It’s on to the Sweet 16 for North Carolina

In the end, for those that do not follow college basketball much, the win that top seed North Carolina (30-4) just got over #8 seed LSU (27-8) by the final of 84 to 70 will seem to be what it should have been. But, for those of us that do love this game and love UNC, this game was a lot more than a final score. It was the emotion of seeing Ty Lawson back after two weeks, then him going to the bench and looking like he was in utter pain and thinking “there is no way that he is coming back”, and then watching him coming back. Finally, in the second half, when LSU was trying to get a lead on UNC it was the junior point guard with all his strength and talent keeping the Heels in the game first, then in the lead and finally in double digit distance.

There will be people that will say why was Lawson in with less than two minutes to go, or why is head coach Roy Williams keeping him deep into the game. But there best be no talk about Lawson’s heart and willingness to play even if not at 100%. Yes, I am talking to you Mr. Goodman and your stupid article you wrote a couple of days ago, I am talking to you and all the haters/ABC’ers/whatever that questioned Lawson’s heart. What you saw today was a young man who went out there and understood his role on his team and in this game. He not only raised the bar for himself, but he raised the talent of everyone around him and that is what the great ones are made of. And that is why Lawson is the ACC Player of the Year.

The game went back and forth, with UNC getting a small lead. However that lead came with a scene all Tar Heels fans didn’t want to see, Lawson jamming his toe trying to steal the ball. As the play resumed you could see the point guard grimacing and with the shoe off, and for me, I thought that was it for him. The five point lead that North Carolina had went to a 1 point deficit as the CBS cameras kept showing Lawson, now at the end of the bench. But then, as UNC kept the game close, the cameras showed a sign of hope, as number 5 was putting his shoe back on and then going to the scorers table. Not sure how much he could do, not sure how it would play out, North Carolina got the lead back and went to the locker room with a 9 point lead.

I have to say that with a decent lead, with Lawson back, with the way head coach Roy Williams’ squad usually have a nice little run right out of the game in the second 20 minutes my hopes for this game being over quickly were pretty high. Man was I wrong. From UNC leading LSU 38 to 29 as the game resumed, the Tigers would hit shot after shot after shot, while the Heels just had a couple go in, thanks to, you guessed it, Lawson. With about half the game gone two things were notable, the Heels had gone from a plus 9 on the scoreboard to a minus 5, and secondly, it would have been worse if not for what Lawson did in the game. He slashed, he shot from the outside, he did what he had to do, with 6 assists and no turnovers to go along with 23 points (21 of those scored in the 2nd half), and put the team on his 5’11″ frame and brought them to the Sweet Sixteen.

With the team rolling to a 14 point win in a game where UNC and LSU were tied with about 7:50 left and then the Heels rolled off 21 points (to LSU’s 7) in the last frame of the game, let’s talk about a key stat: until that moment the Tar Heels were being outrebounded 31 to 17. From then on they outrebounded LSU 15 to 2.

But it was not just the Ty Lawson show tonight, even if in a lot of ways it felt like it. Others that played well in this game were: Wayne Ellington, whose performance was once again a very good one, scoring 23 points. Tyler Hansbrough was the only other Heel in double figures, scoring 15 points as well as having 8 rebounds on the night, however very uncharacteristic for the senior forward he did miss 3 out of 6 free throws. Ed Davis, off the bench had 9 points to go along with 7 boards and two monster blocks (all in one play I might add). Danny Green didn’t score much, but he did have a stat stuffer night, with 8 points, 6 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a pair of blocks.

Now let me talk about LSU’s offense. Marcus Thorton got 25, with 15 being from 3 pointers, while Tasmin Mitchell got 18. As I said in my preview, they would get theirs, the key for the Heels was not to have a third player come up big tonight. No one did, and in the end, thanks to good defense in the last 10-12 minutes of the game and Lawson leading Carolina on offense, coach Williams is now going to focus his attention on their next opponent, either Gonzaga or Western Kentucky. I am sure that a lot will say it was not a pretty win, which it was not, but it was one that showed that this team can turn on the defense and get the steals/turnovers when they are needed.

I am going to say this to end my recap of the game, this team showed me a lot of guts playing this game. Sure they were favored, but they were punched in the mouth in the opening moments of the second half and while they bent against the force that LSU applied they never broke. They did not panic (as they have in the past) when they were down by 5 and LSU had the ball. They kept it in perspective, they kept their composure and they played Carolina basketball. And while it is true that, as the commentators kept reminding us, LSU did have some good shooters, they just didn’t have players like Lawson, Ellington, Hansbrough and so on and so forth. I thought the key play was after a three pointer by LSU the Heels went down, both Ellington and Green got touches where they could have pulled the trigger, they looked for a better shot, which came by Ed Davis inside the paint. Soon after that LSU would relinquish the lead and never get it back.

The Heels next game will be Friday March 27th, so with a quick trip home the team has time to rest before heading out to Memphis. With this win Carolina has tied Kentucky with the most wins in the NCAA Tournament (98) and with this win UNC has now won 30+ games in three consecutive season, a feat that has never been done. So, congratulations to the team on the win, and on their other achievements!

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