University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Rundown: December 23
December 23, 2013 | General
As a reminder, there's no Rundown tomorrow through Thursday. We'll be back on Friday morning to get you ready for the Belk Bowl.
Basketball
What turned the tide in the win over Davidson? Players thought it was the use of multiple defenses, an old Dean Smith trick...Some good photos and reactions from the win in our Storify...Cool stat on the significance of J.P. Tokoto's terrific performance on Saturday:
@AirPierreTokoto joins @THANS50 as only Tar Heels with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals in a single game in last 15 seasons.
— Jason McCallum (@ESPNJMac) December 22, 2013
The full highlights from the win:
Some interesting quotes from former Michigan State star Mateen Cleaves on the Tar Heels, and his point guard's perspective on Marcus Paige...Enjoyed this look at UNC alum Scott Cherry, now the head coach at High Point, who has that program moving in a positive direction...
Tar Heels in the NBA
Johh Henson continues to fill stat sheets and had 18 points and 10 rebounds on Friday...13 points and six rebounds for Brandan Wright on Friday...Ty Lawson had 13 points and seven assists on Friday, and followed it with 13 points and six assists against the Clippers (Antawn had five points) on Saturday...This year has been a struggle for Tyler Zeller...
Kendall Marshall wasn't intimidated about being a Laker because "coming from Carolina, I understand that legendary feel."...The point guard then had three points in his Lakers debut on Saturday...Harrison Barnes had eight points and two rebounds in that same game...Because it was Lakers-Warriors, Barnes was asked about guarding Kobe Bryant just before Bryant tore his Achilles...Check out this photo of Tyler Hansbrough trying to block a Vince Carter shot...Raymond Felton might be back for the Knicks tonight as he battles through an injured hamstring...
Football
Enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes at Carolina's bowl preparation...Carolina will play at Notre Dame on Oct. 11, 2014. It's a really fun road trip that you should make if you can work it out...Cincinnati leaves for the Belk Bowl today, and expects to bring about 15,000 people...
Tar Heels in the NFL
Robert Quinn had six tackles and three sacks for the Rams...Quinton Coples had half a sack in a Jets win...Bruce Carter had a game-high 11 tackles in the Dallas win over Washington...Sylvester Williams is coming on for Denver--he had five tackles, three for loss and a sack yesterday...Brandon Tate has quietly had a good year on special teams for the Bengals...Giovani Bernard had 62 total yards plus this must-see play in a big Cincinnati win...Zach Brown had four tackles for the Titans...Hakeem Nicks had four catches for 52 yards.
Olympic sports
The women's basketball team whipped High Point, but more importantly, Sylvia Hatchell was in attendance for the first time this year...Nice honor for UNC alum Eddie Pope, who was voted to the US National Team All-Time XI...Second-team preseason All-America honors for Skye Bolt and Trent Thornton...
Today's games
None. No Tar Heel sports action until men's basketball on Dec. 27 against Northern Kentucky.
Today in Tar Heel history
Dec. 23, 1984: Tenth-ranked Carolina beat Arizona State, 85-66. Seems like a fairly perfunctory game, right? Well, OK...except it was played in Tokyo. This is also the game after which assistant coach Roy Williams flew home from Tokyo, spent Christmas with his kids, and then flew back across the country to meet the team in Hawaii for a Dec. 29 game against Hawaii Pacific.
Long read
Enjoyed this New York Times feature on the regionalism of linguistics. It's a lot more fun than it sounds, and based on our quiz answers, we should be living in...North Carolina. Whew, good thing.
