By Robbi Pickeral
Raleigh News & Observer
The biggest cheer from North Carolina’s bench on Sunday didn’t come after Danny Green’s rim bouncing 3-pointer, Ty Lawson’s run-stopping pair of free throws or Larry Drew’s key put-back.
It occurred late in the first half of the Tar Heels’ NCAA South Regional Final victory over Oklahoma, after Sooners wing Tony Crocker had to force an errant shot at the shot clock buzzer and his team committed a shot clock violation the very next time down the floor.
“We’ve proven to everyone watching today that we can defend,” UNC guard Bobby Frasor said after the Tar Heels reached their second straight Final Four with a 72-60 victory. “We’re not just an offensive team. We don’t just score. We can get stops when we need to.”
And they need to now more than ever, as they prepare to play Villanova (30-7) in the Final Four on Saturday evening in Detroit.
Over the years, one of coach Roy Williams’ mantras has been that he’s never seen a bad defensive team make it to the Final Four. After Sunday’s victory, it could all be coming together defensively for the Tar Heels (32-4) at the right time.
“We are getting there, definitely,” said Green, a senior. “These last two games, we did a really good job of rotating and picking it up and helping each other. Guys are in the right places, taking charges and getting steals. … It has to do with desire ó wanting to finish your defense, wanting to get the ball, wanting to box your guy out.”
North Carolina’s reputation this season has rested on rotating its depth and relentlessly pushing the pace on offense, and for good reason. Despite injuries, the Tar Heels are averaging 90.0 points per game, tied for the second-highest mark in school history.
Meanwhile, its defense took a hit midway through the season when Marcus Ginyard’s lingering foot injury forced the team’s best perimeter defender to redshirt. Boston College’s Tyrese Rice, Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, Florida State’s Toney Douglas and Maryland’s Greivic Vasquez all took advantage of Ginyard’s absence to notch big games in wins over the Heels.
And yet the Tar Heels have proven they can make stops when they want to ó a big emphasis on “want.”
There was the ACC/Big Ten Challenge blowout in Detroit on Dec. 3, when the Tar Heels held Michigan State ó which has also reached the Final Four ó to 63 points and 34.8 percent shooting.
Then there was the Jan. 21 victory over Clemson when the Tigers missed 16 of their first 20 attempts in the second half.
And there was Sunday’s domination of the Sooners, when the Tar Heels consistently double-teamed national player of the year Blake Griffin in the post to force the ball out of his hands, while rotating defenders on the perimeter to contest his teammates’ shots.
“How good we are offensively, I think people just want to see our defense be where our offense is, and that’s just so hard when you can score the basketball and outscore people. It’s hard to know you’ve got to get stops,” forward Deon Thompson said. “But if you look at all the great teams that coach Williams coached, or other previous national champions, they all could play defense. And we do understand that to be a good team, we’ve got to get stops down the stretch.”
Entering this weekend’s games, the Tar Heels rank 71st in the nation in defensive field-goal percentage, allowing foes to shoot 41.3 percent from the field. In their four NCAA Tournament wins, however, opponents shot only 39.8 percent against the Tar Heels. (Last season’s Final Four team allowed opponents to shoot 41.6 percent for the season. North Carolina’s 2005 national title team held them to 40.1 percent.)
Williams said that several individual players have improved, citing Wayne Ellington’s ability to chase opponents around screens, Green harnessing his habit of reaching in, and Thompson’s improved defensive stance in the post. But most important, he said, the team defense has solidified.
“We’re better at seeing the big picture ó not just staring at our man or staring at the ball ó we’re seeing what the other team is trying to do,” Williams said.
And they’re taking pride in it, as shown by the reaction to that shot clock violation on Sunday.
“It’s pretty gratifying when we put out the effort and the energy to play defense ó it works,” Frasor said. “You get big stops, and you get a win. … Now we just need to keep that going.”