NC State vs UNC
My one big question coming into the N.C. State versus UNC game was simple: would the intensity that Carolina showed against Duke a couple of nights before still be there for this game with another in-state opponent or would the fact that the Heels had played good but not good enough have deflated them completely. When it was all said and done the scoreboard showed that North Carolina (14-11 & 3-7 in the ACC) had played this game with the same intensity, for the most part, and beaten N.C. State (14-12 & 2-9 in the ACC) by the score of 74 to 61. (Just for the record: my prediction for the game was 74 to 68). The first part of the game head coach Roy Williams’ squad didn’t have the same look as they did versus Duke, but as the game went on, and the team began to show its new look, with John Henson at the four, the Tar Heels seemed to gain confidence. From post game quotes, such as the one from freshman Dexter Strickland, you can see that this team was focused and ready:
“We had to come out here and play,” freshman Dexter Strickland said. “This game was a must win.”
Here is what head coach Roy Williams had to say after the game:
And this was a must win for the Heels, maybe for all the wrong reasons (no one would have believed in pre-season if I said this would be to stay out of the cellar of the conference), or better said for reasons you would not want to think of when you don the Carolina Blue. Nonetheless, for whatever the reason, it was a must win game. Does this change the way a lot of people will interpret this year? Probably not, but it does show that coach Williams is instilling in these talented players his methods of playing, and that, down the road, is going to make this team special. How special? That is still to be determined and anyways, all of that is the future, and this is now, and I have a feeling that this squad can still do some damage in the here and now.
Freshman forward John Henson said this of his first start in college:
“It was nerve wracking,” Henson said. “But after the tip, I got all the jitters out.”
He played a good game, switching over from the 3 to the 4 due to the injury bug that has hit the UNC big men, and had a good outing, with nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals. And he was not alone in having a good game, Deon Thompson played well, scoring a dozen and getting seven boards. Will Graves, who switched off at the 3 and the 4 during the game and was the only played to get more than 30 minutes in the game, scored just five points, but his eight rebounds (4 on the offensive glass) and two steals were part of a good performance. What was also nice is that the bench provided the Heels with 25 points and seven rebounds. Larry Drew II provided the Heels with good leadership in the game, scoing a team high 15 points while having seven assists and only two turnovers. What all of this tells me is that if North Carolina wants to win they must depend on the team stepping up, because one player isn’t carrying the load this year.
All of this coming in front of some of the best ever players to have ever worn the Carolina Blue (200 strong from what I have read), as the University keeps celebrating the 100 Years in Basketball with a game two nights of all the great stars and before the game honoring Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington by raising their jerseys in the rafters while at half time having more festivities for all the other stars that were there. The backcourt duo said this of their experience:
“It’s amazing,” Lawson said. “To be up here in the rafters with all the greats and the legends, I feel good right now. It means a lot. When I first got here, I really didn’t think my jersey would be in the rafters. Seeing the former players like Michael Jordan and James Worthy and all them up there just made me work harder and harder. To this day, it’s one of my dreams that I finally accomplished to get in the rafters.”
“It’s crazy,” Ellington said. “When you’re a kid, you dream about stuff like that. When I came on my recruiting visit, that’s one of the things that I looked at when I came into the Smith Center. I saw all the jerseys up there and all the
