UNC leads Wake Forest 47-27 at halftime

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina leads Wake Forest 47-27 at halftime here at the Smith Center. The Tar Heels closed the half on a 15-1 run, and blew open a game they led 32-26.

The Demon Deacons didn't make a field goal during the last five minutes and 54 seconds of the half, and they committed 13 first-half turnovers. The Heels turned those into 18 points.

UNC also outscored Wake Forest 22-12 in the paint, and 6-0 off of fast break points.

Reggie Bullock led UNC with 12 points during the first half. James Michael McAdoo had nine, and Marcus Paige added five points and six rebounds, which represent a career high.

After suffering a concussion last week, P.J. Hairston returned and scored four points during the first half. He sat out UNC’s victory against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Arnaud Adala Moto, a freshman, led Wake Forest with eight points during the first half. The Demon Deacons, who statistically have one of the worst defenses in the ACC, shot just 39.1 percent during the first half.

- Andrew Carter

N.C. State 91, UNC 83: Three things to take away for the Wolfpack

Three Points from N.C. State's 91-83 win over North Carolina:

1) Lorenzo Brown is the best player in the ACC

Brown put on a clinic with 20 points and 11 assists against the Tar Heels. Through seven ACC games, the junior point guard averages 14.7 points, 8.7 assists and has made 53.8 percent of his 3-pointers.

Brown's outside shot had been a weakness before conference play, making just 6 of his first 24 3-pointers this season, but he has made 7 of 13 in league play, including both of his 3s on Saturday.

Brown's true value, as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski pointed out two weeks ago, is in transition. N.C. State took control of the game in the first half, when it out-scored UNC 20-0 in fastbreak points.

Brown had a three-minute stretch in the first half, while State was in the midst of a 20-2 run, that was as good as any in his career.

At 5:30 in the first half, he wrapped a pass around UNC point guard Marcus Paige's back to Richard Howell for a layup. At 4:41 he abused Paige off the dribble with a strong spin and two-handed finish at the rim.

At 3:03 he grabbed a Paige miss and threw a perfect, length-of-the-court pass to State freshman Rodney Purvis in stride for a dunk and 27 seconds later, beat Paige down the court and set up T.J. Warren for an easy layup.

Paige, a freshman, got a master class from Brown on how to push tempo and attack. Brown was also instrumental in turning the team around after Tuesday's collapse at Wake Forest.

It was Brown who said the point of the team meeting on Thursday was to clean up the "nonsense" around the program since the Duke win on Jan. 12 (State had lost two of three before Saturday's win).

After the UNC game, I asked Brown if State had taken care of the "nonsense."

"You tell me," Brown replied.

He then relented.

"Everybody is back on the right page," Brown said. "Everybody was scoring and nobody was complaining about who's touching the ball more or who's shooting more. I'm just happy that we're back on track."

State's back on track largely because of Brown, who was glowingly praised by ESPN's Dick Vitale during the game but not by his own coach after the game. The way Brown's playing, Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried will get another chance to compliment his best player, sooner rather than later.

2) Another 50-point half

Gottfried was livid, rightfully so, after giving up 51 points in the second half of Tuesday's 86-84 loss at Wake Forest. The Wolfpack gave up 57 points in the second half of Saturday's win.

Like a good jockey, Gottfried knows when to use the whip, and the afterglow of the first win in 14 tries against UNC was not the right time to be critical of the team's defense, but he did mention the discrepancy between the two halves.

"The first 20 minutes, I thought defensively we were as fundamentally sound and unselfish as I've seen us be," Gottfried said. "I loved our defense in the first half, and that's how we've got play."

N.C. State gave up 26 points in the first half and held UNC to 30.3 percent from the floor. In the second half, UNC made 60.5 percent of its shots, including 68 percent (17 of 25) of its 2-pointers.

"Parts of the second half, we weren't nearly as good defensively, but we can get there," Gottfried said.

Where this second-half trend becomes problematic is Gottfried attributed the problems to fatigue. To Gottfried's point, UNC scored 12 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, compared to 40 in the final 10 minutes.

