North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller, left, finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, two steals and three blocks on his Senior Night last night.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After Tyler Zeller scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds in North Carolina’s Feb. 4 win over the Terrapins men’s basketball team, the Terps knew they’d have to contain the Tar Heels’ star forward in his final game at the Dean E. Smith Center last night.
Coach Mark Turgeon gave freshman center Alex Len his first start since a Jan. 21 loss at Temple, hoping to stymie the forward who entered the night averaging 15.7 points per game.
But in the end, Zeller proved too powerful for Len — and forwards James Padgett, Ashton Pankey and Berend Weijs — as he steamrolled the frontcourt for 30 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals en route to an 88-64 Tar Heels win.
“We couldn’t guard him all night,” Turgeon said. “He kept drawing fouls on us and controlled the game on the foul line.”
In North Carolina’s 83-74 win at Comcast Center last month, Zeller hurt the Terps from the free-throw line, making eight of his nine attempts. But he did even more damage from the charity stripe last night, making 20 of 23 attempts — numbers well above the 5.5 free-throw attempts he’d averaged entering the game.
It was a familiar story for a Terps unit outmatched in both size and skill. Along with Zeller, the Terps haven’t had answers for Duke’s Mason Plumlee — who recorded double-doubles in both Blue Devils wins this year, including 23 points and 12 rebounds Jan. 25 — and Virginia’s Mike Scott, who scored 25 points in the Cavaliers’ blowout win Feb. 18.
Any combination of forwards Turgeon put on the floor was overwhelmed, either by Zeller’s sheer power or his ability to draw fouls. With 7:37 left last night, both Len and Pankey had fouled out. Pankey’s night was particularly abysmal, leaving the game midway through the second half with zero points and zero rebounds in just seven minutes of play.
“Zeller’s pretty crafty at getting in there and drawing fouls and doing the things he needs to do down there,” Turgeon said. “He can score in a variety of ways. Tonight, it was the foul line.”
And it wasn’t just Zeller that hurt the Terps. Forward John Henson came off the bench to score 19 points and grab nine rebounds, punctuating his night on an alley-oop from guard Kendall Marshall with 5:06 left. Providing a contrast to Zeller’s bulk and power, the sophomore’s length and athleticism was yet another facet the Terps’ frontcourt couldn’t handle.
“They’re very long,” Padgett said. “They establish good position. They work real well together with boxing each other out and helping with offensive rebounds.”
But there was at least one bright spot for the Terps’ frontcourt, at least on the stat sheet. Despite being in foul trouble, Padgett managed to record a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The team’s defense also held Zeller to 5-for-12 shooting from the field, and kept the Tar Heels less than 40 percent for the game.
That didn’t change the bottom line for the Terps: They were in too big of a hole and missing too many critical pieces for any real damage to be done. The fruitless defense of Zeller, Henson and fellow forward Harrison Barnes seemed to carry over on the other end, where Len, Pankey and Weijs combined for just eight points and seven rebounds. In the teams’ last meeting against North Carolina, Len went for 12 points and nine rebounds by himself.
In the end, Turgeon and the Terps had no answer for Zeller. After another defeat that included yet another dominant performance by an opposing big man, Turgeon could only look toward the future.
“Maybe [Len] can be that guy in the future for us,” Turgeon said.
dgallen@umdbk.com
