Tobacco Road Shocker: Boston College Sends Tar Heels Up in Flames

The Tar Heels have one of the deepest benches in the country but, thanks in large part to Jackson, B.C.’s bench outscored Carolina’s by a margin of 20 to 17.

Another area in which UNC should’ve had an advantage was in the rebounding department.

With Tyler Hansbrough, Deon Thompson and the depth of their bench against a young and undersized front line of B.C., Carolina should’ve dominated the back boards.

While the Heels did out-rebound the Eagles, the margin was only seven (45 to 38). And the Eagles did manage to snag 14 offensive boards to help their cause.

One area in which Boston College deserve a great deal of credit is they neutralized Carolina’s transition game.

Typically the Tar Heels will pressure a team to no end, collect turnover after turnover, and then convert them into points.

That didn’t happen as B.C turned the ball over just 10 times by only three players. Valuing the basketball clearly impacted Carolina’s offensive output.

Carolina spent the majority of the game trying to speed up the tempo and apply the necessary pressure to ignite their vaunted running game. But while they played at a hectic pace, the Heels never appeared to play with a sense of urgency even as the Eagles built a 14 point lead.

With about four minutes to go, and as the realization of losing began to set in, only then did the Tar Heels play in a manner that would’ve served them well from the outset.

Josh Southern, B.C.’s 6’ 10” center, made Tyler Hansbrough work for every bit of his 21 points and nine rebounds.

But Hansbrough lacked the help he usually can count on from front court mates Deon Thompson and Danny Green.

The two combined for 14 points in only 40 minutes.

As with most close games, free throws played a role in determining the outcome.

The Eagles converted 12 of their 16 attempts while the Tar Heels shot an abysmal 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the charity stripe.

The results of this game certainly will give the rest of the ACC hope that the league title is up for grabs.

But on this night, the spoils go to Boston College.

Perhaps no play highlighted B.C.’s grit and determination better than when Rakim Sanders ran down Wayne Ellington on a break-away and cleanly blocked his dunk attempt, much to the bewilderment of the Tar Heel faithful.

North Carolina could very well go on to win the NCAA championship in dominant fashion. After all this is only one game in a five month season.

But at least for one night, the Eagles exposed a chink in the armor of the favorites.

So it looks like the NCAA tournament is officially wide open again.

Let the madness begin.

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