Oklahoma State-UNC Notebook: Underwood’s First Loss

The schools from Stillwater and Chapel Hill squared off for the first time in 70 years on Tuesday. The last time orange and Carolina blue clashed was the national championship game on March 26, 1946 when the Cowboys took it 43-40 to win their last NCAA title to date.

Let’s see how this one played out.

1st Half

• OSU’s first defensive rebound came about six minutes into the game.

• Carolina owned the Cowboys on the glass early with their size. They also owned the Cowboys in the paint early.

• Jawun Evans had eight of the Cowboys’ first 12 points. He was the OSU offense. His ability to create looks for himself is the only thing that kept it respectable early.

• Cowboys not named Jawun looked tentative even when getting open looks.

• Let’s check back in with OSU’s offense. With about six minutes until halftime, Jawun Evans was 5 for 10 from the floor. The rest of the Cowboys? 2 for 15.

• We had a discussion in the PFB slack chat about Mitchell Solomon’s foul count in the first half. I thought it might hit four. Mitch Solo got his second foul less than three minutes in and had to go out. Problem is, he didn’t go back in until the second half.

• The refs called an ugly game from both sides, especially early. I can live with ticky-tack calls but don’t ask for Roy Williams’ autograph between each one you call on white.

• OSU came into this game shooting 41 percent from three. In the first half against UNC? 18 percent (13 of 37). And the Cowboys had some open looks. Got to knock those down to have a chance in this type of game.

Halftime Stats of Note

• Somehow OSU only grabbed two fewer rebounds than UNC in the first half. They were actually ahead (!) on the offensive boards 12-9.

• Jawun Evans’ first half line: 20 points (9 of 16), one rebound, zero assists. The rest of the Cowboys were 4 of 21. Evans was the Cowboys’ scoring. He needs to be the Cowboys’ offense.

• The Cowboys had two (!) assists to six turnovers at halftime. Yikes. North Carolina had eight assists but the Cowboys forced nine turnovers. Go Fightin’ Undies!

• The Tar Heels unsurprisingly outscored the Cowboys by ten in the paint (24-14).

• The Cowboys closed the gap late taking a workable 13-point deficit into the half.

2nd Half

• Phil Forte had a hard time on defense. He got a couple of early fouls just based on trying to guard someone that was way bigger. Then a ridiculous “flagrant” called in the early second when he laid his hands on Kennedy Meeks who has him by about 175 lbs.

• Leyton Hammonds fouled out with less than two minutes gone in the second half, further thinning the Cowboys’ size.

• OSU went on a 9-0 run early in the second half. Six points were scored by Evans and he assisted a Lindy Waters three.

• Unfortunately, the Cowboys’ run was immediately followed by a 15-2 run by the Tar Heels. UNC took it from there, outplaying the Cowboys like the better team. The defensive effort was there for the Pokes but they got outgunned by a better team.

End Game Stats of Note

• The Cowboys who came into this game shooting 51 percent from the field, put up an abysmal 36 percent performance and went 6 of 22 (26 percent) from three. UNC shot 58 percent from the floor, largely due to their 48-30 advantage in the paint. The Heels also went 47 percent from three.

• Evan’s final line: 30 points (13 of 25), 2 of 5 from the three, two rebounds, one assist, three turnovers. That’s Evans’ first negative assist-to-turnover game at OSU.

Conclusion

• UNC has dudes. OSU has a couple of dudes. But UNC has a bunch of dudes. Each time an OSU player fouled out, Roy Williams seemed to sub in three fresh dudes. All the dudes.

• The Heels had six players in double digits on the scoreboard. OSU had two: Jawun Evans with 30 and Lindy Waters with 10. Which brings us to…

Orange Alert

Phil Forte has been missing for 40-plus minutes. 2 points (0 for 3) three rebounds, one assist. The sharpshooter was outscored by seven of his teammates. I don’t know how to verify this but I’m saying that’s never happened before.

More on Forte. I don’t know if it’s worse that your best shooter didn’t make a single field goal or the fact that he only took three. Forte also had more fouls and rebounds each than points. That’s a record too, unofficially.

Like I said, the Cowboys got outplayed by a better team. The Tar Heels’ size really affected the Cowboys. With Mitch Solo once again being a no-show, they were dependent on Cam McGriff and Lucas N’Guessan to compete with Carolina’s dominant front line.

Lindy Waters looked like a better shooter than Phil Forte tonight.

Have patience, Cowboy fans, the Cowboys were supposed to lose this game. UNC played for a national championship last season and OSU was below .500.

Additional note

Lindy Waters for president.

The Cowboys play Georgetown at 2:30 p.m. CST tomorrow.