University of North Carolina Review

Final Score: UW-83 UNC-86

It all came down to the wire and UW had the chance to win it, but threw it away. After getting up by 11 early thanks to Terrence Ross draining back to back threes followed by Darnell Gant nailing his own and Venoy Overton hitting an AND1 shot. With the game tied up UW committed two straight turnovers that allowed UNC to take a 6 point lead. UW fought back and got within 1 with 17 seconds to go thanks to a beautiful 3 pointer from Scott Suggs. UW fouled with 15 to go and UNC missed the front end of the 1 and 1. UW brought it down and Venoy Overton had his lay in swatted out of bounds with 7 seconds to go. Justin Holiday made a freshman mistake by keeping the ball above his head the whole time and when he tried to inbounds over the 6-10 John Henson the ball was tipped into UNC hands. UW fouled and UNC drained both their free throws. Overton hucked up a half court pass intended for C.J. Wilcox, who was under the hoop but ran out to the arc, was tipped out with .5 to go. I.T. attempted a desperate last shot that almost went in, but it was a 2 point attempt so regardless of in or out it wouldn't have mattered. The clock should have been at 1.4, but for whatever reason the refs chose not to review the clock. That .9 seconds makes all the difference in the world when it comes to shooting. What sucks most for Justin Holiday is that inbounds play will be what people remember of his performance. Not his great defense on Harrison Barnes, holding him to 9-20 and preventing countless other shots.

This was a great game until the final 10 seconds when the Dawgs choked hard. The first half run was impressive and UW did pretty well to fight against UNC's run to end the half. UW got up to a 5 point lead in the second, but UNC chipped away until the took the lead for good with 4 minutes to go. Aziz N'Diaye was a absolute beast today and if it weren't for some ticky tack fouls in the first half, when the refs gave Carolina an 11-2 foul advantage, he could have helped the Dawgs when UNC was pounding it inside. He had 8 rebounds with 8 minutes to go in the first half. He finished with a game high 11, including 5 offensive.

The foul calls started to even out in the second half, but the free throw disparity really killed us in the end. UW had 2 more made field goals and 4 more made 3's, but UNC had 11 more MADE free throws (16 more attempts). That is hard to overcome. 11 to 2, refs. Come on. I can accept when we foul, but there is no way they only picked up 2 in a half. The refs are not why we lost, do not misunderstand me. We had 13 turnovers on the night, and a large majority of those occurred in the final few minutes. The refs did not help our cause, however, they certainly helped UNC.

Isaiah Thomas struggled to find his shot tonight, finishing 5-15, but had 8 assists to 3 turnovers and created opportunities by driving the lane and kicking. There were a few times in the first half I thought he got hit on the hands, but no call for us. Thankfully, our outside game showed up to match our defensive efforts as UW hit 10 of 19 from outside. Ross and Wilcox led the way, going 3-5 a piece, followed closely by Darnell Gant (2-3) and Scott Suggs (2-4). Ross was an absolute monster on the court. He hit two of the most ridiculous lay-ins I've seen this year. He finished 7-10 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.

Wish Overton had pump faked the UNC players out to get that last lay-in to go, but 20/20 hindsight...There were a lot of great moments in the game, its too bad we had to let it fall between our fingers. After Aziz picked up his 4th and had to sit for a large portion of the second half, the Huskies dropped into a sort of half court offense and that is when the troubles began.

Man, this one is going to suck for a while because we had the ball, down 1, with 7 to go. Every chance to win after putting up a strong first half. Anyone watching the game knows we played a great game and looked like the better team for 90% of the game. We had great pressure defense to start the game that resulted in several turnovers, steals, and near steals.

Free Throws were brilliant tonight. 7-7, wish the refs would have given us a few more shooting fouls to even out the difference. Overton hit 3 and both I.T. and Ross nailed a pair. Not one post player got to shoot free throws for UW. Its like the Arizona game all over again.

What Needed Improvement

Half Court Ball Handling Skills

When UW dropped into their half court offense their ball handling skills seemed to disappear. Too often they would pick up the ball early and help didn't want to move over and lend a hand. Holiday had 3 turnovers, 2 in the final 2 minutes. Ross had a late turnover shortly after the first of Holiday's.

Inbound Plays

This is something that we have struggled off and on with all year and tonight it killed us. Out of a timeout even. No excuse for that, especially a senior. Romar needs to work on drawing up some plays for next season. I hate the half court pass as the inbound play. Get someone open in the post or out in the corner. Set a double screen to open somebody up. Something. Anything.

What was Good

Free Throws

7-7, 100%. Gorgeous. You can't ask for a better job than that. UNC missed 5 attempts out of 23. Wish we could have had that many opportunities. We would have won by 10 the way we were shooting from the line, if we had as many attempts.

Rebounding

To out rebound a much taller team is one thing. To out rebound the number 1 rebounding team in the nation is another. The Dawgs did great work on the glass, ending with a 38-33 advantage. Aziz led the way with 11, Matthew Byran-Amaning had 8, and both Gant and Ross picked up six.

Three Point Shooting

UW hit right where they needed to, 10 makes on 19 attempts. All 3 of our shooting hands hit 2+ and Gant added 2 of his own. Good selection, great shooting. In the end UW did everything right until crunch time, more on that later.

