Tar Heels take a bite out of Great Danes

After a Roy Williams tongue-lashing, North Carolina showed it wasn’t satisfied with Monday’s messy outing against Rutgers.

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Against Albany, the Tar Heels took better shots. They rotated on defense when a man got beat. They maintained their intensity past halftime and kept adding to their lead.

When Ed Davis made three straight baskets to make the score 85-47 with 7:35 to play, it seemed they were cured of their holiday headache.

But then the Tar Heels finished the game on the wrong end of a 23-2 run, leaving Williams just as livid as before. The game ended in a 87-70 win that could have been a feel-good finish to the home non-conference schedule.

Instead, the No. 9 Tar Heels (11-3) raised doubts – again – about their ability to close out games, even against less talented opponents.

“That first (32) minutes we played pretty solid basketball as a team and did good things,” said senior forward Deon Thompson, who finished with 15 points. “Then it seemed like we just collapsed.

“We’ve got to put together a whole 40 minutes.”

Despite the closing meltdown, the Tar Heels showed an admirable commitment to defense for most of the night.

With senior defensive specialist Marcus Ginyard missing his second straight game with a sprained ankle, Davis set the tone early. The sophomore had three blocks before the first TV timeout, and the Tar Heels held Albany (4-10) to 33 percent shooting in the first half through an all-around effort.

Eight different North Carolina players registered a steal, and the half-court traps and full-court press worked more often than not. The Tar Heels were running smoothly on offense, and Davis led the way there as well with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting that gave his team a huge lead.

But that was before the Tar Heels put on cruise control and let the Great Danes go wild.

“The kids are frustrated,” Williams said. “I told them it is probably the most negative I have ever been with any team. We teach so many things and say the same things over and over again.”

Freshman Dexter Strickland moved into the starting lineup for the first time in his career, as guard Justin Watts joined Ginyard on the bench with a sprained ankle of his own.

Only two days after notching a career-high of 18, Strickland had a quiet three points, though he continued to improve his play at point guard with a different career high: five assists.

Meanwhile, forward John Henson began to complete his evolution from a much-left-to-learn newbie into a valuable role-player.  He was getting the thumbs-up from Williams more than ever, and his industrious line for the night – eight points, two blocks, two steals, and three assists – didn’t even include his most athletic series of plays.

After a UNC foul, the lanky freshman gave Albany’s Billy Allen a load of trouble on the inbounds pass. Henson sent Allen’s first attempt back into the risers with both hands, and nearly stole the second after tipping it back to himself – but his foot was on the line. On the third try, with the Smith Center cheering Henson on, Allen finally had to hurl the ball to midcourt to get it into play.

“In practice, coach always puts me on the ball and we want to get deflections, so that felt good,” Henson said. “College basketball is all about confidence and I feel like tonight was a step in the right direction.”

The confidence-boosters are about to be over for the Tar Heels. Only a road game against College of Charleston stands between them and an ACC schedule full of teams that won’t be beat by just 32 minutes of good
basketball.

“We’ve got to get this team going a little bit better than we are right now,” Williams said. “But they are great kids and we’re going to be alright.”

Whether they’re ready for the rigors of their conference schedule remains to be seen.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.