Sports
Baby blue bloodbath: No. 4 Tar Heels demolish No. 17 Wildcats
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| AP Photo | John Miller Arizona's Ivan Radenovic (right) tries to knock the ball free as North Carolina's Ty Lawson drives in the lane during the Tar Heels’ 92-64 victory at the McKale Center in Tucson yesterday. |
By Nick Prevenas
TUCSON—Yesterday’s contest between the Arizona Wildcats and the North Carolina Tar Heels was supposed to be a showcase event for two of the finest college basketball programs in America.
This game held the potential of being one of the most entertaining games of the season, along with serving as a possible Final Four preview.
Instead, the No. 4 Tar Heels (19-2, 5-1 ACC) handed the Wildcats their worst home loss during Lute Olson’s tenure with a 92-64 thrashing.
“I don’t know if Carolina could’ve played any better today, and I don’t know if we could’ve played any worse.” said a disappointed Olson after the game.
Prior to yesterday’s game, the worst home loss for the Wildcats since Olson took over the program was a 61-49 defeat against the Tennessee Volunteers on Dec. 23, 1983.
The No. 17 Wildcats (14-6, 5-4 Pac-10) followed up their dominating performance against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Wednesday with an abysmal shooting performance against the Tar Heels.
Arizona only converted on 34 percent of their shot attempts, including an abysmal 1-23 performance from three-point range.
“We had open looks, but we just didn’t convert on them,” Olson said.
Tar Heel point guard Ty Lawson led all scorers with 18 points.
The freshman from Maryland also tallied eight assists, four steals and only committed one turnover.
Lawson completely out-played Arizona senior Mustafa Shakur.
While Shakur has arguably been the nation’s top point guard for much of the season, he had difficultly handling Lawson’s blazing speed and pestering defense.
While Shakur did manage to score 15 points, he committed eight turnovers and struggled to defend Lawson—especially in transition.
“This was the best all-around game Lawson has played this season,” said North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
“He really kept us afloat in the first half and sparked our run later in the game.”
The Tar Heels were without the services of freshman sensation Brandan Wright and reserve forward Marcus Ginyard—both of whom were suffering from a nasty stomach virus.
While most teams would struggle without their No. 2 scorer and rebounder, Williams said the adversity brought his team together.
“Losing Brandan and Marcus gave us an extra edge and made some of our guys focus a little harder,” Williams said.
Freshmen Deon Thompson and Alex Stephenson stepped up their games to compensate for Wright’s absence.
With Arizona’s interior defense paying most of their attention to Player of the Year candidate Tyler Hansbrough, Thompson and Stephenson each had career days, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Hansbrough struggled mightily in the first half, failing to tally a point until two minutes before the half. He found his rhythm in the second half and finished with 14 points—still four points below his season average.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a quick 6-0 advantage after five of the first six Wildcat possessions ended in turnovers.
Arizona closed the gap to 21-20 midway through the first half, but Lawson led a 22-3 run that put North Carolina up for good.
A terrifying moment for Wildcat fans occurred with five minutes remaining in the opening half when Marcus Williams landed awkwardly on his ankle and writhed in pain near the Tar Heels’ bench.
Once play was stopped, Arizona’s leading scorer was carried off the floor and treated for an ankle sprain.
He valiantly attempted a return early in the second half, but the sprain had noticeably affected his mobility and leaping ability.
“It’s awfully sore, but I’ll be ready to go before our next game,” Williams said.
“It’s just so frustrating to see your team lose like this when you can’t be out there helping your teammates.”
Williams scored only four points—well below his 18-point average.
Chase Budinger stepped up in Williams’ absence and led the Wildcats with 16 points.
After picking up two quick fouls in the first half, Budinger failed to score until early in the second half, when his points came in bunches.
Freshman forward Jordan Hill served as a rare bright spot for the Wildcats yesterday.
The freshman posted his second consecutive stellar outing, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds while playing stellar defense on Hansbrough.
Half of Hill’s points came on emphatic dunks that gave the McKale Center crowd a rare reason to cheer.
“The most disappointing part of this game was how the crowd’s enthusiasm was so high and we responded with such a terrible effort,” Olson said.
The Wildcats will spend the next four days trying to regroup from this beating before they resume their Pac-10 schedule on Thursday when they host the No. 18 Washington State Cougars.
