Feb. 12, 2008

By Lauren Brownlow

The Basics

No. 5/5 Carolina (22-2, 7-2) will hit the road for its first trip to the John Paul Jones Arena to face Virginia (11-5, 1-8) on Tuesday night. Carolina is coming off of an 103-93 double-overtime win over Clemson on Sunday night. Virginia is coming off of an 80-64 loss at Wake Forest last Saturday. It marked Virginia's eight straight road loss and sixth straight loss overall. Carolina is 3-0 this season in overtime games and 5-1 in games decided by five points or less. Virginia is 0-3 in overtime this season (just the second time in Virginia history that the Cavaliers have lost three overtime games in a season).

Carolina leads the all-time series 121-48 (41-30 in Charlottesville). Since 2000, Virginia is 6-1 at home against Carolina. The Cavaliers are 25-5 at John Paul Jones Arena and 9-4 at home this season. Carolina has won five of the last six meetings overall.

Game Time: North Carolina at Virginia, 8:00 PM.

Last Time: Carolina beat Virginia 79-69 in the Smith Center on January 10, 2007. Carolina shot just 37.9% from the field but out-rebounded Virginia 47-34. Carolina pulled down 21 offensive rebounds to score 21 second-chance points. Carolina turned the ball over only 10 times to Virginia's 18 turnovers. The Tar Heels were down by as many as nine points in the first half and Carolina was able to regain the lead. But a Sean Singletary three-pointer with 12:44 to play cut Carolina's lead to one point. The Tar Heels responded with a 10-0 run to take a 63-52 lead with a little over nine minutes left.

Tyler Hansbrough led Carolina with 18 points. Brandan Wright added 16 points, a team-high nine rebounds, three steals and one block. Ty Lawson had 10 points, three assists and two steals. J.R. Reynolds led Virginia with 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting and added seven assists, one steal and just two turnovers. Sean Singletary added 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and added seven assists and eight turnovers. Mamadi Diane also had 14 points. Laurynas Mikalauskas had 10 points. Jason Cain led the Cavaliers in rebounding with eight.

Injury Report: Ty Lawson has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle suffered in the opening minutes of the Florida State game and is doubtful for this game. Marcus Ginyard sprained his ankle in the second half of the Clemson game and sat out both overtimes with the injury. He is also suffering from turf toe on his other foot. Bobby Frasor tore his left ACL and is out for the season.

Storylines

Rebounding: Carolina has out-rebounded its opponents by +11.5 rebounds in its last eight games. Duke's 38 rebounds were the most Carolina had allowed since Maryland pulled down 38 in Carolina's other home loss this season; Clemson's 45 rebounds were the most Carolina had allowed since its previous meeting with Clemson. Part of the problem in the last two games for the Tar Heels has been keeping opponents off the boards down the stretch. After the Maryland loss, Carolina held its next three ACC opponents to 27 second-chance points (9.0 per game) on 26 offensive rebounds (8.7). But even in the Florida State game, the game-tying basket by the Seminoles came on a second-chance three-pointer. Then Carolina allowed Duke and Clemson to score 21 second-chance points (10.5 per game) on 29 offensive rebounds (14.5 per game). Duke scored some second-chance points down the stretch when Carolina was trying to get back into it. Clemson's 18 offensive rebounds were a season high by a Carolina opponent but the Tigers could manage just 13 second-chance points. Duke had just 11 offensive rebounds and eight second-chance points. Carolina was living dangerously by allowing Clemson to pull down five offensive rebounds in the first 2:45 of overtime. In fact, five of Clemson's eight points in the first overtime were second-chance points.

Carolina has had nine games of 20 or more second-chance points this season and four of those have come in the last six games, three in the last five games and two in the last three. But Carolina averaging 30.0 defensive rebounds in the last two games when its opponents have missed an average of 42.5 shots is not good enough to keep winning ACC games.

In all games this season, Virginia ranks second in the conference in rebounding margin (+7.0, 40.8 rebounds to 33.7 allowed) behind only Carolina at +11.0 (45.2 rebounds to 33.7 allowed). Virginia trails Carolina at third in offensive rebounding (14.0 per game) and second in defensive rebounding (26.8 per game). But in conference play, Carolina leads the league in rebounding margin (+10.8, 46.8 to 36.0) and Virginia ranks sixth at -0.7 (37.4 to 38.1). Carolina leads the league in offensive rebounds in conference play (17.7) and defensive rebounds (29.1). Virginia is sixth in offensive rebounds in league play (12.7) and fourth in defensive rebounds (24.8).

