When North Carolina lost to Kansas this weekend there were immediate question for coach Roy Williams and the team about whether Kendall Marshall's injury was the reason for the defeat. Marshall had been repeatedly referred to as the most indispensable player on any team in the ACC, even the nation. After backup point guard and starting shooting guard Dexter Strickland went down Marshall was averaging near 35 minutes a game. Stillman White or senior Justin Watts running the point for about the other five minutes of the game supplanted his breathers. Neither were viable backups, White being a freshman who was given a scholarship because there was a last minute opening for one, nor Watts, being a do-everything veteran who was better suited as a defender. But when looking across the way at Kansas, one can see that it was the Jayhawks, rather than North Carolina injuries, that caused the Tar Heels to fall one game short of reaching the first final four since 2009.
Kansas' starting five is one of the best in the country. Not only that, they are arguably the most well rounded. Point guard Tyshawn Taylor is the senior leader of the team and had been applauded all year for his offensive ability. If Marshall had been in the game the two most certainly would have been matched up. Two things to argue here to prove that the Tar Heels’ point guard would not have made a difference: Marshall is not recognized for being a great defender, and a good on-the-ball defender is not the way to slow Marshall down. The sophomore has beaten the best defenders on opposite teams such as Duke’s Tyler Thornton, Virginia’s Jontel Evans, and Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor not off the dribble, but by passing up the court and starting a fast break before the opposing defense could set up. Granted White cannot do this as well as Marshall, but the freshman came in and dished out seven assists without a turnover in the loss to the Jayhawks. The Tar Heels, especially in the first half, were trying to push the tempo and play the same way they had all year. It worked, too, as Carolina put up 47 first half points and Tyler Zeller was getting his quick under the basket, fast-break layups while Harrison Barnes was heating up after receiving passes from White before the defense was set up to stop him.
The key to beating Carolina with Marshall was always to play better offensively. You saw it when Duke’s Austin Rivers scored 29 points on the Tar Heels, or when Florida State guard scorched them with eight threes. Taylor, more than any other point guard in the country, has the ability to score. Against Marshall, White, Watts, or any defender on the Carolina squad, he was ready to put up the 22 points he ended with. Running into guards that could put up big point totals had been an issue for Carolina all year long, and no matter what you were going to throw at him Taylor was ready to answer. Rivers may have been the closest thing to Taylor in the ACC in terms of scoring ability from the backcourt, but even he did not possess the maturity to score at will all the time.
The next matchup that hurt the Tar Heels was in the frontcourt. UNC had utilized their size inside all year to beat up teams and it was only vulnerable when matched up with teams that had size to match it. Losses to Kentucky and Florida State twice can be attributed to the fact that these teams had the length to matchup with Zeller and John Henson down low. Kansas’ front line seems to go unnoticed because they play in the same conference as Baylor, which has three lengthy big men that are ready for NBA stardom, and are player of the year candidate Thomas Robinson seems to have lost that distinction to Kentucky’s phenomenal freshman Anthony Davis. But the duo of Robinson and Big 12 defensive player of the year Jeff Withey are a low post tandem that needs to be recognized with the best. Both teams came out shooting lights out in the first half, and Robinson was no exception, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the opening sequence. Withey has the size, shot blocking ability, and toughness to matchup with ACC player of the year Zeller, something that the Carolina senior never saw in conference play. Zeller was held to 12 points and six rebounds, a line that looks impressive, but is not when speaking of the senior. Withey outplayed him, finishing with 15 points, eight boards, and three blocks.
Harrison Barnes seemed to be the key though. The media has attacked the sophomore since the game for not stepping up. He came in as the top recruit and many thought he was the best prep player since Lebron James, giving him a reputation that would have only be fulfilled if he had been an All-American. But Barnes, who came into the halftime break scorching hot, was shut down in the second half by Travis Releford, Kansas’ best perimeter defender, and finished with 13 points. Barnes has been criticized impeccably for the past couple months for not stepping up, a player with so much talent is disappointing if he could not step in as the power forward in Henson’s ACC tournament absence or be the leader with the ball in Marshall’s absence. But Barnes, who continues to live as a wing player who does best when pulling up for a mid-range jumper, was shut down by Releford, who has done the same job with Missouri’s Marcus Denmon, Georgetown’s Jason Clarke, and Texas A&M’s Kris Middleton.
All in all, these matchups are where North Carolina has hurt opposing teams in the past and have been hurt when teams have the firepower to combat their attack. Give credit to Jayhawks’ coach Bill Self for implementing the triangle and two defense that may have confused White and UNC’s offense, but it was more about the matchups that gave the Tar Heels trouble than the set zones. Roy Williams mentioned this in the press conference after the game, saying “they may have used the triangle and two a play or two” but clearly that was not what he thought lost them the game. So whether Marshall, who may have added a few more assists and some scoring to the mix, was in or not, I think this game came down more to Kansas’ ability to use their strengths to combat Carolina’s strengths in a way that the Tar Heels have only seen in their losses this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment