November 16, 2017
Ohio (2-0) at #25 North Carolina (4-1)
North Carolina is rated 89 OVR (90 off/89 def/93 sht/91 reb/87 coach). They're starting 2 freshmen from their highly rated recruiting class. They lost their last game to Saint Louis, and only beat UL Lafayette by 4. Perhaps they are vulnerable. One of their top recruits, a 81 rated JC , got hurt 7 minutes into their opening game and isn't back yet
They have a backup guard rated 88 OVR... not good enough to start at 88 OVR!
Scouting
PG Desmon Norman – SR – 89 OVR – 94 speed/93 quickness. 86 defense/86 steals. 89 close/78 med/93 3(wow). 85 off the dribble, not as good in traffic. 87 off awareness/80 def awareness.. not a coach on the floor b/c of lack of experience, only started for the first time this year. 10 ppg early on.
SG Cheick Grimes – SR – 90 OVR – 92 speed/91 quickness. 88 defense/91 steals. 92 close/77 med/74 3. 86 off the dribble/83 in traffic. Talented enough to play PG most anywhere, 88 hands/80 passing. Crazy athletic, 87 vert/84 str/83 hustle, and great awareness. He' s had low tendencies and only averages about 8 points/game, but he's listed as a potential top pick in the draft.
SF Russ Haigler – FR – 80 OVR – Natural SG, #11 recruit last year. 86 speed/85 quickness. Poor defense, 77/78 steals. 81 close/82 med/86 3. Yeah, this is a “bad” guard at Carolina. 11.8 ppg so far.
PF Torris Ford – JR – 67 OVR – 6'8” - 77 orb/77 drb, 73 post offense/74 post defense. 83 close/77 in traffic. A walkon, only stating due to injury and overall lack of big man depth.
C Marcel Konate – FR – 82 OVR - #5 recruit in the nation last year. 78 orb/84 drb. 82 post offense/86 post defense. 89 close/85 med/82 in traffic. 85 vertical... good now, will be great. Only 6'6” though, very short for a center. This is a guard led team with no size. Still, 11 ppg early on.
With their injuries and lack of size, I convince myself that we do have a shot here. More than likely their crazy athletic guards run us off the court, but we'll try to slow it down, draw some fouls, and rebound, and see how it goes. Also, this is great because Taylor and his C charisma hopefully cannot recruit anywhere near this level of talent, so the lack of size and these two great guards leaving this year... maybe UNC will take a turn for the worse.
Half
| Time
| OHIO
| UNC
| Notes
|
1
| 12:15
| 18
| 18
| Would you believe i'm running 15-20 seconds off the clock each possession? We are 5/9, 3/5 from 3, 5/5 at the line. They are 7/10, 4/6 from 3. Jimenez with 2 3's, Santiago with one, and Grundy with 5 inside. We have 1 foul, they have 3. Backups are in.
|
1
| 10:05
| 22
| 20
| We lead for the first time today on two Northcutt free throws. This is a lot different than most high quality teams where if I drive inside too much I just get blocked and lose control over and over. Here I draw fouls or get open looks. We've drawn 6 fouls, committed 3 so far.
|
1
| 6:15
| 26
| 25
| A great drive and dish by Northcutt gets Withers an easy 2 and UNC calls a timeout. We had the ball 3 times up 2 with a chance to go up more but the backups struggled to score, Whitted just shouldn't be shooting against these guys, I made that mistake twice. Starters are back now.
|
| HALF
| 28
| 32
| We fail to score for the last 3:30 or so after going up 28-26. They shoot 12-25 on the half, 5-11 from 3. Konate, their 'center' (6'6”) has 8. Grimes has 11(90 rated SG) and Norman 8.
We shoot 8-22, 3-9 from 3, but get to the line 9 times and go 9-9. Grundy leads us with 7. Jimenez 6. Backup PF Hogan has 4 and the rest of our players have 2 or 3 that have scored. Jimenez 2-4 from 3, Santiago 1-5.
Though its not the same team or style of play, this is about where we were against Boston College at halftime last year, and they killed us in the 2nd half.
|
2
| 18:40
| 28
| 38
| Norman hits 2 three's to open the half and we fall down by 10. Timeout Ohio.
|
2
| 16:45
| 31
| 42
| Bright goes to the hole hard for a 3 point play to end their 10-0 run. They haven't missed a shot yet. Grundy has attacked twice and missed, and Bright got doubled and had jimenez wide open for 3 but got stripped before he could kick it out.
|
2
| 14:45
| 33
| 49
| They are 8-9 on the half, 3-3 from 3. The one miss was a block by grundy that went right to a guard for an open shot. Timeout Ohio... jesus, this must be what EF27 talks about being unable to win in Chapel Hill 
|
2
| 9:15
| 43
| 58
| Backups are in... so many timeouts, the starters were good still. Anything that was working in the first half, any bounces we got, all go the other way now, missing contested layups that were 3 point plays before, any marginal shot is missing, any marginal passes are turnovers, etc. go go northcutt!
|
2
| 7:40
| 47
| 60
| Withers scores 4 straight and UNC calls a timeout.
|
2
| 4:05
| 53
| 68
| Timeout to get the starters back in for the stretch run.
|
2
| 2:40
| 60
| 70
| A little late for a run but we've now scored 7 straight and have it cut to 10. Bright with 5 straight then Grundy with 2. We've fouled out Ford, their poor PF.
|
They get a 3 point play on their next trip. I get it back to 9 at one point with about 50 seconds left but they make free throws and I quickly give up and let the clock run.
North Carolina 79
Ohio 65
A respectable performance. Their two guards are simply in another world. Norman shoots 9-11 and has 21 points, Grimes is 4-9 from 3 and 9-16 overall for 22 points. We don't have the talent on the floor to compete with that unless they are just ice cold on their own.
McCully: 2 points/6 assists
Jimenez: 11 points (3-10 from 3)
Santiago: 11 points (3-9 from 3)
Bright: 12 points/6 boards
Grundy: 11 points/9 boards
Northcutt: 7 points
Withers: 7 points
good effort, and on a neutral floor, if we play our best, we can contend. This is a flawed North Carolina team though, not a national title contender, too young and not enough depth inside.