In Virginia's 11 wins, the Cavaliers are out-rebounding opponents by +14.5 rebounds per game (44.3 to 29.8) but in their 11 losses, that margin is -0.3 (37.3 to 37.6). The Cavaliers are rebounding 36% of their missed shots in their 11 losses and over 50% of their missed shots in their 11 wins. Virginia is 10-5 when it out-rebounds an opponent and 0-6 when it is out-rebounded.

The fatigue factor (mental and physical): When the ball is thrown up at Virginia at 7:00 on Wednesday, Carolina will be playing its third basketball game in six days. Carolina faced Duke on Wednesday on just two days rest after an overtime victory at Florida State. Then after the 9:00 game against Duke on Wednesday night, Carolina beat Clemson in double overtime, a game that lasted well over the normal two hours. Carolina had a light practice on Monday and got on a bus Monday evening headed to Charlottesville to play a Tuesday night game.

Of all people, Tyler Hansbrough (who played 47 minutes against Clemson and is averaging 42.0 minutes in the last three games) admitted to being exhausted. "I'm extremely tired right now, I can't really lie. I love to play basketball, but that was a lot and my body is pretty worn out. I have got a lot of bumps and aches, but I've got to be ready for Virginia coming up," Hansbrough said after the game. "Right now, I'm trying to keep a lot of fluids in me and my stomach has been hurting a little bit. I was extremely tired, going into timeouts a lot of times I was winded. I had to catch my breath in between breaks."

A Carolina team at full strength would have problems with this kind of strenuous schedule. But this team is down two point guards already and could be down a third if Marcus Ginyard's sprain ankle is too serious to play on. In the last two games, just eight Tar Heels have played and of those, four played at least 30 minutes against Duke. Three played 45 or more minutes against Clemson and two Tar heels played more than 30 minutes. In the final 10 minutes, the same five Tar Heels played without a substitution. Save a last-second substitution at the end of regulation to defend a last-second shot attempt, no Tar Heel came out of the game from the 4:04 mark in regulation (when Ginyard could not go anymore) until the end of the game, or 14:04 of playing time. Williams said that the Tar Heels are going to have to continue to tough it out with what could be an essentially six-man rotation.

But what was more evident than physical fatigue, which the Tar Heels gutted through admirably against Clemson, was the mental fatigue. Carolina looked unsure of itself in the opening minutes of the game, turning it over and missing even point-blank shots.

Carolina did not even get to attempt a shot until the 17:45 mark in the first half and it missed. Carolina made just 1-of-4 field goal attempts in the first 3:16 and turned it over six times. All of the misses were from two-point range. Carolina shot 24-of-55 from two-point range (43.6%) in the game but 8-of-23 (34.8%) in the first half. In the first 16:58 of the second half, Carolina shot 8-of-21 from two-point range (38.1%) but finished the second half shooting 4-of-4 from two-point range (and 2-of-2 from behind the arc). But for awhile, it seemed like even lay-ups were rimming out.

"Oh, man. I was getting real mad about that. I missed a couple myself. It was frustrating to get that close and have an opportunity to just lay the ball in and miss, but I think down the stretch, we made the ones that we really needed to make," Wayne Ellington, who shot 4-of-13 from two-point range, said after the game. "We got the ball inside and we let Tyler work and he was working. You can see, he was real aggressive tonight and he made some big-time plays for us."

At the beginning of the game, Carolina looked panicked. Even when the Tar Heels were able to settle down a bit, they still couldn't get much going. Clemson went without a field goal from the 18:20 mark in the second half until the 14:03 mark - but as Carolina trimmed seven points off the deficit, Clemson went on a 9-0 run to go up 15 points with 11:44 to go. Carolina could not get a stop and missed five shots (three three-pointers). But as Carolina ratcheted up the defensive pressure on one end and ran a calmer offense on the other end, Carolina was able to keep pace. "I just knew that we had to keep our composure. There was so much time left that we couldn't start scrambling and get all out of whack and start forcing things. We just needed to keep our composure and just execute our offense and get stops defensively," Ellington said.

Playing at Virginia, a place that has historically been difficult for Carolina, the Tar Heels will need to keep their composure again.

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: The in-stadium feed at the John Paul Jones Arena will be FM 87.9.

Watching At Home

Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.

A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.

Raycom/ESPN2 coverage: The game will be available on Raycom regionally and ESPN2 nationally.

