Heels Win Despite Turnovers

Most nights in most seasons, North Carolina wins on the strength of superior backcourt play. The Tar Heels whipped Clemson despite a poor night on the perimeter.

The Tigers pressured UNC's Ty Lawson into a game high seven turnovers in 22 minutes, more than the Clemson tandem of Vernon Hamilton and Cliff Hammonds combined. In all, Oliver Purnell's press produced 20 steals, about half of them on plays by Hamilton and Hammonds. Clemson used these turnovers to generate transition jump shots, lay ups and dunks. Nearly half of Clemson's 55 points came off turnovers.

Therein lies the rest of the story. When Clemson wasn't running, the Tigers struggled with a capital S. North Carolina's halfcourt defense limited James Mays inside and offered very few open looks outside. Clemson put up 19 three point shots and made just four. Clemson overall hit just 23 of 68 shots, a paltry 34%. Take away the easy transition baskets, and that percentage becomes much worse. Carolina turned the Tigers over just 13 times, but a well-defended missed jump shot leading to a Tar Heel rebound has roughly the same effect as a TO.

On the offensive end, Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright continued to demonstrate why UNC has the league's best frontcourt, especially now that Boston College has dismissed its star Center Sean Williams. Hansbrough and Wright combinted for 13 of 20 shooting, leading their teammates to a fine percentage of 52%.

As North Carolina again adapts to playing without injured point guard Bobby Frasor, Coach Roy Williams can take heart in the play of Quentin Thomas and Wes Miller. Thomas handed out four assists in ten minutes. Miller played nine minutes without a turnover. Shooting guard Wayne Ellington picked up four assists with just two turnovers. And note here that while Lawson generated only three assists against seven turnovers, Wednesday night's performance at Clemson was an aberration. Lawson typically picks up about 2 1/2 assists for every turnover-as a freshman.

It's rare that a highly-ranked team, especially a North Carolina team, is forced into 22 turnovers leading to so many easy opponent baskets. Tar Heel fans should hope the errors were more the result of Clemson's quick defenders than any backcourt weakness on Carolina's part. Still, the fact that this team visited Turnover City so many times and still won by 22, is kind of astounding.