UNC vs Ohio St. Discussion

[BUCSnotYUCKS]

UNC marches into Columbus tonight to take on the Ohio St buckeyes who are coming off an embarassing loss to Texas A&M.

UNC is coming off a squeeker 10pt win over a team in my eyes, is very solid, BYU. UNC lost Sophmore PG Ty Lawson only 2 minutes into the game and has not played/practiced SINCE.

My guess, is the Buckeyes will get a shot at the Tar Heels without Ty Lawson. If anything, he won't start, and play a little if needed, thats just my opinion.

Now, my personal opinion on this matter is a bit crazy, but hear me out. I really don't think losing Lawson kills us tonight. Bobby Frasor just might be my favorite Tar Heel. He doesn't get the playing time and respect he deserves. When this dude was running the team, I was confident in him because I always knew he'd run the offense, and play great defense. He's easily UNC's best on the ball defender IMO. Off the ball it's easily Ginyard.

Also, with Frasor playing, he will stretch the defense out to the 3pt line more. Making Danny Green, Wayne Ellington, and Bobby Frasor all 3 capable of hitting the long range shot. I know Lawson has a better % so far, but I believe that's just simply because he's played more.

Rumor has it that the line for this game could drop all the way 2.5pts if Lawson isn't playing and lines find that out to be true. If UNC is only favored 5pts I'm taking it.

I've seen the Buckeyes play several times(living in OH), and their wins are against junk teams. Koufos is soft, but it'll be interesting if they put Koufos on Hansbrough, or will they matchup Hunter on Hansbrough and let Koufos worry about Thompson. Ohio St is VERY young. They start 2 Freshman, 1 soph, 2 seniors.

Koufos has shot 12 ft's this season, and not shotting them well. Hansbrough averages 11 ft attempts a game

Without Lawson, don't look for UNC to stop running, because they'll keep running like no other. I expect them to try and pound the ball inside, and run the inside-out game looking to knock down shots.

2 players that are key from each team? Both sophmores.

Ohio St- David Lighty
UNC- Deon Thompson, who's been a dissapointment so far.

Discussion anyone?

 

[tig3rs]

unc rolls. discussion over. :-D

 

[WhiteFish]

unc rolls. discussion over. :-D

......

 

[freelancc]

i was at the UNC-BYU game. UNC is a very strong team, but they did not get the ball inside to Tyler Hansborough and Stepheson with Frasor running the point. which is why BYU hung around like they did.

Is Lawson out tonite?

 

[BUCSnotYUCKS]

i was at the UNC-BYU game. UNC is a very strong team, but they did not get the ball inside to Tyler Hansborough and Stepheson with Frasor running the point. which is why BYU hung around like they did.

Is Lawson out tonite?

Nothing offical yet, but my guess would be that Roy holds him out. It simply aint worth playing him if he's not atleast 85%. He hasn't practiced, which leads me to believe he's not.

 

[BUCSnotYUCKS]

"He did not practice yesterday. I haven't seen him yet today," coach Roy Williams said on Tuesday. "He's listed on the practice plan as 'limited.' That's wishful thinking, I think, on my part. But I don't know if it's false. We talked yesterday and I told him I would hope he'd be able to do some things today and if he did some things today I could see him playing in the game. I really won't know anything until after he practices and see how he handles it."

 

[owtkast3]

Ohio Newspapers reporting him as not playing tonight.

 

[shawn555]

Lawson may be out but Buckeyes still worried about stopping Hansbrough
November 28, 2007

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Point guard Ty Lawson may not be able to play when top-ranked North Carolina plays Ohio State on Wednesday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

No matter, Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. It's not one individual who makes the Tar Heels so good.

"The great thing about North Carolina, you know they're going to do what they do," Matta said. "They've got a little bit of the Green Bay Packers in them -- this is who we are, here we come, stop us."

In a rematch of a marquee game from a year ago, the Tar Heels have a decided upper hand this time around: more experience, more depth, center Tyler Hansbrough and a full complement of talented players.

