Stats and stuff (F$U game)...

[gary-7]

Aside from the fact that the ACC should just clean house and start from scratch and hire new officials, this one was extraordinary in a few key ways (and BTW, what was up with their fugly mismatched unis?)

Anyway, here ya go with stuff:

Wilt Chamberlain... um, I mean Brice Johnson: Easy mistake tonight because Brice did his best Wilt imitation (good thing since Rathan-Mayes was doing his best Steph Curry from NBA range). Wow. Just wow. It's funny, I almost posted something earlier about Brice quietly having an All-American type season --- well, wasn't nuthin quiet about tonight! Here's the thing --- early on Brice was too concerned about their inside height, and you could tell he was pissed off at himself for that. Big fella channeled that anger the right way. A performance for the ages. On a night against a grotesquely tall team that made Big Joel useless and with Kennedy still out, BJ was tha man.

Senior leadership: Speaking of quiet, Marcus meanwhile had a "quiet" 30.

Contributions: With fouls against us being invented left and right and Justin Jackson struggling to score, our rotation was knocked askew. The bench gave good, vital minutes at key stretches when F$U was threatening to take advantage. Hicks in the first half --- Britt, Theo and KW in the second. Nate's numbers weren't overwhelming but he gave us good solid minutes for long stretches when he was pressed into extra duty.

Clutch: Brice and Marcus for sure, but also Berry (whose night was hampered by two gawd-awful invented foul calls to go with the two he actually committed). JB, who pressed too much earlier in the second half, was once again stone cold money down the stretch. Playing with 4 fouls, he drained a big 3 at the end of the shot clock and 2 strong takes to the rack.

Team Toughness: Y'all saw it. 'Nuff said (EDIT: I meant to use this line to also credit Roy for keeping the guys' heads in the game --- you could see it to some extent on the TV screen --- and reading Adam Lucas's gem just now, that was confirmed)

Oddness: Honestly, Roy did some odd things defensively tonight (a 3-2 zone against that size? Hmmm.). The Extended 1-3-1 actually looked good --- I mean, if a guy hits a 27-footer, what are you gonna do? I would have really liked to have seen some 30 in the first half to combat those high ball-screens.

Stats:

- Folks, I want y'all to really take this one in: You know I keep the real transition points including our Secondary Break, but get this, tonight out of 106 total we only scored 41 in transition --- 15 FB, 26 SB. That means we scored 65 pts in the half-court offense. As we all know the book on Carolina is force us to play a half-court game. Welp, us doing that may have been the second most impressive thing tonight, and bodes very well for the NCAA tourney.

- Speaking of 65, that's how many we scored in the second half --- sixty-friggin-five!... and only 20 were in transition. Wow.

- Crazy: We scored 106 (on the road) and only had 3 guys in double figures? Don't see that every day.

- Oh, and one more rant against whoever their stat guy was. Usual shenanigans (JB had 6 Assists, not 4). But c'mon --- Brice only credited with 3 Blocks??? Hell, I can think of at least 6 off the top of my head right now. Guess their guys ain't used to getting rejected so much.

- Finally: GOOD WIN on a game we could have lost (and again, likely would have last season)

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Thanks for all the hard work dude.

One bone: Why not a 3-2: 3 pt shots (and silly turnovers, lol) were what kept them in it and they did very little inside. XRM was the threat, not the bigs. They had size but no skill or strength.

 

[coolwaterunc]

Short version:

Brice Johnson.

 

[Ozheelfan]

As always, thanks for this Gary.

Senior Leadership was key in this game. Super sophmores were off (at times Joel B looked spooked, esp when he tried to push a pass when he had a wide open layup and Justin is struggling with his running floater and shooting)

I said on another thread though, it's good to know this team can win with not all players firing, and the experience will help Joel and Justin down the road.

Surprised you didn't mention the Mann flop..... horrible sportsmanship, reminiscent of European soccer and something I reckon has no place in college ball.

 

[gary-7]

Thanks for all the hard work dude.

One bone: Why not a 3-2: 3 pt shots (and silly turnovers, lol) were what kept them in it and they did very little inside. XRM was the threat, not the bigs. They had size but no skill or strength.

