 to help the Tar Heels to a senior day upset--and in the recent past. Last season, Kendall Marshall tallied the second-highest scoring total of his career, 15 points, in the regular season finale at the Smith Center. He averaged 9.8 shots per game in three meetings with Duke--by far his highest career average against any ACC opponent.
Marshall, a notorious tape-watcher, would be the first to admit if he was taking shots out of the flow of the offense. After reviewing last year's trio of games, however, he believes the opposite.
"In the game at Duke, one thing I felt like I did well was attack the basket," he says. "But I didn't finish the plays (he shot 3-of-11). I feel like I've done a better job of finishing plays this year."
The numbers confirm it. As a freshman, Marshall hit 43.4% of his two-point field goals, which he most often takes when driving to the basket. As a sophomore, he's converting 50.6% of his two-pointers; the figure jumps to 54.1% in league play.
In preparation for the Blue Devils, Marshall has been studying an expert on the subject.
"I like to go back and watch a lot of Ty Lawson film against Duke," he says. "I feel like Carolina was at their best, and he was at his best, when he was able to get into the paint and make plays."
It's much easier to sit in a folding chair on the floor of the Smith Center, surrounded by media, and talk about breaking down the Duke defense than it is to actually do it when there are hands in every passing lane and a body at every step. Even Raymond Felton lost three of his four Williams-era games against the Blue Devils.
Carolina and Duke are familiar enough with each other that there are very rarely any surprises. Each side knows exactly what the other wants to do. It's exactly because they've both been so successful--tomorrow night's game will be the sixth meeting with both squads in the top-10 in the past 10 meetings--that neither feels compelled to change. There's a good chance tomorrow night's game will come down to the most basic of basketball plays: one player with the ball in his hands, the other trying to stop him.
"You have to man up," Barnes says. "That's the best way to say it. You have to be strong with the ball, and you have to attack the basket."
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.
