Instant Analysis: North Carolina-Arizona

Tyler Hansbrough didn't score a point in the first 17 minutes of Saturday's highly-anticipated intersectional battle between North Carolina and Arizona. Alex Stepheson and Deon Thompson didn't care.

The two young big men--given significant playing time because of an injury to UNC's Brandon Wright--dominated the first half to make Hansbrough's ineffectiveness a moot point. By picking up their touted teammate, Stepheson and Thompson led the Tar Heels to an easy victory over a shellshocked Arizona team before a capacity crowd at McKale Center in Tucson. A Carolina club that was loaded enough to begin with was able to display even more quality depth against the Wildcats, as the Tar Heels made a big statement on a national stage.

How did this game become a blowout? There are many reasons, but they all come back to one fundamental theme: Carolina's question marks proved to be superior to Arizona's exclamation points. The Tar Heels' supposed weaknesses were stronger than the Wildcats' strengths. This dynamic was embodied by the play of Stepheson and Thompson, two freshmen who played with poise and passion in a daunting road environment.

Arizona--having been bloodied up by the deep and defense-dominated Pac-10--sought a season-changing win against the No. 4 team in America. But the Cats never got the quick start they needed on their home court, and the Stepheson-Thompson duo was the main reason why. With a deft touch and substantial energy within six feet of the basket, the two freshmen enabled the Tar Heels to immediately find a comfort zone while causing Arizona's defense to sag inside. After a flurry of early baskets from two interior players whom the Cats did not game plan for (unlike Hansbrough, who was straitjacketed by Lute Olson's crew for the game's first 17 minutes), Ty Lawson and the rest of Carolina's backcourt were able to slash to the basket and create high-percentage shots off the dribble. All game long, the Tar Heels were able to use their quickness to outflank the Wildcats at the offensive end of the floor. The early emergence of Stepheson and Thompson made that reality possible, even on a day when Hansbrough wasn't at his best. Arizona made many spectacular defensive plays in the open court, but Carolina dominated in halfcourt sets.

At the other end of the floor, Carolina's uncertainties continued to be stronger than Arizona's reliable components. The Wildcats entered the game as a 37-percent three-point shooting team, an exceptional mark by any standard. Yet, Arizona couldn't hit the side of a barn behind the arc on Saturday. Some of these treys were ill-advised shots, but many of them were open. None of them, however, went down when the game was competitive. This was the supremely frustrating aspect of a midday massacre for Arizona: while Carolina hit a number of tough shots in the lane, the Cats missed high-quality looks (plus free throws) all day long. The things Lute Olson could normally count on suddenly deserted him in one disastrous two-hour sequence in Tucson. The normally solid Ivan Radenovic picked a bad time for a disappearing act, as his lack of shooting accuracy or passing from the low post robbed Arizona of both points and offensive flow. Combined with a tentative outing from heralded freshman Chase Budinger, Radenovic's struggles turned the Cats' best attributes into glaring deficiencies. The importance of this reality cannot be overstated in accounting for the Carolina rout.

This portrait of Wildcat weakness stood in marked contrast to the perspective from Roy Williams' sideline perch, as the Tar Heels found production in places they couldn't have honestly expected. With step-up performances from relatively untested freshmen, Carolina put together a very successful business trip to the Desert Southwest, while Arizona endured a spectacular crash-and-burn made all the more disappointing by an ankle injury to meal-ticket scorer Marcus Williams. It was one of those days when everything went right for the visitors, and nothing went well for the home team.

While Carolina substantially burnished its credentials as a Final Four favorite and national title contender, Arizona is left to sift through the wreckage of a season that stands on shaky ground at the present moment. The Cats will make the NCAA Tournament, but they run the risk of having an unprotected seed for yet another season. If Arizona is to make a big run in February and the remainder of Pac-10 play, the Cats have to realize something subtle but profound about shooting and, more specifically, its psychology.

The tricky part about basketball is that open shots--the goal of offensive sets--don't automatically lead to points. As the Cats found out against North Carolina, open looks can still miss the mark, which leads to disaster if those looks are long-distance ones. Arizona destroyed opponents earlier in the year with ball movement, and the Cats hit a lot of threes off catches. Not off the dribble, not in standstill positions, but off catches. Against North Carolina, Arizona lacked the ball movement that exists when Lute Olson's team functions at peak efficiency. Shots might have been open on some occasions, but not as a result of passes. With better movement and less stand-around basketball, the Cats--getting layups from set plays and easy points from their offensive concepts--will begin to achieve a psychological turnaround. Shots attempted off catches, not off the dribble, will have more confidence behind them. The superior shooting motions that emerge when a squared-up player rises off a catch will produce more made shots.

North Carolina possessed this level of confidence for 40 minutes on Saturday. The Tar Heels pounded the ball inside first--as really good teams do--and then allowed the perimeter game to produce both open threes and available driving lanes as morning turned into afternoon in Tucson. Everything about UNC's effort spoke of supreme balance and substantial depth, two foremost qualities in a team with legitimate championship aspirations.

This rout in the desert was no fluke: from the beginning, Carolina cruised while Arizona labored. Roy Williams just needs to keep distributing minutes to his charges on the road to Atlanta. Lute Olson, however, has to get his team to share the basketball while reinstilling a sense of swagger into his badly shaken boys. Two teams are currently headed in opposite directions after this trouncing in Tucson; the month of February will tell us if Carolina can sustain its superiority, and Arizona can change course.