BY DARRELL MOODY
Nevada Appeal Sports Writer
RENO " Nevada basketball coach Mark Fox said his team played exactly how it wanted for a majority of the first half.
Unfortunately, Nevada couldn't sustain it and dropped an 84-61 decision to top-ranked and unbeaten North Carolina Saturday night before a crowd of 10,526 fans at Lawlor Events Center.
Nevada dropped to 7-6 entering Saturday's Western Athletic Conference opener at home against Idaho, while North Carolina improved to 13-0 heading into its ACC opener at home against Boston College.
"We had the game where we wanted it," Fox said. "We were playing with purpose. My expectation was to win. We're not into moral victories. We knew we were playing a great team and had to play well. We just didn't play it right long enough. It was a great test for our young team. I was pleased with a lot of things we did tonight.
"Fatigue was a big part. One of the ways that Carolina beats you is that they have great players, great depth, great pressure. They just keep coming at you."
Nevada tried to shorten the game by running down the shot clock whenever possible. It's a risk-reward type of thing especially if you aren't shooting well or taking care of the ball. Nevada shot a respectable 43 percent from the floor in the first half, but turned the ball over 10 times leading to 10 Tar Heel points.
Nevada scored six of the game's first eight points. The game was tied four times in the first half, including the final time at 14-all, but the Tar Heels scored 10 of the next 13 points to open up a 24-17 lead with 7 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. Nevada went more than three minutes without a point, turning the ball over three times and missing two shots.
Tyler Hansbrough (22 points) started the surge with two free throws, and after a Nevada turnover, Ed Davis tipped in a miss by Wayne Ellington to give Carolina a 16-14 lead, one it would never relinquish. Ty Lawson (11 points) converted a free throw and then Ellington turned a Nevada turnover into a layup at the other end.
Nevada stayed within five points until Carolina went on a 14-6 run for a 38-25 lead with 1:09 left in the half. Hansbrough had eight in that surge and started to assert himself more.
Hansbrough only put up five shots in the first half, but finished with 10 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the line.
"I just let the game come to me," Hansbrough said. "Some guys were hitting shots from the outside (early)."
It was Carolina's defense more than anything that jump-started its offense. The Tar Heels extended the floor defensively and denied a lot of passes to the wings.
"We got out into the passing lanes," Ellington said. "We've got some steals and picked up the tempo a little bit. That is the style we want to play. That's how we want to start every game."
"We knew they were going to pressure us," Fox said. "We didn't handle it as well. We turned the ball over and they got some easy baskets."
Other than Luke Babbitt and Malik Cooke, who scored 10 points apiece, nobody else could muster any offense in the first 20 minutes. Babbitt and Cooke were a combined 9-for-15 but the rest of the team was 3-for-13, including a 1-for-6 half by Armon Johnson.
Two free throws by Babbitt and a dunk by Armon Johnson off a Carolina turnover got the deficit to 12, 43-31, with 18:24 left in the game.
Carolina went on an 11-3 run to make it 54-36, as Hansbrough had five points, while Ty Lawson and Ellington added baskets and Davis two free throws. One of Hansbrough's points was the result of a technical foul called on Fox, who was upset that Luke Babbitt (22 points) was called for an offensive foul on the previous possession. Verne Harris whistled Fox for the technical during a timeout.
A putback by Davis plus a three-point play by Hansbrough with 9:14 left gave the Tar Heels a 23-point lead, 67-44. The 23-point lead was Carolina's biggest of the night. Carolina enjoyed a 23-point lead three other times down the stretch.
Despite building on the lead in the second half, Carolina coach Roy Williams was unhappy at times with his team's play.
"I was disappointed with the way we kept putting them on the foul line in the second half," Williams said. "We let them shoot 20 free throws in the second half, and that's not what we wanted to do. You can't give up 14 second-chance points.
"You have to win some games like this that are a little uglier than you like. We have a pretty good basketball team, but we took a good shot from a good team and came out on top. I feel good about it. We played a team that played hard against us and outhustled us a little bit."
Fox was happy with how the team competed. He said his young team would use this game to grow. With conference play starting Saturday, it's imperative that this young team grow up quickly.
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281