North Carolina vs. Ohio State - as it happens
The top-ranked University of North Carolina Tar Heels (minus starting point guard Ty Lawson, who is nursing an ankle injury) visits Value City Arena in Columbus to play the Ohio State Buckeyes tonight, so I figured I would do a running commentary of the game. Dick Shulman and Dickie V with the call…
1st half
- Bobby Frasor has replaced Lawson in the starting lineup for UNC.
- UNC is coming out in an extremely aggressive man-to-man defense - they are right up in the face of every Buckeye player.
- 3 quick Tar Heel fouls in the first minute of the game. They will need to ease up a bit on defense if they want to stay out of foul trouble.
- OSU is triple teaming Tyler Hansbrough every time he touches the ball, and he’s not looking to pass out of the pressure.
- OSU’s matchup 1-2-2 zone is giving Carolina fits early on.
- UNC up 4-3 at the 15:59 mark.
- Carolina is getting some really good looks at the basket, but nothing is dropping.
- OSU up 9-8 at the 12:25 mark. Hansbrough just hit a nice foul-line jumper to beat the zone.
- UNC on a 7-0 run to go up 13-9. OSU is shooting the ball and all 5 guys are retreating to the defensive end - they have no pressure on the offensive boards.
- UNC up 18-13 at the 8:16 mark. Frasor is missing some open looks on the offensive end and is consistently being beaten off the dribble by OSU point guard David Lighty.
- OSU shooting guard Jon Diebler just hit a shot from downtown Akron to put OSU up by 2, 23-21. Diebler is the all-time leading scorer in the state of Ohio, and if he gets hot, look out. The kid has no conscience when shooting the ball.
- OSU up 32-29 at the half. UNC is settling for too many jump-shots against the Buckeye zone defense.
2nd half
- UNC is trying to be patient with the OSU zone defense, but they are still taking really quick shots.
- Hansbrough with a nifty move inside to score the bucket and draw the foul. Hansbrough makes the foul shot to pull the Heels even at 35.
- Carolina is trying to find the gap in the center of the OSU zone and exploit it. The mid-range jumper is there for the taking if UNC wants it.
- OSU’s Jamar Butler just missed a layup after blowing by the UNC backcourt. OSU has no problem beating the Tar Heel guards off the dribble, but are having a hard time finishing the play.
- Another OSU turnover leads to a Tar Heel fast break and three-point play by Marcus Ginyard. UNC up 42-39 at the 15:12 mark.
- UNC’s Wayne Ellington hurt his lower back after taking a nasty spill in the lane. He had been the Heel’s best perimeter shooter so far, and Carolina’s offense is missing his outside shot.
- UNC just got a gift as two Buckeyes fought over a rebound and it fell to UNC’s Deon Thompson for the easy flush.
- Ellington back into the game for Carolina and he immediately hits a 3-pointer off glass to put UNC up 47-40 at the 12:19 mark.
- A huge offensive rebound and putback by Thompson has UNC up by 9. UNC is really stepping up the man-to-man defensive pressure again, and it is starting to pay some dividends.
- Thompson with a jump hook from the right side - he is on fire right now. Carolina is finally figuring out how to find the hole in the Buckeye zone defense and has pushed the lead to 11 with 8:03 left in the game.
- Hansbrough with another bucket inside - he has 13 points and 10 boards. UNC up 57-43 with 5:43 left.
- Diebler with his 5th trey of the game - it was the Buckeyes first field goal in the last 10 minutes.
- Diebler with a fast break dunk to pull OSU within 6 at 57-51. UNC takes a quick timeout to try and stop the momentum.
- UNC’s Danny Green with a great drive and dump down to Thompson for an easy dunk to put UNC back up by 8.
- Carolina is trying to eat a little time off the clock and the OSU guards are applying more pressure on the ball, as well as trying to trap the ball near the sideline. If UNC becomes too passive, it could come back to bite them.
- Ellington with a huge three as the shot clock was winding down to put UNC up 9.
- Lighty made a great drive to the bucket but took off too far underneath and was stuffed by the backboard. That’s never good…especially when you’re down by 9.
- Hansbrough has missed 3 straight free throws to keep OSU’s hopes alive.
- UNC up 64-55 with 1:19 to go. It is time for UNC to make their free throws and time for Ohio State to knock down some 3s.
- UNC goes into their Dean Smith speciality - the 4 corners stall.
- Diebler with another missed trey, and OSU is forced to foul. Given the way UNC has shot free throws tonight, that’s not a bad thing.
- Elllington sinks two free throws to push UNC’s lead to 11.
UNC wins a tight game 66-55. More importantly for UNC, they won the game without their spark plug Ty Lawson. That bodes very well for Carolina.
Next up for UNC is Kentucky on Saturday.
Tags: david-lighty, jamar-butler, jon-diebler, marcus-ginyard, North-Carolina, Ohio-State, OSU, ty-lawson, Tyler-Hansbrough, UNC, value-city-arena, wayne-ellingtonRelated Stories
POSTED IN: College Basketball News
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