Off the cuff: This was one of those strange games where the teams both deserved and didn't deserve to win. Stick with me. I do agree with Coach Davis when he says, "I'm disappointed. I thought we played well enough to win." He's right. Carolina shot better, rebounded better and played more as a team, dishing out 13 assists to teammates compared to five for Villanova. But, then again, they didn't deserve the win because they never could find an answer for Eric Dixon and Justin Ingram, and they didn't do a good job on the final play of regulation. Dixon did do most of the damage in the first half with 20 of his career-high 34 points. (BTW, I don't think any player should ever get a career high against the Tar Heels.) Moore scored most of his 16 points in the second half. On the last play, Coach Davis said the first option was for Cormac Ryan to get the ball and drive to the basket. The Heels wouldn't or couldn't get the ball to him so they went to option two, which was to get the ball to RJ Davis who would drive to the hoop. He said, and he's right, that 3.3 seconds is enough time to drive to the basket. But, the Heels didn't do that. They did get the ball to Davis but he put up a desperation three that failed. "They did a good job defensively on the play," Coach Davis said of Villanova. "RJ had to take a tough shot." Villanova deserved to win because of that play and because they stuck to their gameplan to back (mostly shorter Tar Heels) to the basket and score inside. They also deserved to win because they hit their free throws. They didn't deserve to win because they shot poorly from the field and needed all those free throws to win. They didn't deserve to win because I don't think that sort of physical play in basketball should be rewarded. Eleven of the last 14 calls of the game went against Carolina, and despite Villanova being the aggressor (particularly on offense with the isolation play where the Carolina defender continued to get banged into), it was Carolina that committed more fouls and it was Villanova who had 13 more free throw attempts. Here's hoping that a trend from last year (that happened in this game) will not be a trend this year. Last season, Carolina was 5-6 in games decided by four points or less and in eight of the team's 13 losses last year the Heels led in the 2nd half. |
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