Arizona will be attempting to avenge its loss to Washington State on Jan. 6, when the Cougars pulled out a hard-fought 77-73 overtime win.
“I told the guys to forget about it and move on,” Olson said.
“We’re not going to watch any of the tape from this game. We just need to get our shooters back on track and attack our Pac-10 schedule.”
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9736
This game held the potential of being one of the most entertaining games of the season, along with serving as a possible Final Four preview.
Instead, the No. 4 Tar Heels (19-2, 5-1 ACC) handed the Wildcats their worst home loss during Lute Olson’s tenure with a 92-64 thrashing.
“I don’t know if Carolina could’ve played any better today, and I don’t know if we could’ve played any worse.” said a disappointed Olson after the game.
Prior to yesterday’s game, the worst home loss for the Wildcats since Olson took over the program was a 61-49 defeat against the Tennessee Volunteers on Dec. 23, 1983.
The No. 17 Wildcats (14-6, 5-4 Pac-10) followed up their dominating performance against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Wednesday with an abysmal shooting performance against the Tar Heels.
Arizona only converted on 34 percent of their shot attempts, including an abysmal 1-23 performance from three-point range.
“We had open looks, but we just didn’t convert on them,” Olson said.
Tar Heel point guard Ty Lawson led all scorers with 18 points.
The freshman from Maryland also tallied eight assists, four steals and only committed one turnover.
Lawson completely out-played Arizona senior Mustafa Shakur.
While Shakur has arguably been the nation’s top point guard for much of the season, he had difficultly handling Lawson’s blazing speed and pestering defense.
While Shakur did manage to score 15 points, he committed eight turnovers and struggled to defend Lawson—especially in transition.
“This was the best all-around game Lawson has played this season,” said North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
“He really kept us afloat in the first half and sparked our run later in the game.”
The Tar Heels were without the services of freshman sensation Brandan Wright and reserve forward Marcus Ginyard—both of whom were suffering from a nasty stomach virus.
While most teams would struggle without their No. 2 scorer and rebounder, Williams said the adversity brought his team together.
“Losing Brandan and Marcus gave us an extra edge and made some of our guys focus a little harder,” Williams said.
Freshmen Deon Thompson and Alex Stephenson stepped up their games to compensate for Wright’s absence.
With Arizona’s interior defense paying most of their attention to Player of the Year candidate Tyler Hansbrough, Thompson and Stephenson each had career days, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Hansbrough struggled mightily in the first half, failing to tally a point until two minutes before the half. He found his rhythm in the second half and finished with 14 points—still four points below his season average.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a quick 6-0 advantage after five of the first six Wildcat possessions ended in turnovers.
Arizona closed the gap to 21-20 midway through the first half, but Lawson led a 22-3 run that put North Carolina up for good.
A terrifying moment for Wildcat fans occurred with five minutes remaining in the opening half when Marcus Williams landed awkwardly on his ankle and writhed in pain near the Tar Heels’ bench.
Once play was stopped, Arizona’s leading scorer was carried off the floor and treated for an ankle sprain.
He valiantly attempted a return early in the second half, but the sprain had noticeably affected his mobility and leaping ability.
“It’s awfully sore, but I’ll be ready to go before our next game,” Williams said.
“It’s just so frustrating to see your team lose like this when you can’t be out there helping your teammates.”
Williams scored only four points—well below his 18-point average.
Chase Budinger stepped up in Williams’ absence and led the Wildcats with 16 points.
After picking up two quick fouls in the first half, Budinger failed to score until early in the second half, when his points came in bunches.
Freshman forward Jordan Hill served as a rare bright spot for the Wildcats yesterday.
The freshman posted his second consecutive stellar outing, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds while playing stellar defense on Hansbrough.
Half of Hill’s points came on emphatic dunks that gave the McKale Center crowd a rare reason to cheer.
“The most disappointing part of this game was how the crowd’s enthusiasm was so high and we responded with such a terrible effort,” Olson said.
The Wildcats will spend the next four days trying to regroup from this beating before they resume their Pac-10 schedule on Thursday when they host the No. 18 Washington State Cougars.
Arizona will be attempting to avenge its loss to Washington State on Jan. 6, when the Cougars pulled out a hard-fought 77-73 overtime win.
“I told the guys to forget about it and move on,” Olson said.
“We’re not going to watch any of the tape from this game. We just need to get our shooters back on track and attack our Pac-10 schedule.”
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9736
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