Defense was good, offense was iffy, Tyler Zeller may have broken his wrist.
Basically it went like this, UNC came out, did a lot of damage early with aggressive defense that earned them a huge lead then threw it into cruise control the rest of the way. The defense showed great intensity for the first 10 minutes and by the time it was over UK had 28 turnovers. Some of that was UK but some of that was also UNC playing great defense at every position. On one hand it was good to see this team destroy a team with great defense as they did early on. On the other hand there is still concern that this team is still not capable of playing defense of that nature for 40 minutes. Based on Roy’s postgame comments, that is what he is looking for and really did not get it.
All you can say about the offense is it looks like it is missing the reigning NPOY. 87 points against Penn, 77 points in this one indicates that there is some production missing. Hansbrough returning should cure a lot of ills for an offensive unit which seemed out of sync and choppy in general. That being said, Deon Thompson has come light years since last season. Thompson lead the team with 20 points while pulling nine boards but more than that, Thompson appears to have finally arrived. When Hansbrough returns, Thompson will be a huge beneficiary since the former will draw a ton of attention. Thompson was really the only bright spot on offense. Wayne Ellington hit some threes but was 5-14 from the floor. Danny Green only took five shots and seemed largely disengaged on the offensive end. Ty Lawson did a great job distributing the basketball with nine assists but missed a ton of shots to the tune of 3-15. Other than that WIll Graves and Ed Davis made contributions including two threes from Graves. Overall not the best offensive effort of the season but there is plenty of time to get Hansbrough back and work out the kinks.
Anyway, the win is good. Now eyes turn to Tyler Zeller and hoping that his left wrist is not serious injured but based on the comments from Roy and Woody Durham on the radio network, it does not sound promising.
Factor of the Game
Over the first 10 minutes of the game, Kentucky looked completely lost against UNC's defense. The Wildcats threw the ball away possession after possession leading to a turnover % of nearly 60. In that same timeframe, the Heels took care of the ball leading to the lopsided score.
