Traditional Power North Carolina Wins in Nontraditional Manner

No one could have thought that University of North Carolina's men's basketball team would have so many injuries in one season. The latest of which was point guard Kendall Marshall's broken wrist. This was especially significant because Marshall is the man that gets the offense to run the way it should. Without him, the Tar Heels lacked some of their identity and direction. Both were evident in the game.

In their Sweet Sixteen game, UNC drew the #13 seed Ohio. The game looked like a pushover on paper, but the Bobcats came into the matchup confident. Without Marshall and with preseason All-American Harrison Barnes struggling, the Tar Heels struggled to put away the upstart Bobcats. If UNC was going to win, someone was going to need to step up. One of those unlikely players who did was sophomore Reggie Bullock. With around 12 minutes to go in regulation, Bullock overheard an Ohio assistant coach state that Carolina couldn't win without Marshall. This infuriated Bullock, who went on to score 12 of his 17 points after the incident. Other Tar Heel players stepped up as well to fill the void Marshall left. Rarely used freshman point guard Stilman White earned his first start of the season and finished with 0 turnovers in the game. Carolina big man Tyler Zeller came up huge as well. He finished with 20 points and 22 rebounds. He is the first player to have a 20-20 performance in a tournament game since Tim Duncan in 1997.

The game ended up going to overtime, but North Carolina did enough to survive. They now play a more traditional powerhouse team, Kansas, in the Elite Eight on Sunday. The Tar Heels will certainly have to play better to beat the Jayhawks. They certainly can, especially since Barnes didn't play well. They may also get Marshall back from injury. Either way, head coach Roy Williams will have his boys ready. UNC showed they can win without Marshall and win even when they play poorly. The Tar Heels are definitely still a team to be reckoned with here in March.