Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

Carolina ignited the rocket fuel with 12 minutes to play. By the time it burned out, the Tar Heels had vanquished USC 74-64 and advanced to the round of 8 where they will take on Georgetown tomorrow in a classic matchup.

In our preview for this game, we at TRR stated the following:

1. "Freshman forward Taj Gibson is nearly averaging a double-double and is a bear on the offensive glass. Carolina has to keep a body on him."

2. "The outcome of this game will likely be determined by the front court of North Carolina. USC largely uses a rotation of players 6'4" to 6'9"...Hansbrough and Wright will have to control the glass on both ends of the court while providing inside-outside balance with offense down low."

3. "But the front court can only take them so far"...[The backcourt needs] "to be a force offensively to keep the double teams off Hansbrough."

And finally,

4. "Carolina will have to replicate their efforts against MSU: a full 40 minutes of offense and defensive pressure while hoping their depth takes over with five or ten minutes left to play."

Ok, fine, we'll stop breaking our arms by patting ourselves on the back. This matchup wasn't rocket science, but it's nice to know sometimes you break it down and you were right. Scary-right if you're a Tar Heel fan. Come on, admit it, you were scared in this one.

The story in the first half of this game was USC's surprising quickness, which startled the Tar Heels. Only Lawson could match the speed USC put on the court.

The Trojans were consistently able to take Carolina defenders off the dribble and were better at crashing the glass than their roster size indicates. On defense the Trojans constantly double-teamed Hansbrough and Wright -- even when they didn't have the ball -- while daring the perimeter players to beat them.

With Terry out sick the load was left to Lawson, Ellington, and Ginyard. Yet these three were unable to deliver for much of the first half. With the offense unable to run inside-out and as the outside shots of Carolina continued to draw iron, USC kept packing it in.

Perhaps the most surprising stat of the first half was USC's 20 points in the paint to UNC's 18. Throw in some timely three point shooting and the Trojans went into the locker room up 42-33. At the half Taj Gibson had 12 points and 9 rebounds, Nick Young had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Gabe Pruitt had 9 points and 4 steals.

In contrast, Hansbrough had 2 points and 2 fouls, Lawson had 2 points on 1 of 5 from the floor, and Terry had 7 points in only 12 minutes of limited play. Brandon Wright was the only thing keeping the Tar Heels close. His 8 points and 5 boards were the best Carolina could offer. Carolina shot 37 percent from the floor and 16 percent from three.

USC started off on the same foot in the second half. With 16:00 left to play it was 49-35 USC, prompting TRR to write in his notebook, "...49-35 SC, still waiting for UNC to show up in the second half."

Watching Ginyard put up another brick must have sent Carolina fans into tizzies, pulling their hair out. TRR could hear you screaming, "Our offense has been reduced to this!?! SC wants you to shoot, Marcus, but quit shooting...you're killing us." Oh, wait, that's what TRR was screaming.

Then the skies parted and the basketball gods awoke. This cannot be, they demurred.

Taj Gibson picked up his 3rd foul with 13:44 remaining. TRR wrote in his notebook, "and he's not sitting? Floyd rolling the dice."

No sooner than TRR had finished that thought and bleeeeep!...Gibson drew his fourth with 12:25 to play and USC up 57-45. TRR then wrote, "...if Carolina's going to do it, now is the time."

TRR then charted the following offensive explosion in his notebook that took place between the 12:55 mark and 4:34 to play:

Wright -- offensive rebound, dunk.
Wright -- offensive rebound, layup.
Ginyard -- offensive rebound, layup.
Ginyard -- offensive rebound, layup, foul, made free throw.
Wright -- layup.
Ginyard -- offensive rebound, layup.
Green -- offensive rebound, layup.
Ellington -- layup.
Wright -- made jump hook.
Wright -- made FT
Ellington -- layup

6 offensive rebounds, 9 layups, two free throws, and a short jump-hook off the lane. A 22-2 run over eight minutes that completely blew the game wide open. Ginyard's turn around after looking poor minutes earlier was quite dramatic. Wight showed why he will be a lottery pick in next year's NBA draft.

All the energy left the Trojans when Gibson went to the bench. But don't put all of this on Gibson. The Carolina recipe has always been to rotate in fresh bodies and hope the opponent wears down. USC did just that, though a bit more spectacularly than others.

The shot chart in the second half was just amazing. If I could find one online, I'd link to it. TRR's shot chart showed that for the second half the Tar Heels had 28 points in the paint, and this easily could be 30 if you counted Wright's jump hook just off the left block.

Carolina made nothing outside of 8 feet in the second half. Didn't need to. In contrast, USC only had 8 points in the paint. Total demolition.

Some final points:

1. Billy Packer kept making the point about how Carolina should adjust and then eventually praised Roy for sticking to the game plan (yes, announcers can have it both ways). Coaches that tinker too much this time of the year usually aren't rewarded. Sticking with what got you this far is what usually works. Roy figured his team had to play better and that USC's five man rotation would eventually wear down or get in foul trouble, which they did. What you didn't see were the rosary beeds under his jacket.

2. Green, Terry, and Thompson all gave Carolina excellent minutes off the bench. The Tar Heel bench outscored USC's bench 22-0.

3. Even though Hansbrough was being doubled, UNC should have gone to him earlier. Gibson's aggressive style is tailor made for Hansbrough's ability to draw fouls. Gibson eventually had to sit, but it was almost too late when it finally happened.

4. Not having a fresh Reyshawn Terry against Georgetown will be a big negative for Carolina. There will be open jumpshots on the perimeter to be made and someone has to put a body on Green. Terry's length would have been nice to have here.