If you break down the scoring into four 10-minute quarters, N.C. State won the first 22-12, the second 23-14, the third 18-17 then lost the fourth 40-28.

Gottfried has settled on a six-man rotation, with Warren (27 minutes) coming off the bench. Gottfried used forward Jordan Vandenberg for 3 minutes in the first half, to spell C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell, and guard Tyler Lewis for 3 minutes in the second half to spell Brown.

With Miami lurking next Saturday, along with the return trip to Duke (Feb. 7), Gottfried has to try to get more out of Vandenberg. The junior 7-footer was relatively productive at Wake, when Leslie and Warren were in the foul trouble, and there's no reason Gottfried can't get 8 solid minutes a game out of Vandenberg, if for no other reason than to give fouls.

3) Whose state is it?

With wins over UNC and Duke, N.C. State can certainly make its "This is our state" claim. There's still the matter of Tuesday's loss to Wake Forest, and return trips to both Chapel Hill and Durham, before that will be decided, though.

But for N.C. State, Saturday's win was important, as was the win over Duke two weeks ago. There's the practical matter of you can't win the ACC without going through those two teams.

Then there's the psychological effect of knowing you can beat the blue teams. N.C. State had Duke by 20 at Cameron last year and lost. It had UNC in the ACC tournament and Kendall Marshall got them at the wire. It's one thing to be picked in front of UNC and Duke in the preseason, it's another to go out and actually beat those teams.

Getting the best of UNC coach Roy Williams has been particularly difficult for State. Williams hasn't just crushed State with his really good teams, he also won all the games (in theory) State should have at least split, in 2006 (Herb Sendek's best team) and 2010 (Williams' worst team).

"Our program has lost a lot of games to North Carolina. They're good and have been good," Gottfried said. "We're trying to get good. At some point, you've got to turn it a little bit. This is a start."

Yes, a start. The next step is following up wins over Duke and UNC without a letdown.

Otherwise, it will be Miami's "state."

Bonus) About the refs

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Mike Eades is the best official the ACC has. It was no surprise to see Eades work Saturday's spotlight game, along with veterans Mike Stuart and Ray Styons.

I appreciate Eades' work because he has a tendency to let the players decide the game and for the way he handles the coaches.

Saturday's final foul tally was 25. UNC finished with 16 fouls but six of those fouls were in the final 56 seconds when UNC was trying to foul, which makes it a 10-9 split.

Now, UNC wasn't especially thrilled with two early fouls on star forward James Michael McAdoo, but neither was a 50-50 call and McAdoo was able to play 17 minutes in the second half before fouling out.

Twenty-five combined fouls is a welcome change to Tuesday's game at Wake (44) and the ACC opener at Boston College (44) on Jan. 5. Eades also worked State's loss to Maryland on Jan. 16, which had 22 combined fouls.

- Joe Giglio

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N.C. State's Mark Gottfried, UNC's Roy Williams team up for charity commercial

In addition to being for a good cause, these Infiniti Coaches' Charity Challenge commercials are actually pretty funny.

This one stars N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried and UNC's Roy Williams, and the voiceover is done by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.

And unless, there was some serious high-tech editing (which is possible), it also appears that Gottfried and Williams actually got together to film the commercial (unlike the old "Guitar Hero" ad with Krzyzewski and Williams.)

There's more information on the Coaches' Charity Challenge at this website.

- Joe Giglio

N.C. State 91, UNC 83: Three things to take away for the Heels

Three things to take away from the Tar Heels' defeat:

1. The Tar Heels do have a talent issue - at least for now.

Some have argued this season that among UNC's problems, talent is not among them. But last night proved once again that Heels do have a talent deficiency. It was evident earlier this season when UNC played at Indiana. And it was clear last night against an N.C. State that simply had better players at nearly every position. UNC has plenty of good players, too. It'd be silly to argue otherwise. And it's not like the Heels are without talent. But UNC's four freshmen are still developing and aren't as strong now - physically or mentally - as they will be down the road. Further, the guys UNC needs to be star players - James Michael McAdoo, Reggie Bullock, P.J. Hairston - aren't quite there yet, either.