Player by Player Reviews

Justin Holiday

Everything seemed to go down hill for Holiday after his concussion during the USC game. His offense has been quiet the last 2 weeks. He didn't attempt shots and those he did often rimmed out. His defense remained at a high level. Tonight, Holiday managed 4 points on 2-6 shooting and had 3 turnovers to 1 assist, including the horrible inbound play. He also only managed 1 rebound. Its hard not to blame the loss on Holiday, other people made mistakes too, but the fact he had 2 turnovers in the final minutes really hurt our chances. Those mistakes were not something you expect out of a senior.
Grade: C-

Venoy Overton

My biggest question for him, or rather the coaching staff, is why Overton was given the ball with 15 seconds to go after the missed free throw rather than Isaiah Thomas who drained the game winning fade away against Arizona? Overton is very quick, I get that. He had a great drive last year against UCLA that nearly won us the game. This situation was different. We had more time. We could run a play, create a shot. Overton's drive was nice overall, but that ball should have been in I.T.'s hands. Overton only played 12 minutes today, a clear sign that Romar and staff liked was Isaiah was doing on the court. Overton by no means had a bad game, but it was not terrific. 5 points on 1-3 shooting, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 rebound. Overton did a great job drawing shooting fouls by driving the lane fast and hard, but that last shot was far too hurried. Throw in a pump fake or something. There is time on the clock.
Grade: B-

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

Besides one open shot where he lost the handle by being to anxious to get the shot off, MBA was pretty good tonight. He had 14 points on 7-14 shooting, 8 boards, 2 steals, a block, and assist, and 2 turnovers. MBA did all he could to help stop Tyler Zeller and Henson and was fairly successful at times. It was a solid way to end his career as a Husky after a slow night against Georgia.
Grade: B+

Brendan Sherrer

Did not play.
Grade: N/A

Scott Suggs

Suggs started in place of Terrence Ross and finished with 8 points on 3-6 shooting. He had 2 rebounds and a turnover as well. ESPN is reporting that Ross hit the 3 to get us within 1, but I could have swore it was Scott Suggs. Either way, Suggs performed pretty well and looks to be a very exciting player next season as a senior.
Grade: B+

Darnell Gant

Pretty good night for the junior forward. He came off the bench to start the game, but started the second half with Aziz in foul trouble. Gant connected on a huge three to drive the lead to 8 early in the first half. Unfortunately, we couldn't hang onto that lead. Gant had 6 rebounds and 2 assists, no turnovers. This is exactly the kind of work I love to see him doing as it gives me a lot of hope as to him developing into a deadly 4 player.
Grade: A-

Isaiah Thomas

You should have had the last shot, Isaiah. You should have driven or shot, not Overton. Way to perform yet again and contribute even when the shots aren't hitting. 5-15 is nowhere near pretty, but he only attempted 2 from beyond the arc, a good sign of more control on his part. His 8 assists helped UW greatly as he found the open man more than what the stat sheet shows. He had a late turnover as well when attempting some fancy dribbling in traffic. Not smart at all, I.T. just pull the ball out if it isn't there, don't force it so hard. By the way, I.T. nearly dunked over 7-0 Zeller, but lose the handle or had it tipped, can't remember which. Either way, it was ridiculous and would have been number 1 on the Top 10 had he made it.
Grade: B+

Aziz N'Diaye

MVP for the Huskies or at least tied with Terrence Ross. He was a freak on the glass tonight and had 2 nice put backs off of offensive boards. 1 assist, 0 turnovers. 0. Love it. His hands looked a thousand times better tonight. He held onto rebounds, he caught some passes, he dove after loose ones that he bobbled or were knocked free. Great effort tonight. I like what I saw. If he can really develop his offensive game and get a few more post moves he will become a very dangerous player for the Dawgs next season.
Grade: A

Antoine Hosley

Did not play.
Grade: N/A

C.J. Wilcox

4-9 shooting, 3-5 from outside, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 0 turnovers. A very solid stat line. He played some solid D on the UNC guards and worked well in the zone. Let us hope he finds his consistency next season as our frontcourt appears as though it will be a little weaker next season and we will need to get our points from somewhere else.
Grade: A-

Terrence Ross

My other candidate for MVP. Team high 19 points on 7-10 shooting, 6 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, and 3 turnovers. The turnovers marred his otherwise stellar performance. He is a freak of an athlete and is immensely dangerous when he gets in a groove like tonight. The late turnover hurt us and is the only thing that should haunt him from the night. I'm looking forward to next season when he is ripping it up on the court with a year's experience under his belt.
Grade: A-

Final Thoughts:

Not how I wanted to exit the tournament, but a hell of a game. It was extremely exciting until the turnover with 7 to go. I would have much rather seen a shot go up, hit or miss, it is a much better way to leave the NCAA. It's been a crazy season and I think most people will agree with me when I say UW got a tough draw and any other bracket UW would be sitting in the Sweet 16 right about now. This loss, much like the last second loss to Arizona, is one of those games you really wish the W would have landed on our side because we did almost everything right the whole game. Some late ball handling problems combined with a HUGE foul differential meant UNC walked away victorious and UW was sent home packing. To the seniors, Thank you for everything you gave to this program. I wish you nothing but the best.

I'll probably do a season wrap up sometime later this week after the depression of losing this game goes away. Probably try to get a preview of the incoming recruits up sometime in the coming weeks as well. With the season done, the posts will slow, but I'll try to get some conversational pieces up now and again to get the emotion and hype alive. I love this sport. I love this team. Win or lose, I bleed purple and gold.  Go Dawgs!