Tar Heels look to display improvements
After a less-than-comfortable 72-68 victory against Davidson in Wednesday night’s season opener, top-ranked North Carolina had plenty to work on prior to Sunday night’s home opener against Iona.
The Tar Heels appeared to have found a remedy for many of those concerns judging by their 107-72 thrashing of the Gaels.
They will hope to see continued improvement tonight when South Carolina State pays a visit to the Smith Center.
North Carolina (2-0) shot 38.8 percent from the field against the Bobcats, but upped that number to 50.8 percent Sunday night.
Much of that may be due to stronger shot selection. All-American forward Tyler Hansbrough and fellow frontcourt starter Deon Thompson combined for 11 shots against Davidson. Versus Iona, the duo had 20.
Tyler Hansbrough finished with a game-high 27 points while Thompson had 13 against an Iona zone bent on limiting their opportunities.
“We talked about getting the ball inside to Tyler and Deon, and I thought those guys did a nice job,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams. “We are not going to stand out there and shoot the ball just because somebody plays a zone.”
When the Tar Heels tried to stretch the zone with long-range shooting, that worked too. North Carolina started out hitting six of its first eight 3-point tries and finished with 10 baskets from long range.
Tar Heels point guard Tywon Lawson left the Davidson game frustrated, held to eight points with one assist and four turnovers. Sunday night, Tywon Lawson guided a much more efficient Tar Heels offense, posting 13 points, nine assists and four turnovers.
“I couldn’t get in a rhythm in the Davidson game,” Tywon Lawson said.
Perhaps the most glaring change came on the defensive end as North Carolina cranked up the intensity, harassing Iona’s ball handlers and netting 16 steals, as opposed to four against Davidson.
“We looked back on the tape and were disappointed in some things,” Tyler Hansbrough said. “(Against Iona) we came out and did better in the things we’re working on to improve.”
See more
at www.thetimesnews.com