2. It was a tough night for Marcus Paige.

The biggest difference in this game, to me, was how dominant N.C. State was at point guard. Lorenzo Brown finished with 20 points and 11 assists, and was a master during the first half of getting the Wolfpack out in transition. It was a struggle, though, for UNC freshman Marcus Paige, who missed his first eight shots and finished with seven points, four assists and three turnovers. Paige played well late but by then the Heels were in scramble mode, desperately trying to get back into the game.

3. Roy Williams doesn't want to hear it, but UNC will have to build off a moral victory.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams didn't much want to hear that this was a moral victory for his team. Sure the Tar Heels cut a 28-point deficit to five with about 30 seconds to play, but Williams basically said moral victories are for pansies. He also said learning experiences "are for babies" but, still, UNC has no choice but to attempt to build off its second-half performance. The Heels shot 60.5 percent and scored 57 points - the third-most they've scored in a half this season.

QUOTABLE "Well in my opinion there's not a lot I can say. It was a butt-kicking, is what it was. We were going to try to emphasize sprinting back on defense, and that's the thing we talked about yesterday, and talked about today ... first half today they have 20 fast-break points to our zero. So I didn't do a very good job of coaching and getting our guys ready. I'm not big into moral victories whatsoever, and we did try to make a comeback but I think our teams will always make a comeback. But North Carolina state was more prepared, they had a greater sense of urgency and they worked harder." -Roy Williams

"We've got to have a greater sense of urgency, we've got to have greater effort. Got to have better coaching. ... It was, I've already said it - it was a butt-kicking." -Roy Williams

"I'm not into moral victories, guys, and I'm not into this pansy-kind of crap. We stunk." -Roy Williams

"They were guarding us a lot harder than we were guarding them. And all this stuff about streaks, and people making comments - on game nights you've got to step out there and you've got to play. And we didn't do that." -Roy Williams

"We definitely need to learn from this. Florida State was a good road win for us, but this was a whole other level, coming in here playing N.C. State at their own gym. But regardless, we didn't show up ready to play." -James Michael McAdoo

"I mean, I can learn a lot from watching the first 30 minutes of that film - just trying to keep our team under more composure in a hostile environment. That's my job as a point guard. I think I can definitely do better in that regard." -Marcus Paige

- Andrew Carter

Entertaining reader email claims UNC guard Kendall Marshall's injury is a hoax

CHAPEL HILL -- I've received a lot of email over the years. Some of it nice. Some of it mean. But I don't know if I've ever received an email quite like the one that popped into my inbox at 12:49 p.m. today.

The individual who wrote me - whose name I'm withholding to protect the guilty - claimed that North Carolina invented Kendall Marshall's injury so that the Tar Heels could remain in the news and overshadow N.C. State's appearance in the Sweet 16.

When I shared a snippet of the email earlier today on Twitter, it seemed people were interested in discussing it. So here it is - the full version - for your enjoyment:


SUBJECT: Marshall's wrist injury

Mr. Carter:


Did you actually see a doctor cut the wrist??? How many times has UNC played this card during the years??? You and I know there is no doubt Marshall will play this weekend. Roy knew that NC State was in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Titanic sunk, and lo and behold, the Pack was in the sweet 16. Roy knew the media would be all over the Wolfpack and he was not going to let that happen. We all know it is only about the Heels. So excuse me if do not believe the story...How is Barnes ankle??? Roy cried all year about that and he was 1st team ACC. I think the league should start fining the Heels for these false reports.


thanks

No, thank you.

- Andrew Carter

Jeff Capel can empathize with Austin Rivers' emotions

As Austin Rivers comes down from his adrenaline rush of a Wednesday night, the person who may have the best idea of how Rivers' one shot will affect his Duke legacy is Jeff Capel.

It's conceivable that Rivers' game-winning 3-pointer was the Blue Devils' most memorable shot in the series with North Carolina since Capel hit a running 30-footer at the end of the first overtime of the teams' Feb. 2, 1995 game.

