Hot-shooting Ellington helps spark Heels

Wayne Ellington isn't North Carolina's strongest player or its quickest, but he is helping in a number of ways to keep his team advancing in postseason play.

He was a major contributor last week in two wins in the NCAA Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum that gave UNC a berth in the South Regional semifinals on Friday in Memphis, Tenn., against Gonzaga.

In 67 combined minutes against Radford and LSU, Ellington, a junior shooting guard, made 20 of 32 shots from the field and scored 48 points, the most of any UNC player.

He made six of 11 3-point attempts, grabbed 11 rebounds, handed out seven assists against five turnovers, blocked two shots and had two steals.

He is beginning to rival Danny Green, a senior forward, for the title that Coach Roy Williams calls ‘stat-sheet stuffer' for a 30-4 team.

"Really, I just try to make something happen," Ellington said. "I try to make a play. It's not really a bucket or anything like that. It's just making a play.

"Down the stretch you've got to step up. Someone has to step up and make a play. When the ball comes to me, I just try to make a play and make something happen to our team."

UNC's win against Radford in the first round was a 43-point blowout. Its 84-70 decision of LSU was much tougher, with Ellington and Ty Lawson, the point guard playing for the first time since March 8, teaming for 46 points and sparking a late 17-2 run that broke open a 63-63 tied game.

LSU vaulted into a 54-49 lead after trailing by nine points at halftime. Ed Davis settled down UNC with a dunk, and then Ellington scored on a layup and hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead at 56-54. He nailed another 3-pointer 80 seconds later for a 61-57 lead.

Ellington made nine of 16 shots and three of six 3-pointers against LSU. He scored 23 points against Garrett Temple, a 6-6 guard who is LSU's best defender.

"He's very athletic and tall, so it's tough to get open looks," Ellington said of Temple. "I just wanted to keep moving. I didn't want to stand on offense and wait for the ball to come to me."

Temple said that Ellington has skills other than just shooting ability that make stopping him a difficult task.

"He did a great job in moving without the ball," Temple said. "When he catches it, he gets a lot of rise on the jump shot. So when you do contest (him), he's still able to get the shot off.

"He did a great job of playing one-on-one. I wish I'd been able to guard him a little better, but he was able to knock down some shots and he hurt us."

One of Ellington's best plays of the game came when his right hand was on the ball for less than a second, however.

UNC had broken out of the tie to take a 67-63 lead when Green launched a 3-point shot from just left of the top of the key. The shot missed and the ball bounded out to the left.

Ellington beat two LSU players to the ball, but they were so close that all he could do was jump on the run and bat the ball back to Green. Standing in almost the same spot as the original shot, Green hit a 3-pointer that built the lead to seven points with 6:31 left.

Williams said the play was as good as UNC had all game. Bobby Frasor, a UNC reserve guard, called Ellington's bat of the ball the most important play of the game.

"Those plays are just effort," Green said. "When the game is on the line you've got to give your best effort. It's that time of the year."

The game marked the first time in Ellington's career that he had scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games. He had 25 against Radford and the previous week in the ACC Tournament semifinals scored 24 in a 73-70 loss to Florida State.

Moreover, the LSU game continued a trend involving Ellington's shooting. UNC is 46-0 in his career in games in which he makes at least half of his shots from the field.

"He's a better all-around player, first of all," Williams said. "Early in the year he wasn't shooting the ball very well. I told him to take the ball to the basket, defend people and rebound. There was a stretch in ACC play that he was our second-leading rebounder. He was getting more rebounds than Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Danny.

"I think he gained some confidence in that knowing that he's a very good player and his shot doesn't have to go in. That makes it a lot more pleasant when it does."

■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.