Names To Know

Quentin Thomas: In the first half against Clemson, Quentin Thomas was struggling, as were the Tar Heels. Carolina committed seven turnovers in the first four minutes of the game and Thomas had two of them. After committing another two turnovers in the second half in a little less than one minute (the latter coming at the 10:29 mark), Thomas would not turn the ball over again. In the final 8:48, Thomas dished out three assists and hit 1-of-2 shots from the field - but his one field goal was the one that tied the game at 82 at the end of regulation. He followed that up by hitting two free throws to tie the game at the end of the first overtime to force the second overtime. He added one more assist for good measure in the final extra period. "I was real frustrated at the way I played, especially in the first half of the Duke game. But I just tried to put that behind me. Coach talked to me and he said, `You don't have to play over your head. Just play within your limits and your limits are good enough.' So I just tried to relax and play the way I play," Thomas said.

Thomas has struggled defensively at times (he is dealing with the ill effects of both a bum knee that caused him to miss games earlier this season and a stomach ailment). But when it counted, he locked up Clemson's Cliff Hammonds. The senior Hammonds (who has played much more extensively over his career than Thomas) had 31 points, including a three-pointer to put Clemson up five points with 1:10 left. He did not score the rest of the game, shooting 0-of-3 from the field and turning it over once. "It always starts with the point guard because the more pressure that you put on your defender, it's like a chain reaction. Everybody else will feed off of that," Thomas, who repeatedly encouraged his teammates to get stops down the stretch, said. "I feel a lot more comfortable. It's hard for me because my knee still bothers me from time to time and it's kind of hard. But I just have to suck it up and keep working."

He has played three overtimes in his stint as the starting Tar Heel point guard. In those 15 minutes, he has hit 5-of-6 free throws, pulled down one rebound, added one assist and committed no turnovers and no fouls. In his other 101 non-overtime minutes, he has hit 9-of-19 shots (0-of-3 three-pointers), hit 2-of-4 free throws, scored 20 points, pulled down ten rebounds, dished out 21 assists, had a steal, two blocks, eight fouls and 13 turnovers in 101 minutes. In his 35 minutes against Duke, he had 10 points (a career high) but added four fouls and six turnovers. In his 66 non-overtime minutes against Florida State and Clemson, he had 10 points, 14 assists, one steal, two blocks, four fouls and seven turnovers. In conference play only, Thomas ranks tenth in the league in assists (3.56 per game) and sixth in assist-turnover ratio (32 assists to 17 turnovers - a 1.88 ratio).

"He's done a really nice job, particularly at Florida State and last night. He struggled the whole first half against Duke and struggled a little bit early in the game last night. But I think his maturity allows him to settle down, and we have to. There's nobody else. So it's the kind of thing that sometimes, you do things out of necessity and I think that's part of what Q is doing," Williams said. "And he's worked four years and he's just had so much adversity with his body and the health problems, it's awfully good to have a youngster that you love to death that's having this kind of success right now."

In his career against Virginia, Thomas has averaged 12.5 minutes in six games and made 6-of-13 field goals, scored 19 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, dished out 15 assists to just eight turnovers and added three steals. After shooting 1-of-2 against the Cavaliers as a freshman in two games and dishing out two assists to four turnovers, he has scored 15 points in the last four meetings on 5-of-11 shooting and added 13 rebounds, 13 assists, three steals and just four turnovers in 60 minutes (15.0 per game). His best performance against Virginia came in the 2006 ACC Tournament when Bobby Frasor was in foul trouble. Thomas played a then-career high 24 minutes and hit 3-of-4 free throws, pulled down four rebounds, added six assists, two steals and just two turnovers. Last season's five rebounds against Virginia in the Smith Center were a career high.

Danny Green: Danny Green was all over the court in the final minutes of the Clemson game. Though his back-to-back three-pointers will be remembered for igniting the comeback and giving his teammates the confidence that they could overcome a nine-point deficit in three minutes, he did more than just make three-pointers in that span.

In the final 3:00 of regulation, Danny Green had an offensive rebound and stickback to cut it the Clemson lead to nine, a steal that set up a Tyler Hansbrough putback to cut the lead to seven, another steal 20 seconds later that set up another Hansbrough basket to cut it to five, a three-pointer that cut it to two points and then after a Clemson three-pointer with 1:22 to go, he had a three-pointer with 1:10 left that cut the lead to two. His final steal came with one second left that prevented Clemson from getting a last-second shot chance at the end of regulation. So in three minutes, Green had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting (2-of-2 from beyond the arc), one offensive rebound and three steals. The rest of the game prior to that point, Green shot 2-of-5 from the field and had just four points, one assist, two turnovers, two fouls and two blocks. He missed all three shot attempts in both overtimes, but he hit two free throws with 1:54 left in the second overtime that stretched Carolina's lead from one to three points. Clemson would not score again.

