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men_s_basketball:unc_03_23_11 [2011/05/03 20:20] TallTitan34 |
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- | ===== Golden Eagles | + | ===== Golden Eagles |
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+ | It's doubtful he ever imagined anything like what transpired on Friday night at the Prudential Center. | ||
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+ | Suffering through a first-half drought that saw MU miss 13 straight shots and go scoreless for nearly 9 minutes, the 11th-seeded Golden Eagles wound up being blown out by the second-seeded [[North Carolina]] Tar Heels, 81-63, ending their deepest foray in the [[NCAA Tournament]] in eight years in disappointing fashion. | ||
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+ | While the final margin wasn't nearly as big, the performance was similar in many ways to the drubbing MU suffered at the hands of [[Kansas]] in the Final Four in New Orleans in 2003. North Carolina' | ||
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+ | The Golden Eagles used a 51.5% performance in the second half to raise their final total to a chilly 36.5%, and make the outcome a little more respectable. The bottom line, though, was the Tar Heels were simply too big and too talented. | ||
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+ | "It kept snowballing in the first half," said [[Jae Crowder]]. "And we couldn' | ||
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+ | MU's Williams was more blunt: "I thought in the first half we were pitiful." | ||
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+ | [[Davante Gardner]] led MU (22-15) with 16 points, while [[Jimmy Butler]] added 14, Crowder 11 and [[Junior Cadougan]] 10. Meanwhile [[Darius Johnson-Odom]], | ||
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+ | The 7-foot Tyler Zeller had a monster game for [[North Carolina]] (29-7), putting up 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels' high-powered attack. Freshman sensation Harrison Barnes added 20 points and nine rebounds and John Henson 14 points and 12 rebounds. | ||
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+ | Things didn't look all that dire early on, as both teams struggled to gain their footing. | ||
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+ | A Crowder putback tied the game at 10-10 with 12 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first half, and it appeared as though the Golden Eagles would be up for the tall task - literally - that would face them the rest of the way. | ||
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+ | Then the roof caved in. | ||
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+ | Starting with a Kendall Marshall layup, [[North Carolina]] embarked on a game-clinching run of epic proportions. | ||
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+ | Putbacks, dunks, three-pointers - you name it, the Tar Heels did it as they put on an offensive clinic in rattling off 19 consecutive points over the next 8:03 to open up a 27-10 lead. | ||
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+ | And as good as they were offensively, | ||
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+ | Making the drought even more demoralizing was the Golden Eagles weren' | ||
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+ | "In essence, they were face-guarding Jimmy and DJO, which makes ball reversal hard," Williams said. "I thought we would have a little jitters to start the game. But we always kind of gear it back down and settle in to the groove that we like to dance at. But it's a lot easier to get into a groove when you're making shots." | ||
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+ | A Butler jumper broke the drought, earning a mock cheer from the crowd, but Barnes answered on the other end with a three-pointer from the right wing to keep the [[North Carolina]] onslaught going. | ||
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+ | The Tar Heels wound up scoring 10 of the final 13 points of the half after that to take a 40-18 lead into intermission. | ||
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+ | All told, [[North Carolina]] outscored MU, 32-5, over the final 12:42. | ||
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+ | MU's numbers said it all: 20.0% shooting (6 of 30), 0 of 8 from three-point range, 12 turnovers and no assists. | ||
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+ | "We can't score a lot of points with zero assists and 12 turnovers," | ||
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+ | The 15 points were the fewest scored by the Golden Eagles in the first half of a game since another forgettable [[NCAA Tournament]] loss - that one to [[Michigan State]] in the first round in Winston-Salem, | ||
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+ | The shooting performance was the lowest since MU shot 20.8% in the opening half of a loss to [[Villanova]] in the [[Big East Tournament]] in 2009. | ||
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+ | Things got even worse coming out of the locker room for MU when Barnes scored on a layup, and then Dexter Strickland on a layup and then a breakaway dunk off consecutive turnovers. | ||
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+ | The dunk made it 46-15, and just 1:03 into the second half, Williams called a timeout to try and keep things from getting any more embarrassing. | ||
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+ | From there, MU actually did an admirable job of chipping away at the lead. By the 10:00 mark the Golden Eagles had whittled what had one point been a 32-point North Carolina lead down to 20. | ||
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+ | The Golden Eagles got as close as 14 points on a Cadougan layup with 3:57 remaining, making things interesting, | ||
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+ | " | ||
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+ | MU committed 18 turnovers leading to 29 North Carolina points. The Golden Eagles were also outscored, 46-32, in the paint and surrendered 22 offensive rebounds. | ||
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+ | It was a tough way to go out for MU, considering all the bumps in the road the team endured to get to that point. | ||
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+ | "I hope that we all garner some wisdom from all of this," said Williams. "All of our young guys, I think, will grow from this as people and players, and I hope our staff will do the same." | ||
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===== Box Score ===== | ===== Box Score ===== |