An emotional leader and spark plug, the senior forward was feisty and playing with a chip on his shoulder, courtesy of North Carolina’s recent loss to an arch-rival. Following a heart-breaking defeat on Wednesday night, focus shifted to another big ACC matchup with the Miami Hurricanes. In fact, the Lakeside, Calif., native retired the first 12 hitters she faced before UNO’s Lizzie Noble broke up her ideal game bid with a single to begin the fifth inning.
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There aren’t many, if any things to take away from the game, but one thing Miami can certainly learn from is the type of intensity and motivation the Tar Heels played with after a frustrating loss. They became only the fourth team to match the program single-season record of 11 wins, last set in 1997 in Mack Brown’s final season before taking over at Texas.
Every member of the media had this quote pegged before the game was even over and sure enough Roy Williams led with it as he did after Sunday’s win over Pitt.
Saturday’s game didn’t fix all of UNC’s issues – the Tar Heels remain inconsistent on several levels. Early season road losses to Northern Iowa and Texas can largely be excused, and now with four regular season games left North Carolina is poised to win the ACC and potentially grab a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, down in Coral Gables, the Hurricanes of the University of Miami are exceeding expectations.
The pivotal stretch was the first 12 minutes of the second half. Coach Larrañaga has proven college basketball analysts wrong year after year when it comes to his Hurricanes. “I’ve been saying it all year: this team’s got a lot of grit”, Fedora said.
In what has been an absolutely insane college basketball season, the Tar Heels look like one of the few solid bets out there. This Hurricanes team is led by extremely athletic guards that can light it up in a hurry. Four of the five Hurricane starters landed in double figures led by Angel Rodriguez, who totaled 14 points in 39 minutes of action. Miami also shoots about 36 percent from beyond the arc as a team this season.
That shouldn’t be misconstrued as a request for more Carolina three-point attempts, though.
Now where North Carolina excels is attacking the glass.
Apparently not – the Tar Heels chose to lock down defensively. “When we ran it right, they really struggled”. Hicks teamed with Brice Johnson in the frontcourt makes Carolina better defensively without losing anything on offense. Johnson has put himself into the conversation for National Player of the Year.
Which players are going to show up? On Saturday, stops created transition opportunities, including the time a Meeks block preceded a long outlet pass to Justin Jackson, who fed a sprinting Johnson for a dunk.
“Joel Berry was our primary target”, Larranaga said. Will Tonye Jekiri assert himself in the paint?
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UCLA’s Kort Peterson immediately singled both runners home against reliever Zach Rice in the at-bat following Bukauskas’ removal, giving the home team its first lead of the day. Eight of the nine hitters in the new-look Tar Heel lineup picked up at least one. As for Miami, they need to get back in transition and spread the defense out.