In Carolina's two losses this season, Green had shot 5-of-23 (21.7%) from the field and 1-of-9 (11.1%) from beyond the arc, scoring just 12 points (6.0 per game). In Carolina's seven ACC wins, even though Green was still slumping in some of them, he has shot 42% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc and averaged 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.7 blocks. In Carolina's last two ACC wins (both in overtime and without Ty Lawson), Green has shot 12-of-27 from the field (44.4%), 6-of-14 from beyond the arc (42.9%) and scored 16.5 points, pulled down 5.5 rebounds, added 2.0 steals, 1.5 blocks in 28.5 minutes. Green also struggled defensively against Duke but turned it around against Clemson, earning defensive player of the game honors. Carolina desperately needs both Green's defense and his outside shooting, especially if Marcus Ginyard cannot go against Virginia. But he has had some huge moments in the last two overtime wins and both he and the Tar Heels will benefit if he can gain some confidence from his most recent effort.

"I think it's going to help me out a lot, confidence-wise, definitely. I still feel I didn't play my best game. There were a lot of shots that I normally make that I didn't make tonight. I wish I could hit more and help the team out more. But it gave me more confidence personally and the team more confidence in me and Coach more confidence in me to take those shots," Green said. "After those two shots, I couldn't buy one. I shot an airball and I missed a pull-up. But still, the more confidence I have in myself to take those shots and the more confidence the team has in me taking those shots."

Sean Singletary: The 6-0 senior point guard has led his team as much as he can, scoring around 1/5th of Virginia's points this season. He averages 18.6 points per game (third in the ACC) on the season and 19.7 points per game in league play, which also ranks third in the league. He ranks second in the league in assists (5.9) overall and fifth in assists in league play (4.7). He is seventh in the conference in free-throw percentage on the season (83.6%) and sixth in conference games only (83.7%). He is seventh in the league in steals in ACC play at 1.8 per game.

He has had ten 20-point games this season (four in ACC play), making that 37 in his career. He has had three 20-point games in the last four games after having just one 20-point game in Virginia's first five ACC games. He is the only player in the ACC this season to have had a 30-point scoring game, a 10-rebound game and a 10-assist game. He has reached double-figure scoring in 44 straight games, the longest active streak in the ACC. Besides Tyler Hansbrough, Singletary has made more free throws in ACC play (41) than all but two players - Deron Washington (59) and DeMarcus Nelson (42).

Virginia has won just one ACC game, but fie of Virginia's eight ACC losses have been by ten points or fewer. In those games, Sean Singletary has averaged 20.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.8 turnovers, 2.3 steals and 37.7 minutes compared to 17.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 5.0 turnovers, 0.7 steals and 34.0 minutes in Virginia's three blowout losses. Singletary has also played well in league play in four ACC games in the John Paul Jones Arena, hitting 7-of-19 three-pointers and notching two triple-doubles.

After starting ACC play with 7 assists to 10 turnovers in the first two games, he went on a four-game stretch in which he had 28 assists to just 10 turnovers. But in the last three games, he has seven assists to 12 turnovers. He also had three steals in the first two ACC games, and then had 10 steals in the next three ACC games. He has just three steals in the last four ACC games. In Virginia's last game against Wake Forest on the road, Singletary had 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting and added three assists, four turnovers and two steals in 36 minutes.

Mamadi Diane: The 6-5 junior guard/forward is second on the team in scoring and 25th in the ACC at 11.8 points per game. He ranks tenth in the ACC in three-pointers per game (2.0) but has made just 3-of-14 in Virginia's last four games. He began Virginia's first six ACC games by shooting 45.8% from the field (36.6% from beyond the arc and 2.5 made three-pointers per game) and averaging 15.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 36.2 minutes. But in Virginia's last three games, Diane has shot 20% from the field (12.5% from the three-point line) and averaged 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 25.6 minutes. He played just 17 minutes against Wake Forest in the road loss and did not start for the first time this season. He shot 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-2 from behind the arc, but he made 5-of-6 free throws, scoring nine points and adding six rebounds (five offensive rebounds).

In Virginia's six close losses in the ACC and one win, Diane has averaged 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds compared to 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in its three blowout losses. After losing his starting spot on Saturday, Carolina will most likely see a very fired up Diane.

Quotables

"If I live to be 106, I won't be any more proud of a group of kids than I am that bunch right there." -Roy Williams

"My favorite football player of all-time was Earl Campbell. They asked Bum Phillips if he was in a class by himself. He said he didn't know if he was in a class by himself, but it sure didn't take long to call the roll to get to him. That's Tyler Hansbrough. ... I don't know how much longer I am going to coach him - I'd like to coach that big sucker about thirteen more years. When he decides to leave, which I don't want any questions about that cause I could frankly don't give a damn - but when he leaves I am going to consider I'm luckiest guy in the world to have coached him." -Roy Williams

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.