But they may not have Lawson, the guy who directs traffic in the Tar Heels' uptempo attack and fronts their pressure defense. He's hobbled by an ankle injury.

"He did not practice yesterday. I haven't seen him yet today," coach Roy Williams said on Tuesday. "He's listed on the practice plan as 'limited.' That's wishful thinking, I think, on my part. But I don't know if it's false. We talked yesterday and I told him I would hope he'd be able to do some things today and if he did some things today I could see him playing in the game. I really won't know anything until after he practices and see how he handles it."

Ohio State's players figure Lawson will be on the court.

"Yeah. He's playing," Buckeyes point guard Jamar Butler said with a smirk. "He'll be playing."

If Lawson cannot play, Bobby Frasor would start, backed by Quentin Thomas.

"Ty gives you such a threat with his ability to push the ball and get it to the rim and finish plays, a much faster pace than Bobby and Q," Williams said. "Bobby's been sensational defensively. He shoots the ball from the outside. Q is really good in the open court, but not at the same pace as Ty. It definitely changes our team."

While Williams is concerned about his point guard, Matta is worried about stopping the Tar Heels' big man, Hansbrough.

The 6-foot-9 junior is averaging 23 points, which puts him on pace for the ninth-best season scoring average in North Carolina's star-studded history.

But it's more than what he's done to the Tar Heels' first five opponents this season. Last season, before Ohio State's super freshman Greg Oden had begun to play after surgery on his wrist, Hansbrough hurt the Buckeyes inside in the Heels' 98-89 win. He had 21 points and 14 rebounds and had his way with a number of defenders.

Now Oden is gone, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. The Buckeyes (4-1) start another 7-foot freshman with a spectacular future, Kosta Koufos. He will be backed by two of the same players who Hansbrough handled last time, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger.

Matta believes that defending Hansbrough takes more than one man.

"One of the biggest challenges is you've got to collectively guard them," he said. "All five guys have to be attached physically and mentally to what we're trying to do and honestly what they're trying to do. They have a lot of weapons, obviously, from the low-post game to the outside shooting. When you're playing a great team, you have to take away as much as you possibly can. That's got to be where our focus is."

Ohio State is still trying to find its footing after losing five of its top six scorers from a year ago, including two other freshmen who joined Oden in the first round of the draft.

"That's the main thing, we don't have the same team and they pretty much do," Butler said of the rematch. "It's going to be a tough battle for us."

 

[shawn555]

North Carolina Tar Heels (5-0, 0-0)

The Tar Heels remain undefeated after five games, but it hasn't been easy. Davidson led most of the second half in the season opener before North Carolina escaped with a 72-68 victory. In the Las Vegas Invitational, the Tar Heels needed another late run to dispatch BYU. The Cougars upset Louisville a day earlier, spoiling the lone top 10 match up North Carolina could have faced in non-conference play.

Coach Roy Williams doesn't mind the close games, however, because they force the Tar Heels to play their best against talented, upset-minded opponents. Junior forward Tyler Hansbrough has risen to the challenge, scoring more than 20 points in four of North Carolina's five games. The pre-season All-American is averaging 23 points and nine rebounds per game. Guard Wayne Ellington has started his sophomore season on fire, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 48 percent from three-point range to average 17 points per game.

The Tar Heels will await word on sophomore point guard Ty Lawson, who injured his ankle against BYU in the opening minutes of the Las Vegas Invitational championship game. He could not run full speed on the ankle, forcing him to miss the rest of the game. If Lawson misses extended time, junior Bobby Frasor and senior Quentin Thomas would likely share time at point guard, but neither has Lawson's explosive abilities. He set a career high against Old Dominion with 23 points in only 21 minutes.

North Carolina will continue its longest road trip in Williams' tenure with games at Ohio State and Kentucky this week. The journey includes games at Pennsylvania and Rutgers before the Tar Heels return to Chapel Hill to play Nicholls State Dec. 19.

