Despite being closer to New York than anyone else Dexter Strickland was the last Tar Heel to arrive joining his teammates today. Strickland drove in from his home in Rahway, NJ having missed two days of practice due to the weather. New Jersey got something between 20-30 inches of snow. Walk-on D.J. Johnston also joined the team today taking the train in from Philadelphia. It will be interesting to see whether Roy Williams starts someone else instead of Strickland at the two guard. That would be normal SOP seeing Strickland missed practice but this is the homecoming game for Strickland so he might get the start anyway.
Comments if you have ‘em.
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OK folks, who’s ready to beat Rutgerrrrrrrs?!!
Go Tar Heels!
ESPN, how do you put up the starting lineups in a basketball game that dont include height? really?
6’10″ Henson and 7’0″ Zeller, and neither one were within 15 ft of the basket.
maybe Strickland will pull an MJ and the lack of practice will propel him to a big game. looked good on the drive, despite Elmore wrongly thinking he walked.
I continue to be impressed at how much better this team is on defense than last year’s team.
I continue to be baffled at how clueless this team can look at times, much like last year’s team.
can someone explain to me why our big men keep dribbling from outside the ark…
I like the start…and love the backcourt defense!
Our guys are behaving as if they’ve missed one another.
the ark? that IS far.
i’d like to see a play drawn up to send the ball inside. like, now.
Does it feel as though when we get a defensive rebound the players tend to pass to Strickland over Drew? Odd game so far, little flow to it though it appears that Henson is ready to defend the goal. It feels as though Drew is getting pushed around on D by his man but I’m sorta/kinda watching the game while building a presentation.
Too many animals in the ark I guess SouthernTarheel.
blah, blah, blah - Harrison Barnes, unfair…
Marshall is total passing freak…Love his passing game.
BBLB, i’d say that some of that is because Strickland is usually farther down court on a regular basis.
niiiiice ball movement.
I am always slow to go with the flow but MARSHALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Move the ball, go Heels!
We need to darken the Smith Center like the Garden tonight. Makes for good shooting.
ESPN boxscore is 3 min behind, and the CNNSI boxscore has no rebound stats.
good stuff.
You know, they aren’t up against Syracuse, but I have to say that this team is showing much better ball movement and zone penetration.
Barnes is gonna keep exploiting that fake. Nice to see it work.
One thing I can’t stand about Drew is that he acts like he cannot inbound the ball. He waits for somebody to walk past him to throw the ball in.
Great job so far heels…..
how many times has State’s opponent simply dropped a punt this year? 3? 4?
how is WV #22 with the offense theyve shown tonight?
ok..done watching that boring bowl.
Waaatttttttsss!
***
Saunders: Watts has appeared in just 2 games this year.
Fire your researcher, John.
“Justin Watts has only appeared in two games this year”…wrong…ESPN is useless
Justin Watts has appeared in only two games all year. Huh?
every time Zeller hits the floor I get nervous
Henson, what are you thinking.
Waaaaattts loves him some Garden.
wow…larry drew with a highlight…where has that been??
yeah, really. great drive. clearly, he has the ability. when he wants to use it.
a drive to the basket by Drew!
and none of our turnovers result in points for them…
love me some Starlit Nights!
Nice matador defense by Rutgerrrrs. We’re making this look like an AAU game. Nice to see us making some outside shots tho.
“One thing I can’t stand about Drew is that he acts like he cannot inbound the ball. He waits for somebody to walk past him to throw the ball in.”
Marshall does that too. As do all Roy Williams’ PGs. That’s how you run the secondary-break offense, with a big man throwing the in-bounds.
I remember before the season started, makeitwayne was saying how worthless Justin Watts was. Eat your words man.
…Justin Watts still kinda sucks…I’m not sure he has made himself worth a scholarship, he’s been okay…
“I remember before the season started, makeitwayne was saying how worthless Justin Watts was. Eat your words man.”
Well…it is Rutgers. I think Watts has been what he needs to be. I don’t think he has hurt the team and he makes some plays here and there.