There are differences between the two buzzer-beaters, with the most notable being that Capel's effort didn't win the game for Duke - North Carolina ended up outlasting Duke 102-100 in double overtime.

So in that sense, Rivers' heroics were even more magical for the Blue Devils.

"It's something that he'll be able to tell his kids about it," said Capel, who is now an assistant coach for the Blue Devils. "It's something that his team will always remember, too - everyone that was associated with it.

"The game will probably be known as the 'Rivers shot.' "

The Capel shot game has taken on a life of its own and become something of an urban legend. Many people, Capel said, have only seen highlights of his shot and do not realize it only tied the game.

That doesn't bother Capel so much as the final score still irritates. With Mike Krzyzewski on leave with an ailing back, that was the season everything went wrong for the Blue Devils. In some ways, the loss to UNC encapsulated the entire season.

"It would have meant more to me and would mean more to me know if we would have won the game, especially if that would have been the game-winner," Capel said.

Nonetheless, Capel enjoys his place in Duke-North Carolina lore.

Capel said he still gets asked about the shot - with the Tar Heels up three, Serge Zwikker missed a free throw before Cherokee Parks rebounded the ball and passed it to Capel, who dribbled twice and took two steps before letting fly from a spot halfway between the top of the 3-point arc and the half-court line - all the time.

"For a kid that really understands this rivalry, to have a moment that will always be remembered in this historic rivalry - it's something that's very special to me," Capel said. "I know Austin didn't grow up in this state, but Austin's a student of the game. I know it's always going to mean something to him and for him to always have a moment like that.

"He'll always have this moment and it's always something that people will remember and identify him with. Hopefully, there are many moments like that for him. But certainly around here and in college basketball, people will always remember that."

Duke-UNC: Three keys for Devils in tonight's ACC clash

Duke's problems with consistency and intensity were on display in its 78-74 overtime loss to Miami on Sunday, when the Blue Devils fell behind by double digits in the first half against the Hurricanes and couldn't quite come all the way back for the victory.

It would be a surprise if either was an issue tonight against the Tar Heels.

In a sense, the rivalry game comes at a perfect time for the No. 10 Blue Devils (19-4, 6-2), who have needed multiple shots in the arm this season. With UNC on the docket, motivation shouldn't be an issue.

Of course, there's the question of the team's confidence after the loss to Miami. But the Blue Devils have proven to a pretty solid team this year when they're locked in. Assuming they don't misplace their motivation, here are three keys for tonight's game (9 p.m. WBTV, ESPN):

1. Win the Rivers vs. Barnes matchup

One would expect the two touted recruits would guard each other at some point of the festivities and perhaps for a majority of the time.

Harrison Barnes' height - he's 6-foot-8 - will certainly pose problems for the 6-foot-4 Austin Rivers. But Rivers speed could challenge the hobbled Barnes, who has said he will play despite the ankle injury he suffered against Maryland.

It's hard to see many paths to victory for Duke if this matchup breaks UNC's way in a decisive manner.

2. Wear down Kendall Marshall

In Marshall, UNC has one of the top point guards in the country.

In Tyler Thornton, Quinn Cook and Seth Curry, Duke has a point guard rotation that is dictated by the matchup and who is playing well. With Marshall not having much in the way of a serviceable backup, the Blue Devils' best hope will be to try and wear Marshall down as best they can.

Otherwise, Marshall's incisive passes into the post or to teammates in transition could be the death of the Blue Devils.

3. Come up with its defensive effort of the year

UNC and Duke lead the ACC in scoring offense. The problem for the Blue Devils is that the Tar Heels' defense (second in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense, and 14th in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defense ranking) is significantly better than Duke's (last in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense and 91st in the KenPom rankings).

Duke has shown it can defend in stretches this season. Most of the time, those stretches have come after prolonged periods when opposing teams have had free reign to run their offense. But if the Blue Devils can pay attention to detail for 40 minutes, not get lost on screens and remember to help every time, perhaps they can flip this storyline.

