UNC 68, Wazzu 47

People will assess Wazzu's team based on this blowout score, and it's a little unfair.

The Cougs were unlucky to get beat so badly. They simply had an off night shooting the ball, and their missed threes led to UNC transition buckets. If they get lucky and hit 50% from three, instead of getting unlucky and hitting 12.5%, the game's close and they have a chance to win.

So the poor shooting was one problem. The other was that--and this was quite unexpected from such a veteran team--they looked nervous.

They were shooting early in the shot clock, taking bad shots, and they didn't play particularly focused. The turning point, to me was with 12:48 left, and the Cougs up 10-8. UNC had missed a jumpshot. There were three Cougars around the ball, Kyle Weaver leapt for the board, and I looked away briefly to grab my beer. When I looked up, UNC's Danny Green somehow had the ball and was laying it in. Green had snuck behind Weaver, whacked the ball loose, grabbed it, and got the easy bucket. Green hit a three a minute later to give UNC a lead they'd never relinquish.

Watched the game at the Village Pub in Magnolia. It's a Cougar bar and, ironically, I was standing next to three cougars--overly tanned women in their 40s who spoke excitedly of an upcoming "mo-ho" party (mojitos, I guess). Nearby was a cute 20-something Coug fan, who got flirted with the whole game by a succession of men who were the same age as the cougars.

It was fun for the first, say ten minutes of the game--people cheering for every Cougar score and UNC miss. When those two events got more and more rare, it got quieter and quieter. Here's the scene at the bar just before tipoff.

I'd stupidly worn a baby blue shirt, but luckily I had a red one in the office. It wasn't quite Wazzu crimson, but it seemed to do the trick.