While 7,400 fans screamed and taunted her before the game, North Carolina’s preseason All-American point guard Ivory Latta continued to prance around the court, seemingly egging the crowd on.
Tar Heel coach Sylvia Hatchell is not afraid to let everybody know about her confidence in Latta.
“This is Ivory Latta, best point guard in America,” Hatchell said after the game.
Because of the frigid shooting night, UNC had to forget about its 87 points per game scoring average and focus on its defense and rebounding to get a 65-53 win at Reynolds Coliseum Sunday.
UNC caused N.C. State to turn the ball over 26 times and made 16 second-chance points compared to the Wolfpack’s five.
“A lot of times we played great defense and we didn’t get the box out we needed and they got a number of points off second-chance opportunities,” coach Kay Yow said. “We know that’s an area we have to do better; that’s an area that can beat us. We take full accountability for that.”
The Heels’ defense shined brightly throughout the night and even caused a State scoring drought of over six minutes at the end of the first half. During the dry spell, Carolina went on a 15-0 run, which turned out to be too much for the Pack to overcome, even with a 13-2 run of their own to follow.
UNC was able to force foul trouble with constant pounding on the inside. When State forward Khadijah Whittington and center Tiffany Stansbury picked up their fourth fouls at about the 12 minute mark in the second half, the Pack trailed by just seven points and seemed poised to make a final run at the Heels.
“That’s when [Erlana] Larkins went on a run,” Yow said. “They took the ball into her time after time and that’s when the run occurred.”
With Stansbury playing sparingly because of foul trouble, the Pack were not able to stop either Larkins or Camille Little, who both got double-doubles, which were the first of the season for any Tar Heel.
“I sort of backed down when I got into foul trouble, I wasn’t as aggressive as I was in the beginning of the game,” Stansbury said.
As the second half wound down, Yow chose to hold Stansbury off the court and turn the defensive pressure back on Carolina, which did not pay off for the Pack.
“Tiff had four fouls at that time and we went with a smaller lineup because we decided to really trap, really get after it, really fly around and get the ball,” Yow said. “If we could get the possession, it might have been a situation where we could sub in and out for offense and defense and maybe not get her fifth foul. But I just thought the smaller lineup, with some of the players fresher, was what we thought was best to get the ball.”
Despite the turnovers and missed opportunities throughout the game, State did manage to hold Latta to 2-15 shooting and four turnovers, but the poor shooting effort did not bother the self-assured junior after the game.
“I had a bad shooting night. [Ashley] Key had a height advantage, but we got the win, so it’s all good,” Latta said.
The win was the 700th of Hatchell’s career and gave the Tar Heels a 16-0 start, their best start since 1994-95.
