Nov. 24, 2007

By Lauren Brownlow

The Basics

No. 1 North Carolina (4-0) will face Brigham Young (5-0) in the championship of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational. The Tar Heels defeated Old Dominion 99-82 in the semifinals and in the earlier game BYU upset No. 6 Louisville in the semifinals, 78-76. This game ends a streak of four games in seven days for the Tar Heels. Carolina is 4-0 against BYU all-time.

Game Time: North Carolina vs. Brigham Young, 10:30 PM EST.

Last Time: Then-No. 11 Carolina defeated BYU 86-50 on November 22, 2004 in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. The game was just the tar Heels' second of the year during the national championship season of 2005 and the team was coming off an opening game loss to Santa Clara. Sean May led the Tar Heels with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Rashad McCants had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Jawad Williams (11) and Melvin Scott (10) were the other Tar heels in double figures. Raymond Felton, who missed the opener, dished out seven assists and had two steals, despite not shooting well (2-of-10). Mike Hall was the only Cougar in double figures with ten points. Carolina held BYU to 31.6% shooting on the game and 18.5% in the first half. The Tar Heels shot 43.5% for the game.

Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 9:30 PM.

Storylines

Free-throw shooting: Carolina shot 70.9% from the field for the game but managed just 63.6% (14-of-22) from the free-throw line. The Tar Heels made 7-of-9 in the first half but just 7-of-13 (53.8%) in the second half, even though they made 22-of-30 shots (73.3%) from the field. Carolina is averaging 33.8 free-throw attempts per game. Nearly 25% of Carolina's points this season (96 out of 388) have come from the free-throw line. Tyler Hansbrough shot ten free throws and made seven, but his that is a season-low for him in free throws made and tied a season-low of ten attempts (he shot 8-of-10 against Davidson). Alex Stepheson missed both of his free throw attempts in the game and on the season, he has made just 2-of-10 (20%) from the charity stripe. Even Danny Green, Carolina's best free-throw shooter, missed one out of his two attempts last night.

Certainly, the fact that Carolina is playing its fourth game in the past seven days factors into free-throw shooting issues. But the Tar Heels' offense depends quite a bit on free throws and the Tar Heels cannot have just 14 points from the line to beat BYU. The Cougars' opponents have shot 90 free throws through five games (18.0 per game) and have made just 63.3% of them, which is at least in part due to the fatigue factor brought on by BYU's up-tempo style. Similarly, Carolina's opponents have shot 63.8% and are averaging just 14.4 attempts per game.

Tempo: Carolina was able to assert its will in terms of tempo last night, forcing an Old Dominion team that generally likes to slow it down to play fast. BYU is a team that also likes to play fast, but Carolina will still need to play as much transition ball as possible in order to have a chance to win. Lawson was able to combine his talent and speed with a savvy to push tempo and drive past slower defenders in transition. As Adam Lucas wrote,, Lawson was patient, waited the 20-30 seconds until Old Dominion either missed or made a shot and then was off like a rocket to the other end, beating everyone down the floor. "We need Ty to play that way for us to be effective. Our zone offense, he made some good decisions. We had some three's and we made them, but we are a heck of a lot better when we can run up and down the court, there's no question," Coach Williams said.

But even against a team that likes to play up-tempo like BYU, Carolina will at times be in a halfcourt set offensively. BYU is a team that knows how to pass very well and find open teammates. Carolina looks much improved in terms of half-court offense, but the Tar Heels still have some work to do moving the ball around and finding good shots in a half-court set. Roy Williams wasn't thrilled with his team's ball movement against the Old Dominion zone last night. "We made a couple of shots, but we didn't have very good movement. Against a zone in practice - and I know it's our practices - but we've really done a great job moving the ball, challenging, getting it inside and outside. We're not going to be just a three-point shooting team against a zone. We're still going to try to get it inside," Coach Williams said.

Defense: This deserves mention because even though Old Dominion played very well on offense and made even seemingly ridiculous and contested shots, the Tar Heels still cannot allow a team to shoot 55.4% for the game or even 61.5% in the second half. According to Coach Williams, the effort was there but the Tar Heels need to do a better job of committing the scouting report to memory and acting on instinct.

Old Dominion's Brandon Johnson was on fire for Old Dominion in the first half and scored 14 points, but he scored just two in the second half as picked up his third and fourth fouls relatively early. But Carolina had a hard time stopping him from getting into the lane. A lot of that contributed to the Monarchs' high shooting percentages. Against a team like BYU that is very capable of finding the open man, that kind of defense could be dangerous. They would penetrate the lane and pitch it out and somebody would make a three. In the second half from the three-point line they were 6-for-12, so they made shots. And the bad thing is that they were open shots. If somebody makes shots over your hands, you feel a lot better than you do if they make open shots," Coach Williams said.