Up Next:
Nov. 28 at Ohio State
Dec. 1 at Kentucky
Dec. 4 at Pennsylvania

 

[shawn555]

OSU Men's Basketball Insider
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:14 AM
By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

CHUCK BURTON | Associated Press

Tyler Hansbrough and No. 1-ranked North Carolina will take aim at Ohio State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.


Where: Value City Arena and Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday

TV: ESPN and ESPNU

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460), WBNS-FM (97.1)
The week that was

A split verdict in New York and a hung jury back home. The Buckeyes got one foot in the penthouse with an impressive win over Syracuse in an NIT Season Tip-Off semifinal Wednesday. Their next step took them out the window and down 20 stories against Texas A&M in the final Friday. Home again, they played well enough in a 15-minute span Sunday to run away from VMI in the second half.


The week ahead

Gulp! The infamous "Psycho T," Tyler Hansbrough, and No. 1 North Carolina give Ohio State a rematch Wednesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Tar Heels won 98-89 last season at home. The Buckeyes might catch a break if point guard Ty Lawson (ankle) isn't able to play. And if you think a percentage of central Ohioans were bothered by not being able to see the VMI game Sunday on the Big Ten Network, how many more do you expect will be up in arms about the Butler game being on ESPNU? Does anyone out there with cable actually get ESPNU?


How good are they?

Not good enough to be ranked yet, although Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said they were after the Buckeyes schooled his No. 21 and equally young Orange. But the Buckeyes shed whatever cred they gained from that with the brick they laid against Texas A&M. A competitive showing against North Carolina and a win at Butler would get them over the hump.


Who or what's hot?

Kosta Koufos was named Big Ten player of the week yesterday for averaging 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds and blocking six shots in the three games. He had a career-high 24 points against Syracuse and his first career double-double against VMI with 22 points and 14 rebounds in only 23 minutes. Jamar Butler averaged 14.3 points and four assists and made 10 of 19 three-pointers in the three games, including the OSU-record 154th of his career.


Who or what's not?

David Lighty went missing in the Big Apple on offense (six points) before reappearing for a half against VMI. "We need David to make shots, score, get to the free-throw line. It's very important for this team," coach Thad Matta said. Matt Terwilliger also had a week to forget with four rebounds in 41 minutes and some matador defense. Meanwhile, Jon Diebler's shooting is a hot topic. Ohio's all-time high school scoring leader started his college career 4 of 35 from the field, including 2 of 24 behind the three-point arc.


Outside the lines

Butler said after the VMI game that he wished Ohio State played all its games in St. John Arena. Apparently he's in the minority. The Buckeyes' second game in their old home since they moved across the street in 1998 drew only 6,670, probably because the game wasn't in the season-ticket package and the opponent wasn't of the caliber to draw fans at the end of a long holiday weekend. Even with the place half filled, though, it was loud. "It seemed like everything is a little bit packed in on you, and it's louder," Butler said. "If we could play every game over here, I would." Matta, ever the diplomat, said maybe one a year would be good. "You feel the tradition here," he said.


Big Ten periscope

There is a way to keep Eric Gordon in check. His name is Stanley Burrell, but unfortunately for Ohio State, he didn't accompany Matta here from Xavier three years ago. Burrell, a senior, limited Indiana's freshman phenom to four field goals and 20 points, nine under his average, in Xavier's 80-65 win over the Hoosiers on Saturday night in the final of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Gordon missed the final 7:19 of the first half with three fouls and scored the majority of his points in the last seven minutes of the game.


Quotable

"Coaching." -- Matta, smiling, when asked if Ohio State has an edge in any area against North Carolina. Tar Heels coach Roy Williams has a 529-131 record, the fourth-best career winning percentage (.802) in college basketball history, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

 

[saint]

Lawson will not go according to most sources. This is a different team in a half court set when they can't run like they do with Ty running point. This will be a tight game and I wouldn't be surprised if carolina loses.

 

[BUCSnotYUCKS]

Man Frasor making me look like an idiot. I will say he does look like he's rushing his shot. He's not playing bad at the point though.