If not, someone's going to have to hit a lot of 3-pointers.

Duke consistently talks about consistency

The watchword at Duke on Monday was "consistency," and no one -- not the players, not coach Mike Krzyzewski -- had an explanation why the Blue Devils have been so inconsistent this year. At least, they were consistent in that respect.

"I don't know, but we have to figure it out," Duke forward Mason Plumlee said, two days before Duke visits North Carolina in the first meeting between the teams.

"This is one of the most different teams I've had," Krzyzewski said. "Overall, they've done a good job, or we wouldn't be 19-4. But different guys have done well and we've done enough to win that many games. But I don't think anyone has had an exceptional year, or for the last month. Again, that doesn't mean they've been bad. That's not usually the case for our team. Usually, we have one or two guys who are all-ACC candidates."

There's no question Duke has players who are capable of playing at that level: Plumlee did it against Maryland. Andre Dawkins did it against Michigan State and Wake Forest. Austin Rivers did it against Miami. Seth Curry should probably do it more often, and Ryan Kelly presents significant matchup problems.

Yet none of them has said, "I'm the go-to guy. I want the ball in my hands right now," on a regular basis, although Rivers in recent days probably comes closest, and Krzyzewski said Plumlee has been Duke's most consistent player, particularly when it comes to rebounding.

"No question it's a different challenge," Krzyzewski said. "No question about that. Every coach would rather have two or three guys all the time, because then you can build better."

Perhaps the most baffling manifestation of Duke's inconsistency is at the defensive end, where defensive intensity has been a part of Duke's DNA for decades.

"It's something that we've shown flashes of being really good at," Kelly said. "I think it just comes down to being consistent, as individuals and as a team. We've improved in areas, and then not done as well in other areas. It has to be a true decision that we're going to be better defensively, and it has to be there every single day."

- Luke DeCock

Young coaches retain UNC pride, but focus on new mission

Driving west down I-40 somewhere between Hillsborough and Mebane on Thursday night, it felt like I was going the wrong way. It felt like all of the college basketball fans in North Carolina were driving toward Chapel Hill to watch the UNC-N.C. State game, while I was driving to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch UNC Greensboro face Appalachian State.

I was going there to write the column that appears in Sunday's paper about two former Tar Heel players, Wes Miller and Jason Capel, who are now two of the three youngest coaches in Division I basketball.

I'm told that a raucous 21,000 fans showed up at the Smith Center that night, while the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum was mostly friends and family, sort of like the old 8-9 game at the ACC Tournament.

Both games started at 7 p.m., and naturally I was interested in what was going on in Chapel Hill. I followed it intermittently online while watching my game.

When the two games were over, I felt I had made the right decision.

UNCG and Appalachian State went to overtime partly because of a coach's error you'll have to read the story to believe. No mention of the Tar Heels' game was ever made at the Greensboro Coliseum that night. No announcement of out-of-town scores. No score updates on the video board. Nothing.

Afterward, I was curious about how closely the two UNC alums still followed the Tar Heels.

Capel said that since becoming a head coach, he hasn't had time to follow his alma mater as closely as he once did. He waited until he boarded the team bus for the ride home to Boone to turn on his cell phone and check the UNC score because "I was pretty confident they won."

When he saw that UNC had defeated N.C. State 74-55, he teased his assistant coach, Justin Gainey, a former Wolfpack guard.

"I gave Justin a little hard time," Capel says. "He's a State guy, and I wanted to let him know that his Pack got beat."

Miller also admitted that he doesn't follow the Tar Heels as ardently as he once did, even saying that had his team not been playing opposite the UNC game, he probably would have been watching tape of an upcoming opponent instead.

But like Capel, Miller revealed his Carolina pride when I spoke to him about an hour after his Spartans had beaten Appalachian State, and I asked him if he knew the UNC score.

"No," Miller said. "Did they win?" I told him yes. "Yeah," he said, pumping his fist. "How much did they win by?" I told him it was a comfortable 19-point victory. A proud smile creased Miller's face and he said, "That's the way it should be."

- Tim Crothers