Wake 92, UNC 89

• UNC is now 0-2 in the ACC. And no, I'm not in panic mode.

So what went wrong?

1. Defense. Lawson cannot adequately guard a taller shooter. We need Ginyard to defend the Teagues and the Hales that have the hot hand.
2. Bench. Again, we only have Davis that is dependable on both sides of the court.
3. Shooting. Ellington, Graves, Frasor, Lawson, and Drew have to step up their shooting touch if we are going to regain our number one status.
4. Assists. We scored 89 points, but we only had 9 assists. That's horrible. We made 26 field goals, and to have less than 50% of these baskets is unacceptable. Remember the Michigan State game? 34 made field goals, and 20 assists.

So what does the Heels need to regain their mojo?

1. Intensity. It's lacking. Hopefully Ginyard will be back in the lineup to correct some of this problem.
2. Shooting touch. Teams that live by the 3 pointer die by the 3 pointer (a la Duke). We don't need to force our shots, but let them come to us. Easier said than done.
3. Defense. We can play D, but it appears that other teams know that we have trouble defending the perimeter. We need to play more zone during the game to give the other team a different look. Athleticism alone will not win our games, especially against WF, Clemson, Duke et al.

I have purposely left out Deon Thompson, who was our MVP for the first month of our season. The last 3 weeks he has had trouble making simple shots, and his rebounding stats (sans WFU) has not been impressive. I'm not against having UNC play a smaller lineup, with Green and Hansbrough playing inside and having 3 perimeter players defending the outside. But who? Obviously we will play Lawson and Ellington, but that 3rd position could go to a cast of characters (Drew II, Graves, Frasor). I'd consider having Bobby Frasor play the 3rd guard position, especially since he has started in our lineup in the past. He gives us a reliable ball handler, and he's okay on defense. With Graves, we have more size, and we do have another threat at shooting the three, but his defense is suspect. Regarding Drew II, I'd be hesistant to start him, although he's a good defender.

If we were to start a 3rd guard (let's say it's Frasor), we would improve our bench. We would have Thompson (who would likely be simmering mad) and Davis to spell for Green and Hansbrough inside. We would also have Graves, who would probably want to compete with Frasor for the 3rd guard position, more competitive.

The season is young, but we must adapt to our competition better if we want to have a tremendous season.