From: Curt.Hill@launchpad.unc.edu (Curt Hill)
Subject: UNC versus Ohio State(late)
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 21:19:59 GMT



UNC vs Ohio State
Tuesday, December 22, 1992
St. John Arena
Columbus, Ohio


My good friend Todd, who scored the tickets for me, and I arrived very
early for the game, after a delicious meal at the local "All in One" (that's
a combo Hot'n'Now/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut/KFC for all you non-gourmands).

St. John Arena is very pleasing to the eye.  Wood seats with lots of red
everywhere.  The seating is OK on the lower level, with bleachers all the
way around courtside and three additional decks.  The final deck of seating
is very high and sloped.  Way, way, up there.

The food selection was nice, but I only sampled the Coke.  They did have the
real Ballpark Mustard, which is far superior to the dayglo yellow stuff you
usually are served at sporting events.  The cups Coke was served in were
quite nice, too.  Women's and men's schedules and no outside advertisements
on the cup (like the Hardees' ads on most ACC cups now).

Plus, St. John has what must be the largest scoreboard in the world.  It
appears to be bigger than the court.  Your standard hang-in-the-middle
board, but this one has a large monitor on each side of the board.  A group
of OSU students put clever animations and such on the screens.  Some nice
animations were shown plus handy up-to-the-minute stats during the game.

The crowd, while not the most knowledgeable (and mainly sarcastic for good
reason), was very, very loud.  It was extremely loud during the close parts
of the game and the OSU runs.  I don't know how apparent this was on
television.

However, Brutus, the Buckeye mascot (old style football player with a
Buckeye head) has to go.  Makes me think UNC's angry sheep is attractive.

Arriving early also allowed me to watch Dick Vitale, who had ripped
Funderburke off-the-air during the OSU at Indiana game last year, work the
crowd.  Lots of autographs and free books handed out.  Talking and smiling.
There were some boos at the beginning of the game, but most of the fans at
St. John had decided to forgive Vitale for his comments.

The officials, some of the ACC's "best", had the crowd howling.  Dick Paparo
only had a few clueless calls (or ones that might sort out once I see the
tape of the game), but Duke Edsall and the other were in a different world.
The crowd appeared most upset with four 5 second calls against OSU in the
first half.  The first 2 were legit; the second 2 appeared to be a bit quick.
For the rest of the game, the crowd near me would be screaming for a 5 second
call whenever a UNC player was picked up by an OSU defender.


Ohio State coach Randy Ayers used the only strategy he really had, which was
to use an aggressive, pressing, trapping defense versus UNC.  This worked in
the first half, as UNC really had trouble running anything that looked
like an offense most of the time.  The OSU defense was intense and the
crowd noise added to the confusion.  Lawrence Funderburke, Ohio State's
best player and biggest mouth, had some nice plays during turnovers in the
first half.  He also had some nice moments whenever the UNC defense, which
was solid in the halfcourt, caused the OSU team into some chaotic moments
near the end of the 45 second clock.

It also appeared that Ayers and Smith had decided to run a full-court press
test during the first half, as both teams pressed and trapped on almost every
possession.

I was really impressed with OSU's defensive intensity in the first half.
UNC was reduced to a lot of one-on-one offense in the first half, which
didn't help UNC's offensive output any.

After a harsh chewing out by Dean at halftime, "Are you the same guys I
work with in Chapel Hill?", Carolina came out and jumped on the Buckeyes.

Intense halfcourt defense (the press was gone) and running offenses led
to easy Carolina buckets.  UNC shot 1-6 in the first half at the charity
stripe, but hit all but 2 free throws (both put back in for buckets) in
the second.  There was a nice blend of inside and outside play in the
second half and several times Montross was left in excellent position
down low.  Donald Williams also picked up his game in the second half.
Reese was a major factor as well, with a brilliant spin-move on the baseline
that led to a four point play (on the missed foul shot).

Ohio State made a good run in the second half, but a couple of ill-advised
shots by Skelton (running, contested 15 footers on the baseline) led to
UNC fast breaks and easy scores.


Some of the Ohio State freshmen played well (Macon and Simpson).  However,
Simpson was overmatched defensively at the point and Derrick Phelps used
him unmercifully in the second half.


I thought Phelps had an excellent game except for the 3 turnovers.  He
was very animated during the game, with lots of smiling and offers to the
folks covering him to come take the ball.  Often he would drive by his man,
pull back, then go by again for a shot or a dish.


Good points:

   o The play of Reese - Brian played an excellent game and is beginning
     to show some offensive explosiveness.

   o The play of Phelps - excellent defensively and ran the team wonderfully.
     Still isn't sticking the 3, which is still his only weakness.

   o Montross - just HUGE in the middle.  Dunked most everything,
     emphatically, to show Lawrence "I just can't shut up" Funderburke who
     was boss inside.  It worked.

   o Lynch - was everywhere, as usual.  16 very quiet rebounds and George
     put in some nice buckets, too.  He's finally playing consistent
     basketball at Carolina.

   o The defense - very, very intense.  The team is playing defense at a
     level that I haven't seen in a long time.  Maybe 1987.

   o Confidence.  Even when down or in the middle of an OSU run and lots of
     noise, the UNC team did not wilt or panic.  They just played hard.

Bad points:

   o Half court offense - if the "slow" team is in (three of Montross, Rodl,
     Sullivan, Salvadori), the team suffers on the offensive end.  A team
     with Montross, Sal, Sullivan, Phelps, and Rodl on the floor just
     struggles for shots.  The defense is still good, though.

   o Too much one-on-one in the first half.  This led to bad shots and easy
     Ohio State baskets.

   o Rebounding.  It appeared at times that UNC couldn't buy a rebound.


Comments:

   o The team played like a top 50 team in the first half and a top 5 team
     in the second.

   o I was impressed, for the most part, with UNC's reaction to Funderburke's
     woofing.  One particularly amusing episode was late in the game as OSU
     set up for a press.  I could see Lawrence woofing in Montross' face.
     Montross was stoic.  The ref snuck up and saw Funderburke and told him
     to stop.  After the official returned to inbound the ball, Funderburke
     started up with Montross again and tried to engage Reese as well.  But
     for the most part Carolina just played and let Lawrence run his mouth.

   o In general, a team with [Phelps|Rodl|Williams|Reese|Lynch|Montross]
     is very good.  Below that 6, the substitutions must be handled
     carefully in order to maintain an offensive rhythm.


Box Score:
[at home.  Email if you want it.]


Next:  The Kraft Rainbow Classic.

Dec 28/29 (1:15 am EDT) versus SW Louisiana
Dec 29/30 (11 pm if win, 1am if lose) versus Nebraska or Michigan
Dec 30/31 (???)


The semi-finals (winners) and finals will be shown on Home Team Sports live.
Other cable channels across the country may show games as well.





Curtis Hill
chill%star3@mcnc.org


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