The Nevada game was the first I’ve gotten to see in person this season. The Wolf Pack is no slouch team  and may make a nice appearance in the NCAA tournament. They have a nice inside game, and responded well offensively to overplay defense. Surely America noticed them with only 3:30 remaining in the first half. The Pack was trailing the #1 team by only 3 points.

But something changed. Sparked by Ty Lawson, the Heels began their best defensive stretch of the season. Swarming the Wolf Pack’s perimeter, the Heels generated turnover after turnover to create a 14 point halftime lead .

The rally continued into the second half as the Heels earned a predicted 22-point lead with just under two minutes into the second half. It was a 21-2 run that the Heels generated on defense. Finally! The defensive intensity ebbed a bit, but the Heels continued playing well for the remainder of the 3rd quarter. With 10:33 remaining Bobby Frasor hit a three from the deep right corner to give the Heels a 31-point lead.

Soon after that, though, not just something changed. Everything changed. Frasor created a steal, but when going for the loose ball near the sidelines, twisted and went down in a writhing heap. The sell-out crowd of 21,750 fell silent in what was, perhaps, the most intimate moment I’ve ever seen a crowd of that size have. From the upper deck we could hear Bobby screaming. After a few uncomfortable moments for the crowd, a man in the lower level across from the Nevada bench yelled out something like ,"Go Bobby!," to which each person in the crowd yelled their own variation. All fell quiet again after about 5 seconds. We knew. We all knew. Every person in the enormous gym was thinking those same three letters: A-C-L. The student riser section began a very Duke-like "BOB-by FRA-sor" chant. In what seemed like a couple of minutes, Frasor got up and limped off on his own steam. To be honest, I was impressed with his ability to walk at that point.

We all got back to our cars to find of lump of coal in our radio stockings: Frasor did tear that left ACL and will be gone for the rest of the season. We may have witnessed the most important injury in the Dean Dome’s 21 year history. Hindsight will prove clear on this but for sure, something about the Tar Heels changed last night. The question is did it change with 5:00 remaining in the first half or did it change when Frasor’s knee popped.

Well, here we are again. Entering the season the focus on this team was on shooting, not the frontcourt with its likely National Player of the Year. Ellington and Green have shown a stellar jumpshot this season. Frasor was clearly 100% and made us realize that last season he was not. The backcourt was playing so well that the recent focus has been on the play of Thompson/Stepheson. No longer.

The removal of Frasor from the lineup really gives the team an ideal 8-man rotation (Hans/Thomp/Step – Green/Gin/Ell/Law/Thms). Without any doubt, though, Quentin Thomas must be able to come in and play 8-10 fantastic, turnover-free minutes every game. Thomas’ head is exactly in the right place. A senior who has not had much playing time throughout his career, Thomas responded to his new opportunity last night by saying he wished that Bobby hadn’t gotten injured. Lawson said that he was going to run extra sprints.

The dynamic of this team have changed. The post game locker room was music-less and full of focused, driven faces. If Ellington, Lawson, and Thomas truly respond to this challenge with fire, watch out America. The #1 team is no longer complacent.

The 7-0 Heels were about to hold off a young Kentucky team in what was one of the most unwatchable games thus far this season. Both teams combined for 56 free throw in a long game that was never really in doubt.

The frequent trips to the charity stripe contributed to both teams’ high offensive efficiency. The Heels scored 0.96 points per possession while the Wildcats scored 0.89 ppp. The teams only shot 42% and 45% from the field, so the plethora of points from the line really drove up those efficiency numbers. The Heels had 90 possessions to Kentucky’s 87, so the pace of the game was brisk.

Hansbrough Frequents Charity Stripe

This season Tyler Hansbrough is 58/74 in 215 minutes of playing time. Thus, he is taking a free throw every 2.9 minutes of playing time. This is more frequent than his 3.7 minute career stat entering the season. For comparison, Antawn Jamison attempted a FT every 5.5 minutes, Michael Jordan every 7.4. and Christian Laettner every 4.6 in college. Hansbrough’s up-to-date career stat is now a FTA every 3.57 minutes of playing time. I don’t have any idea where this puts him in history, but rest assured, Hansbrough is one of the most frequently fouled players in college basketball history.

The biggest key to Hansbrough’s success is how he keeps his head up. Young players should learn this one lesson from Tyler. He plays through the play always looking to score even after contact.

Exam Break

As we head into the exam break we see some areas where the Heels are excelling and areas where they need improvement.

Excellence

Free Throw Shooting – the team is shooting 67% from the line, which benefits inside oriented teams like Carolina.

3-Point Shooting – The entire team is shooting 41% from 3-point land. With about 26% of shots coming from out there, this team is far more productive from outside than anticipated.

Team Defense – The Heels are causing opponents to turn the ball over on 22.2% of their possessions and are holding teams to 43% shooting. Opposing teams are choosing to shoot 37% of their shots from outside, where they shoot 41%. Therefore, teams are having a miserable time shooting inside the arc.

Needs Improvement

Help Up Front – Tyler Hansbrough cannot and will not be able to shoulder the entire load of the UNC frontcourt. I hope that Deon Thompson can become an effective inside player. Currently he appears to have a long, long way to go. He dribbles entirely too much. Thompson should only be dribbling as a means to take 3 steps toward the basket – that’s it. I don’t know if he’s been instructed to conserve energy or not, but he needs to dunk it when he gets down low. I’ve never seen a big man (that includes Kris Lang) get his shot blocked so often. Alex Stepheson makes some good plays here and there, but at times it appears that he is confused about what play is being run. He is stronger on the defensive end. These two players are the biggest disappointment so far this season.

Perimeter Defense – We haven’t seen much fast break action this season. Usually those opportunities are fueled by perimeter defensive pressure, which we have seen very little of so far. I’d like to see more pressure on the ball. We are playing each of these opponents for the penetration move. I think that getting in these ballhandlers’ faces, especially non point guards, will really increase the number of mid court turnovers.

Interior Help Defense – As we saw all last season, our big men are reluctant to help in the lane on defense. They often are late getting there and pick up dumb fouls instead of recognizing the situation and intimidating the penetrators.

Next up is a set of 7 games that the Heels should win. Pennsylvania is next and their leading scorer, Brian Grandieri is averaging only 13.8 points per game in 30 minutes of play. Hopefully during this period of games the Tar Heels can work on showing more different styles of defense. There won’t be a lot of opportunity to season our big men during this stretch, unfortunately.