Lawson-Less Tar Heels Beat OSU
UNC tops Ohio State in 66-55 win without its star point guard Wednesday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 29, 2007 — -- Carolina nation can exhale. Ty Lawson will play Saturday at Kentucky.
"I'm definitely playing Saturday," Lawson said late Wednesday night after the Tar Heels' 66-55 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Lawson said he could have played against the Buckeyes, but moving laterally on defense was still an issue during the day. So, he said, with some more time off and a bit more ice, he'll be good to go.
So, it seems that's the end of North Carolina's experiment of playing without their jet-quick point guard. And, while it wasn't done on purpose, the No. 2-ranked Tar Heels are certainly better off for going through the exercise.
This team, this title contender and overwhelming ACC favorite, can survive without Lawson. Of course, winning the national title without Lawson is unlikely, but no one expected a sprained ankle to be that catastrophic.
So, just like UCLA learned that it could win without point guard Darren Collison against Michigan State last week in Kansas City (Collison returned to play for the first time this season on Wednesday night against George Washington after sitting out with a sprained knee), the Tar Heels (6-0) discovered life isn't so bleak without Lawson.
"This showed a lot for this team to lose a great player and a lot of scoring at the point guard position and grit out a win," said Bobby Frasor, who replaced Lawson in the starting lineup.
Ohio State held Carolina to 66 points, not bad considering the Tar Heels averaged 92.2 coming into the game. But without Lawson, the Tar Heels weren't going to be as fast-break oriented.
Yet, North Carolina found a way to weather player of the year favorite Tyler Hansbrough's rather pedestrian offensive effort (6 of 19 for 13 points) by leaning on Wayne Ellington's 3-point shooting (4 of 7 for 23 points) despite a back injury that occurred during the game.
This win, coupled with the Tar Heels' 73-63 victory over BYU last Saturday in Las Vegas in which Lawson played only two minutes because of the rolled right ankle, may end up being two of the most significant wins for the Tar Heels.
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