"They (BYU) are a really a good basketball team. They pass the heck out of it, the shooters shoot it and they usually make it, so I hope it's going to be a great game. Again, I'm not going to try to lay coachspeak on you or anything or a little Lou Holtz, but if we guard the way we did tonight, they may shoot 90 percent against us."

Defensive rebounding was a bit of a concern even in the blowout win over South Carolina State, and last night it was again. Carolina was out-rebounded by the Monarchs 30-24 but after allowing Old Dominion to pull down 11 first-half offensive rebounds out of 15 missed shots, the Tar Heels allowed just four offensive rebounds to Old Dominion on ten missed shots. All totaled, the Monarchs collected 15 of their 25 misses in the form of offensive rebounds.

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: Not available.

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.

ESPN2 coverage: The game will be available on ESPN2.

Names To Know

Tyler Hansbrough: As if there were any doubt, Tyler Hansbrough has already asserted himself as one of the best players in the country. Carolina's offense runs through Hansbrough and he has delivered with 25-plus point outings in all but one game this season, bringing his average this year to 23.5 points per game on 62.2% shooting. Hansbrough is averaging one more made field goal per game this season (7.0 to 6.0 last year) and has increased his free-throw attempt average from 8.3 per game last year an astounding 12.3 this season. He is also converting on 77.6% of his attempts from the line this year as opposed to 76.8% last season. Hansbrough's steals are up significantly (1.1 last season to 1.8 per game this year) as are his rebounds, 9.3 per game and 3.8 offensive boards to 7.9 and 3.1 last year. The only two areas in which his numbers have not improved are in assists (1.2 last season to 0.3 this year on just one assist in four games) and 1.9 turnovers to 2.8 this season.

Against Old Dominion, Hansbrough had 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting and added six rebounds and a steal in a season-high 37 minutes. His six rebounds were a season-low, but the junior All-American faced a physical task rebounding against a front line whose shortest member was 6-9 and often trying to get rebounds over the 7-3 Sam Harris. Tyler Hansbrough is in fantastic shape and it will take a lot to get him tired. But BYU's Trent Plaisted will be much more mobile and just as physical as Sam Harris was, so Hansbrough is in for a long night yet again.

Marcus Ginyard: Ginyard's long pass down the floor for the highlight-worthy Wayne Ellington dunk last night was typical Marcus Ginyard - a savvy play that won't get a lot of attention. Ginyard and his defense will certainly be needed against a veteran team like BYU that can shoot the basketball.

Ginyard has been primarily known for his defensive prowess, but this season he has quietly been increasing his offensive output as well, averaging 6.3 points per game this season (up from 4.0 last season). He tied his season high last night with seven points and set a season high for field goal percentage, making two of four attempts (50%). Ginyard shot 47.3% from the field last season and averaged 3.0 field goal attempts per game, shooting five or more field goals in just nine games last season. Already this year, he has attempted five field goals in all but one game. His field goal percentage is down to 36.8%, but he is shooting 4.8 attempts per game this season. The most important aspect of his game that he has improved is getting to the free-throw line. He averaged just 1.4 attempts per game last season (79.2%) and has gotten to the line four times in each of Carolina's four games, averaging 4.0 attempts and 2.8 made free throws (68.8%).

His rebounding output is up as well from 3.1 per game (1.4 offensive rebounds) to 4.8 this season (1.8 offensive rebounds). He began the season with just two offensive rebounds and eight total rebounds thought he first two games, but has had 11 rebounds and five offensive boards in the last two games. His assists are down from 1.5 last season to 1.3 this season, but his turnovers are down as well from 1.1 to 0.8.

Jonathan Tavernari: The 6-6, 215-pound sophomore notched both a career and a game-high 29 points in the upset win against Louisville, shooting 10-of-22 from the floor and 5-of-11 from behind the arc. On the season, Tavernari leads the team in three-pointers made with 15 and is shooting 48.4% from the three-point line. He is shooting 45.2% from the floor and 76.9% (10-of-13) from the three-point line. He is also averaging 1.4 steals per game, third on the team. The reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Year, Tavernari is now second on the Cougars in both scoring (16.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.4 per game).

Trent Plaisted: Plaisted, a redshirt junior, was second on the team in both scoring and rebounding last season and now leads the team in both categories with 17.7 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. The 6-11, 245-pound forward/center also leads the team in field-goal percentage (30-of-50, 60%). Plaisted has attempted 37 free throws and made 27 of them (73%) in the Cougars' five games this season, which leads the team. The next-closest Cougars have made ten free throws out of 13 attempts.

In the win over Louisville, Plaisted had 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting and made one of his only two free-throw attempts, a season low. He also pulled down 12 rebounds, dished out an assist, blocked a shot and had four turnovers in 30 minutes. He has also avoided foul trouble this season, notching three fouls just in two games, two fouls in two games and zero fouls in another.

Quotables

"I'm not worried about people zoning us. All the media at home are afraid we can't ever make a shot outside three inches. I told them they've got to worry about something so they have something to frickin' write about." -Roy Williams

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.