Lucas: Wisconsin Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Fittingly, an abysmal first half brought Carolina's season to an end against Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament with an 85-62 defeat. The game tied for the second-worst NCAA Tournament loss in Tar Heel history and was the worst loss ever on the opening weekend of the event.

2. Too many times this season, Carolina came out uninspired in the first half and dug a hole from which it couldn't recover. It happened again on Friday night, as the Tar Heels were outplayed in every possible way by Wisconsin on the way to a 40-24 deficit at the break. The Tar Heels ended the season -28 in the first half. The last three NCAA Tournament defeats for Carolina are now by 21, 17 and 23 points.

3. The most startling stat of the disappointing first half came on the backboards, where a Wisconsin team with a negative rebounding margin outrebounded Carolina 20-17 and essentially eliminated any second chance opportunities, which has been one of Carolina's best offensive weapons this year. Wisconsin won the rebounding battle, 37-34, for the game.

4. By the way, there will doubtless be criticism of Roy Williams for failing to call a timeout in the first half. He actually tried to call one with about four minutes left in the period, but--as was a consistent theme in the first 20 minutes--his team never got the message, and the possession eventually ended with a miss and a Wisconsin block.

5. Safe to say at this point that the absolute worst possible matchup for Carolina in any situation is any team that plays a Virginia/Wisconsin, pack line-style, slowdown game. The Tar Heels struggled just as mightily to attack the Badgers as they did the Cavaliers earlier this year, and shot 23.1% against a set Wisconsin defense (not fast break chances) in the first half. Another variable that played a factor: Wisconsin is a very experienced team that knows exactly how they wanted to play. Carolina had five freshmen on the court at multiple times and spent most of the night frustrated.

6. Carolina made a good adjustment taking Kerwin Walton off Brad Davison once it became apparent that Davison was trying to attack him (the Tar Heels switched Leaky Black onto Davison), but by that point, the Wisconsin sharpshooter was already off to a hot start. It continued for the rest of the night, as he finished with 29 and was deservingly very pleased with himself. The most frustrating Davison basket of the night came in the second half when the Tar Heel defense completely lost him on an inbounds pass from underneath the Wisconsin basket. Davison, of course, swished a three-pointer.

7. Friday night brought to an end one of the most remarkable streaks in Roy Williams' career. The Tar Heel head coach had been 29-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

8. Wisconsin dramatically outplayed Carolina from the perimeter. The Badgers hit 13 of 27 three-point attempts, while Carolina countered with just 5-for-13. As he was the entire season, Kerwin Walton was the lone bright spot from the three-point line. The Minnesota freshman now finishes his rookie year hitting .420 from the three-point line, the best mark in Tar Heel history for a freshman.

9. At some point you also have to credit the Wisconsin defense. The Badgers did a great job of shutting down Carolina's two best ways to score. They blocked eight shots, limiting the paint production (Carolina led that category, 38-28, but it wasn't as big a disparity as Carolina needed). And they held Walton to just four field goal attempts. Combine those two stats and it's going to be very difficult for the Heels to win.

10. Carolina's improved offensive production in the second half--spearheaded by Armando Bacot, who finished with a team-high 15 points--only served to highlight the Tar Heels' inability to stop the Badgers on defense. Carolina played well enough on offense to make a bit of a push. But they could never get enough stops to begin that run, as the 9th-seeded Badgers shot 56 percent from the field in the second half.

11. Other than Bacot, two Tar Heels had notable games. Garrison Brooks finished out his Carolina career with a double-double, notching ten points and ten rebounds (those ten boards were more than twice as many as any other Tar Heel). And although Anthony Harris wasn't huge in the box score--he had six points--his aggressiveness and athleticism feel like it will be important for Carolina next year. There were points in the game when Harris was the only Tar Heel guard who appeared to be on the attack.

12. Good to see Tyler Hansbrough and Bobby Frasor in West Lafayette on Friday night. The duo was staying in Indiana to watch former teammate Wes Miller coach his UNCG Spartans against Florida State tomorrow in Indianapolis.

13. Roy Williams said yesterday that Mackey Arena was one of the very few traditional power conference gyms that he had never visited. Impressions on Friday night: you could see how this place would get loud on some cold winter Midwestern nights. It reminds you just a little bit of the pre-renovation Thrillerdome in Atlanta, but on a bigger scale. The roof is low and the noise stays inside--when Oral Roberts was upsetting Ohio State in the day's first game, it got legitimately loud inside.

14. Even on a Big Ten campus, Carolina turned out a very solid representation of Tar Heel fans at Mackey Arena. It was a nice reminder that you will find Tar Heels everywhere--even in the middle of West Lafayette, Indiana, almost 700 miles from the Smith Center. Wisconsin's campus is about 250 miles from West Lafayette.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Anthony Harris

Kerwin Walton

Related Videos