They took the 3-2 right down main street. Simple give-and-go inside on an open middle. Too easy with that kind of size and it exposes our Bigs to foul problems.
They only had two guys that were gonna hurt us from deep. The extended 1-3-1 was a better option, IMO. They panicked each time we used it, but still got two ridiculous 3s, so watcha gonna do?

 

[gary-7]

As always, thanks for this Gary.
Surprised you didn't mention the Mann flop..... horrible sportsmanship, reminiscent of European soccer and something I reckon has no place in college ball.

Thanks for reminding me, Oz. THAT is supposed to be (by rule) the one instance in which the refs can T a guy up for flopping (during review for a flagrant). Mann (again, by rule) should have gotten popped there.

As for JB, he started off great before the zebras got into the act (his second "foul" called damned near sparked a Technical from the Carolina coaching staff --- I wouldn't have blamed them ---and put him on the bench for the remainder of the half). When he picked up #3 (yet another invented call) that stole much of his second half, and when he came back in he got tentative -- then you could see him pressing to make up for lost time and picked up #4 out of frustration. But... when it counts down the stretch the big dogs step up, and he did.

 

[goheels653]

Re the shorting on stats, as I mentioned in another thread, the scorer didn't credit Brice with at least 2 additional rebounds. Anyways, was at the game, it was great. Took a big punch from XRM in the first half comeback but didn't let them take too much momentum into the half, then came out and played through a loud crowd early on in the second and just kept taking it to them. Aside from Brice and Marcus obviously having huge nights, Britt was huge filling in for Berry when necessary. Berry closed the game strong the last 5 minutes to make sure there was no doubt. Overall, we were just too strong and physical at every position for them.

Favorite moment of the game: first half they hit two free throws and we take it out of bounds and down one side of the floor with the ball never touching the ground on 4 passes for an alley oop to Brice in less than 4 seconds.

 

[gary-7]

Re the shorting on stats, as I mentioned in another thread, the scorer didn't credit Brice with at least 2 additional rebounds. Anyways, was at the game, it was great. Took a big punch from XRM in the first half comeback but didn't let them take too much momentum into the half, then came out and played through a loud crowd early on in the second and just kept taking it to them. Aside from Brice and Marcus obviously having huge nights, Britt was huge filling in for Berry when necessary. Berry closed the game strong the last 5 minutes to make sure there was no doubt. Overall, we were just too strong and physical at every position for them.

Favorite moment of the game: first half they hit two free throws and we take it out of bounds and down one side of the floor with the ball never touching the ground on 4 passes for an alley oop to Brice in less than 4 seconds.

Yep. Road stat guys. Sheesh.
Man, glad you were there representing, though!
You are spot on --- the guys kept their poise in a hostile building when F$U made runs and when things (cough, cough, refs) were going against them. Lotsa character.

 

[gary-7]

Short version:

Brice Johnson.

...and against a team with a 7'3 guy and a 7'5 guy. Again, wow.

 

[Heelicious]

Good stuff as usual, Gary.....
I only got to watch the game on DVR, but I am very impressed with what they were able to do. I was in the same camp as other posters, who earlier today were a bit nervous just due to the 3 ACC games in 6 days, 4th overall in 8 days. So OK, there, that is my excuse for Joel Berry, and Justin being "off" a bit.... to me it seemed like they had played quite a bit, and seemed a bit gassed at times, but as Gary said, JB stepped up as he has often when it is closing time. And even when Justin's shot isn't falling, he hustles his butt off on the defensive, rebounding, and passing parts of the game. I love that.

I think a few days "off" until their next game will be nice. Maybe Roy will even give them a full day off, or have the next couple days be a bit easier at practice, anyway.

One thing that just made me laugh out loud..... when those witty creative wacky FSU fans were "gaming" the countdown on the 30 second clock..... I know once Paige just buried a stone cold dagger 3 in some FSU defender's grill, and I think he did the same thing on a guarded two pointer..... you'd think they could catch on to just shut up when Marcus has the ball and hope he gives the ball up to someone else.... its not like he's the guy they should want shooting anytime from anywhere.

