Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

The performance of the Tar Heels tonight had the announcers comparing this Carolina squad to the previous five NCAA winners. The Tar Heels dominated Miami in every facet of the game. Things got so out of hand that Miami coach Frank Haith's frustrations boiled over and he was ejected with 7:48 to play and the Tar Heels up 73-51. Miami should take solace in knowing that Carolina is dominating everyone in the ACC.

North Carolina's offense was in total control due to excellent ball movement and selfless play. Carolina recorded an amazing 14 assists on 14 made field goals in the first half. For the game the Tar Heels registered 26 assists on 36 made baskets, an assist on 33 percent of their total posessions, and had five players in double figures.

Tyler Hansbrough led the pace with 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Ellington hit 3 of 5 three point field goals on his way to 14 points.

North Carolina recorded an amazing effective field goal percentage (EFG) of 66 percent--36 of 64 from the field and 12 of 24 from three--and when they did miss their initial shots, grabbed 56 percent of their offensive rebounding opportunities.

As we've stated in the past, the two (relative) weaknesses of Carolina are a propensity to commit turnovers and inconsistent outside shooting. The threes weren't a problem today, but the 16 turnovers are too many. Some of it is the young backcourt with Lawson and Frasor combining for 6 turnovers, and some of it is in the frontcourt. Brandon Wright committed 5 turnovers and needs to be quicker and more efective with his decisions in the post.

Miami was thoroughly outmatched. They took care of the ball, committing only 12 turnovers, but couldn't convert on offense. The Hurricanes couldn't nail down shots much less get open looks against a better-than-advertised UNC defense. Unfortunately, lack of offense is something that's plagued Miami in conference all season as the 42 percent EFG was the fourth time in eight games that the Hurricanes were at or below this level.

The margin on the scoreboard and the home court advantage eventually got to Miami coach Frank Haith. On successive plays he felt the Tar Heels were getting too much leeway from the officiating and he decided to let them know it. Haith was probably correct on the non-call on the goaltending by Wright and was definitely correct when Hansbrough clearly threw the ball off a Miami defender who was standing out of bounds (the Tar Heels grabbed the deflection and scored). But we think the non-call on Hansbrough's block was fair...a lot of contact by not out of line.

Champions win the big ones, but they also win the "little" ones. By that we mean champions put away poor opponents early and take care of business. We put the question out there...can anyone stop Carolina?