On a made basket, when Drew and one more player are the only ones in the back court? Drew is still going to be the last player upcourt. It looks disrespectful to me….
Watts brings the effort. i like him for that. to me, only 2 starters have shown really high energy in every single game this season. Strickland and Henson. so i’m happy to see some off the bench. even if he does miss layups at a Ginyardian pace some games.
7 guys with 4 or more pts that half. i’d like to see more assisted baskets, but i’ll take 57% shooting any day.
this is LD2′s second game all season with more than 2 made baskets.
I’m not saying that Drew shouldn’t bring the ball up. I’m saying that when he is standing under the basket waiting for somebody to inbound, he could take it out to whoever, then they could throw it right back to him.
the bigman taking the ball out is a common thing, thats how we did it in high school…having the PG take it out and get the ball back just adds another variable for them to screw things up…it just simplifies things. Plus if he picks the ball up and finds everyone else down the floor, he only has 5 seconds to get it in…
^it is a little curious, given the pace Roy wants to play at. takes nothing to get the ball right back to your point.
Watts has done whats been asked of him. Sure hasn’t been worthless. He’s played his heart out, and has made positive plays in every game that I’ve seen him play in. Can’t ask for more than that from a 6’4 PF.
Especially on makes. Big man inbounds the ball so he can trail the PG up the court. PG pushes to one side, and the big runs to the opposite elbow to act as the “secondary break.” Even though it’s called a “break,” it is really more of a set-offense.
Does anyone have a prettier stroke than Leslie? I don’t think so
Also the big man comes up court to the top of the key, passes the ball to the other side then moves to the post.
Drew starts things off with the 1 mph entry pass. sigh.
Zeller gets hacked and fouled so damn much
nice slither, Dex.
dunk. the. ball.
you. are. 84″. tall.
aaaaaand we’re back to ugly
Leslie McDonald: “You not gonna guard me? OK then!”
Wow, for an supposed A-list announcer, John Saunders is awful. Can you not tell the difference between Tyler Zeller and John Henson from 30 feet away?
^They all look the same to him.
I think it is official. Rutger is bad, McDonald is torching them.
Man, when Leslie gets hot, he gets REAL hot… Reminds me of Dante Calabria.
GETTING HARDER TO KEEP LESLIE OUT OF THE LINE UP
The real difference in the game when Drew is running point versus Marshall is timing and execution. Drew’s passes are just off tempo enough to create poor shooting. That just struck me when he had a nice pass with poor timing to Barnes who then missed a pretty straight forward shot due to timing. When Marshall is pushing the ball around the court the shooter gets that extra half second needed to set-up and take a clean shot versus hurry up and push the ball to the basket. It’s really intangible but that’s what it feels like.
Watts = ORTG dominance
Marshall. always looking.
Happy Meals from McDonald!!
i think youre on to something there, BBLB.
wow. well, it wasnt off a head or foot. too bad he didnt feel the trailer. or hear from him.
Knooooooxxxxxxxx!!!
Y’All are one step ahead of me .Big men starting to break thinking its a miss but its made. Big men are at the foul line and Drew is at the basket. He waits for whoever to walk past him to take it out.
Enough on that subject though, Here’s another,
The way the team looks tonight, Who’s for less practice time?
ha. one guy in the whole area, and he charged directly into him.
how many times did #10 slap Zeller on that rebound, by the way?
run a play, guys. cmon, now.
henson looking kinda uncoordinated tonight
^ He’s guarding the thumb…
frankly, i think he should sit now and against St Francis. let that thumb get 10 more days healed.
Rutgers just did what I was talking about. There PG took it out and got the ball right back….
we had 60 pts 8 minutes ago.
anyone, anyone at all, who can make TWO of TWO Fts…does not have to run stairs tomorrow.
I’m with you BBLB. Our offense looks totally different when Marshall is in there vs. Drew. Drew doesn’t put any pressure on the defense, the passing is deliberate and the players stand around a lot. When Marshall is in there the ball movement is quick, Marshall is always putting pressure on the defense, and the players move and try to get to the open spot in response. It’s a pretty noticeable difference to me.
refs eager to get to the hotel bar.