 

[soap - new and improved]

Frigging lousy refs were the main thing keeping FS in the game. We were nailed for way too many fouls and Fla St far too few. Eades is another low rent YMCA kiddie league reject elevated waaaaaaaay beyond his ability level.

Seriously, is there an ineptitude test refs are required to pass to get a job in the acc???? That flop should have been a technical. Kid's delayed reaction and then whipping his head like he was shot!! Only a moron ACC ref could fall for such piss-poor acting!

 

[Archer2]

Very impressed that:

* we scored 65 points in our half court sets against a huge FSU team
* we scored 65 points in the second half alone
* we had 3 guys with 4 fouls and Brice with 3, yet we finished strong
* we went on the road to an arena where we've struggled in the past
* our bench stepped up when they had to
* we did this without Kennedy
* Coach didn't get T'd up, I sure would have

 

[Tom79]

You are right Oz. Following that Mann flop the kid is walking around rubbing his jaw, next thing we're back to game and he's laughing, I'd sure as hell have T'd him up.

 

[HeelFan58]

ACC refs are the absolute bottom of the barrel and Big 12 are close.

 

[DeanFor President]

The fouls on JB were ridiculous. XRM was pushing every time he had the damn ball.
And he should have been T'd up when he threw his shoulder into JB after one of those BS calls.
They were bumping and grabbing our guards with no calls, but if we breathed on a FSU guard it was a foul.
After Brice loudly yelled "and 1" after getting fouled, the refs ignored the foul about four times where Brice was fouled while scoring.
FSU got three straight and 1's, Everything was a foul on us.
Pitiful.

 

[goheels653]

On the fouls, I couldn't necessarily tell at the game if all or any of the calls were bad, but I could tell there were way too many of them called on both sides of the floor. It's frustrating to watch basketball the way it is called now. I watched the South Carolina-Memphis game the other day and they called 69 fouls on both teams combined. Just a nightmare to watch. Fortunately, last night the teams played well and it was still an entertaining, high-paced game, but the refs certainly tried their best to ruin a good thing.

 

[gary-7]

The fouls on JB were ridiculous. XRM was pushing every time he had the damn ball.
And he should have been T'd up when he threw his shoulder into JB after one of those BS calls.
They were bumping and grabbing our guards with no calls, but if we breathed on a FSU guard it was a foul.
After Brice loudly yelled "and 1" after getting fouled, the refs ignored the foul about four times where Brice was fouled while scoring.
FSU got three straight and 1's, Everything was a foul on us.
Pitiful.

Yeah, it was getting chippy out there amongst the guards. XRM was indeed clearing out constantly.
What's funny is that JB had about enough of it after a while and basically said two can play at that game --- he's a strong little dude, so when he got the ball back he sent XRM flying a couple of times with quick adept shoves. 3 of the fouls they called on JB were BS, yet they let guards throw forearm shivers at each other. SMH.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

One reason they got some of the fouls is that you could actually hear them screaming on every drive like they had been shot! The do the pukie head flop and scream every time they drive and XRM is the worst offender. This type of stone-less bball turns my stomach, but if ratty coaches it, it must be a genius move!

Notice UNC players just play hard and within the rules. This gets more rare every day!

 

[johnhelvete]

Re the shorting on stats, as I mentioned in another thread, the scorer didn't credit Brice with at least 2 additional rebounds. Anyways, was at the game, it was great. Took a big punch from XRM in the first half comeback but didn't let them take too much momentum into the half, then came out and played through a loud crowd early on in the second and just kept taking it to them. Aside from Brice and Marcus obviously having huge nights, Britt was huge filling in for Berry when necessary. Berry closed the game strong the last 5 minutes to make sure there was no doubt. Overall, we were just too strong and physical at every position for them.

Favorite moment of the game: first half they hit two free throws and we take it out of bounds and down one side of the floor with the ball never touching the ground on 4 passes for an alley oop to Brice in less than 4 seconds.

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My favorite sequence, Brice with the block, the ball ended up in Bajanosky's hands and Brice just ripped the ball out of Baj. hands for the steal.