Off the cuff: At first glance one wouldn't think this wasn't an effort worthy of a No. 1 ranked basketball team. But Asheville isn't bad and the Bulldog fans were certainly into it as they opened their new arena. Combined with the long journey from San Diego Friday night, it wasn't bad. The Tar Heels did what they wanted to do. They wanted to control the boards, use their height to get easy shots inside and to draw fouls, and limit Asheville's outside shooting. While the Heels missed some of those inside shots and while they missed 10 free throws and while the Bulldogs hit eight threes, they also got 64 points from their front line, went to the line 35 times and limited Asheville to 28 percent from beyond the arc. Marshall set the tone with 15 assists and only one turnover. Like the first game, Zeller missed some easy shots down low but the Heels kept getting it to him and he usually scored or was fouled. As Coach Williams said, it wasn't a smooth effort. "We're just bigger," he said. Well, the Heels are more talented too but there will be tougher games, including ones against Wisconsin and Kentucky in a couple of weeks. |
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