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UNC outlasts Valpo 88-77
Heels allow most of 24-point lead to slip away before winning
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Published: November 16, 2009
CHAPEL HILL
Never-say-die Valparaiso nearly shook the Smith Center off its foundation yesterday, but flustered North Carolina held on against a last charge for an 88-77 victory.
UNC led 67-43 with 11:55 left, but couldn't stop guards Brandon Wood and Brandon McPherson from hitting 3-pointers or driving to basket for close shots. Wood's hot hand let Valparaiso slice the lead to 77-67 with 3:45 left, and to 84-75 with 1:51 remaining.
Gathering enough composure to stagger to the finish, UNC got a follow shot from Travis Wear, a freshman forward, and two free throws from Larry Drew to trump another basket by McPherson in the final 80 seconds.
Coach Roy Williams of UNC found little to approve of in his team's play, and his frustration was readily apparent in terse comments after the game.
"I said before the season started, some days we're going to be pretty good, and some days we're going to be pretty ugly," Williams said. "Today was one of those days I thought we were pretty ugly."
Failing to maintain the big lead annoyed Williams. Poor defense that allowed Valparaiso's players to repeatedly drive through the lane and to the basket upset him.
But what infuriated him were 14 turnovers against a team that played a zone the entire game.
"We've got to stop turning the ball over," Williams said. "We're playing man-to-man pressure and they're playing zone defense, and we turn it over 14 times and they turn it over nine. We've got to value the dadgum basketball."
Five of UNC's turnovers were made by Marcus Ginyard, a game-tested senior. Four others were at the hands of Drew, a sophomore point guard.
Ginyard said he felt that something was amiss with his team in pregame warm-ups, and thought that it was complacent most of the game and certainly after forging the big lead.
"Starting in warmups it felt like we really didn't have a sense of urgency to play, an excitement to be out there on the court or an intensity about us," Ginyard said.
Ginyard was at a loss to explain the reason for such an attitude.
"I don't know, but it needs to change," he said.
UNC (3-0) got 20 points and eight rebounds from Deon Thompson. Ed Davis added 16 points and six rebounds.
Wood led Valparaiso (0-2) with 30 points, and made 6 of 10 3-point shots. McPherson added 20 points and made 4 of 6 3-pointers. They combined for 30 points after halftime, with Wood scoring 20, to fuel Valparaiso's comeback.
UNC led 38-31 at halftime, after breaking out of a 22-22 tie in the final 8:19 of the first half. Thompson sparked a 23-8 scoring run for UNC to open the second half, getting 12 points in the surge, for a 61-39 lead.
Coach Homer Drew of Valparaiso said that the first six minutes after halftime turned the tide in favor of UNC.
"The beginning of the second half is what really hurt us," he said. "If we had done a better job and played better defense at the beginning of the second half, I think it would have been a little closer there at the end."
Williams praised Valparaiso for its gallantry. His team mystified him.
"We didn't have the intensity I thought we'd have today," he said. "We didn't have the sharpness on the offensive end. We had some wild turnovers. We didn't play very well in the second half."
Williams said that UNC must improve significantly for two games in New York starting on Thursday in the Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals, the first of which will be against Ohio State.
"We have no chance if we go to New York and play this kind of basketball," he said.
bcole@wsjournal.com.
VALPO Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Johnson 29 3-11 1-1 3-5 4 4 7
Rogers 20 0-3 0-0 0-1 2 1 0
Little 15 1-6 0-0 1-4 0 3 2
Wood 34 12-19 0-1 0-1 0 4 30
McPhrso 31 7-14 2-2 0-2 0 4 20
Witt 19 0-3 0-0 0-1 4 3 0
Kurth 8 1-1 0-2 0-0 0 2 3
Kenney 24 3-6 2-2 2-3 3 0 8
Buggs 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Broekhoff 11 2-2 2-2 0-1 1 0 7
Milosevic 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 29-67 7-10 8-23 14 23 77
Percentages: FG .433, FT .700. 3-Point Goals: 12-27, .444 (Wood 6-10, McPherson 4-6, Broekhoff 1-1, Kurth 1-1, Milosevic 0-1, Buggs 0-1, Kenney 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Little 0-2, Rogers 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 2 (Witt, Wood). Turnovers: 9 (Johnson 3, Wood 2, Broekhoff, Little, Witt, McPherson). Steals: 10 (Kenney 2, Rogers 2, Wood 2, Broekhoff, Johnson, McPherson, Little).
UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Graves 19 3-7 0-0 0-3 2 1 8
Thompson 30 8-14 4-4 5-8 3 2 20
Davis 24 6-6 4-5 1-6 0 2 16
Ginyard 27 2-3 0-1 0-0 6 2 5
Drew II 28 4-9 2-2 0-3 6 1 13
Henson 9 2-4 0-2 3-6 0 0 4
Zeller 15 3-4 6-7 0-5 0 4 12
Strickland 13 1-3 0-0 0-1 2 3 2
Watts 10 0-1 2-4 0-2 4 0 2
DWear 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
TWear 11 2-4 0-0 2-3 0 0 4
McDonald 8 0-1 0-4 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 200 32-57 18-29 12-42 24 15 88
Percentages: FG .561, FT .621. 3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Drew II 3-5, Graves 2-6, Ginyard 1-2, Strickland 0-1, Henson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 4 (Zeller 2, Davis 2). Turnovers: 14 (Ginyard 5, Drew II 4, McDonald 2, T.Wear, Strickland, Thompson). Steals: 5 (Ginyard 2, Drew II, Henson, Graves). Technical Foul: Thompson.
Valparaiso 31 46 -- 77
North Carolina 38 50 -- 88
A--17,020.
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