I’m seeing something… I’m seeing crisp passes, 3pt shots, dunks,driving to the lane,a little defence. I’m seeing team ball tonight.
I like that…….
i’ll take the win, after the holiday break, and be happy with it overall.
Barnes being 3/9, Zeller with only 8 pts, more made 3s than FTs…those are pretty annoying.
one more tune up game.
Harrison Barnes…..once again is a question mark.
None of the starters scored double figures.
Roy has a problem. his second team is far better than his first. everytime the seconds came in the intensity jumped off the scale. my wife even noticed it and she is a basic cheerleader. there is no one on the first team that scares anybody. the second team has gunners and runners. Roy should be intergrating these guys by now.
Great win boys, you deserve a game like this, just to get out there and run. This game everybody’s own nicht was on display.
Also way to keep up the second half tempo. I believe we are now building that chemistry we badly needed….
Way to go HEELS…..
I want to know. Why didn’t Justin Knox do better at Alabama?
Alabama has been very very average for several years. hard to excel if your team just isnt very good.
Good vibes from this win. Barnes was disconcerting, as was Zeller actually. Has lost a bit of his mojo after a string of beauties. But from 15 min mark in 1st half to the 12-15 min mark in 2nd was as complete performance as we’ve had all year.
Great win. Needed it. I also noticed how striking the difference between the first and second teams was tonight.
Kendall Marshall is a POINT GUARD.
Now…back to this inbounds business, which is also one if my pet peeves. Those defending the practice of the PG simply standing there waiting for a post player to inbound the ball just missed two key points. First, there will not be a secondary break when the PG has waited that long and given the defense 10 seconds to organize the defense. Second, there is absolutely nothing preventing the guard from receiving a return pass from the post-after the inbounds-and still running the secondary break. I can’t stand the PGs doing this and often wonder why Roy doesn’t get more upset at the post who abandoned the PG. It completely destroys an opportunity for the secondary break. Ok, off the soapbox.
a walk on did a basic bounce pass to set up an easy layup. i immediately looked at my wife and said our junior starting point guard has trouble making that pass.
Heels played great tonight, and Mashall had several amazing passes. Especially the one to Knox.
“I remember before the season started, makeitwayne was saying how worthless Justin Watts was. Eat your words man.’
Ha awesome! Just need to do it against real opponents and he might make me. However against Rutgers not that big, and yes he did play really well. Just implying that Rutgers is not a measuring stick to prove that Watts can compete in the post.
Did we really play that much better or is Rutgers really, REALLY bad?
A win is a win, so I’ll take a win any way UNC can get it, but this was a pretty ugly 20 point victory, especially down the stretch.
On some bright notes, I think McDonald is gaining some confidence. I know his MO has been to show up against lesser teams, but sometimes you need games like this against cupcakes to get your confidence going. I hope he continues this stretch of hitting some shots for us. I was impressed with Knox, Watts and Marshall tonight as well.
Barnes? Um, this isn’t Iowa, and the next time you take an NBA three when you can barely hit a college three you should think again. Free throws? This could have been a 30-point victory tonight if we made more.
I hope this team puts it together and throttles UVa in a couple of weeks. I would love nothing more than to “sweep” my dad and brother this year.
I realize Bama was middling at best, but Know looks pretty good in Carolina Blue.
Rutgers isn’t bad. They thumped Miami.
I know it’s Rutgers but if I said it once I’ve said it a thousand times…Leslie needs to play more. He was the only one last season that even when he looked like a moron showed he has a fearless nature that no one else on the perimeter did.
I don’t see many talking about Bullock, thought he looked good tonight. He could be a real key once ACC play starts ramping up. Some confidence from him and watch out.
Kendall Marshall has 6 sets of eyes.
Bullock is the real deal and he plays strong and hard. One of the very few players out of high school that will follow a shot. I like the way he talks, he likes french fried potatoes and biscuits. I rekon he can play, mmphhmmmm.