The Tuesday 12

Thanksgiving is upon us and football season’s harvest is beginning to bear fruit. In the meantime, the hardwood and hoops have once again joined forces to provide basketball fans with a cornucopia of roundball classics. This week’s Thanksgiving-themed edition of The Tuesday 12 hopes to find readers stuffed with turkey, embraced by loved ones and thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed on us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Bountiful Harvest
East Carolina fans are giving thanks for Dwayne Harris after a sparkling performance vs. UAB Saturday. Not only did Harris grab eight passes for 108 yards, the senior wide receiver scored three touchdowns to lead ECU to a 37-21 win over the Blazers.

ECU's Dwayne Harris on the move

After first quarter touchdown catches of 23 and 39 yards, Harris exploded with a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving him 254 all-purpose yards on the day.

The last touchdown was his third kickoff return for a score this season, breaking the school’s career and single-season records. He also became the first Pirate with two TD catches in a quarter since 2004.

If The First Thanksgiving Had Turned Out Like This
The Massachusetts’ pilgrims invited two Indian helpers to share in their Thanksgiving after a bountiful harvest that kicked off a holiday tradition that’s lasted 400 years. If those first Indian guests had treated their hosts the way North Carolina’s Defense treated Boston College’s offense Saturday, the tradition would have likely been squashed right then and there.

Holding BC to 198 total yards, the Tar Heels forced six Eagle turnovers and sacked BC quarterbacks three times. Defensive tackle Cam Thomas (Eagle Springs, NC/North Moore HS) scored on a 20-yard fumble return in the first quarter, a feat that was duplicated two plays later when Kendric Burney (Jacksonville, NC/Southwest Onslow HS) returned an interception 30 yards for his second defensive touchdown in as many weeks.

Safety Deunta Williams (Jacksonville, NC/White Oak HS) picked off three passes to push his team-leading interception total to six on the season while safety Melvin Williams added another interception.

Colonial Names Persevere
Nolan Smith returned from an NCAA-mandated two-game suspension and looked thankful for a chance of redemption. The junior point guard led Duke to wins over Charlotte and Radford last week, averaging 22.0 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 56 percent from the field. Smith hit six of 10 3-pointers in the contests and was named the ACC’s Player of the Week.

Tracy Smith posted his second and third double doubles on the season in leading North Carolina State to wins over Akron, Austin-Peay and Auburn. The Wolfpack captured the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fl. to run their record to 4-0 on the season while Smith took home tournament MVP honors.

Against Auburn, Smith’s loose-ball rebound and put back of a Julius Mays 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left sealed the win and the tournament title. In the title game, Smith grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with 11 points and averaged 15.6 points and 11 rebounds as the Pack captured wins on three consecutive nights.

Home – Not Just for the Holidays
Shamari Spears started a promising collegiate career at Boston College by averaging 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds as a true freshman in the 2006-2007 season. The following year, Spears played nearly 27 minutes per game, started 17 times and averaged 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds before getting into coach Al Skinner’s doghouse late in his sophomore season.

Spears, a native of Salisbury, NC, transferred to Charlotte and sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules. Last week, Spears scored 20 points in a 101-50 loss to Duke and followed that performance with a 28 point, six rebound night in an 88-74 win over Yale. On the season, Spears is averaging a team-high 23.7 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe.

Through the Woods We Go
Pfeiffer College’s Chris Woods (Thomasville, NC/Thomasville HS) was named the Conference Carolinas Player of the Week after averaging 25 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for the Division II Falcons. Woods’ week included a career high 34 points to go along with 10 rebounds in a 97-78 win over USC-Aiken.

A Triumphant Field
Danielle Forword scored the game-winning goal with 11.7 seconds left as the third-ranked University of North Carolina field hockey team upset previously unbeaten Maryland, the top-ranked team in the nation, capturing the NCAA field hockey championship.

With the game tied 2-2. Forword, a senior from East London, South Africa, scored her 17th goal of the season on a penalty corner to give the Tar Heels their second national title in three seasons and their sixth overall crown.

The Tuesday 12

Last week, college football began to wind down while college basketball tipped off in full fashion with every North Carolina-based Division I school starting their seasons. While most Tobacco Road schools struggled on the gridiron, the Big Four started the college hoops season unbeaten. A title streak continued in Boone and a losing streak ended in Raleigh. November can keep even the heartiest of sports appetites full. This week’s edition of The Tuesday 12 fills a sports plate from all over The Old North State.

Single Handed
As 9th-ranked Duke entered the season without their starting point guard, Nolan Smith and highly touted freshman, Mason Plumlee, all eyes were on Kyle Singler, the ACC’s preseason player of the year. In home wins over N.C. Greensboro and Coastal Carolina, Singler didn’t disappoint.

In a 96-62 win over the Spartans on Friday night, Singler led all scorers with 20 points while logging 38 minutes. On Monday night against Coastal Carolina, Singler was even better. The 6-8 forward led all scorers (23) and rebounders (11) while playing another 36 minutes in a 74-49 win over the Chanticleers.

Double Trouble
After Wake Forest’s first two games, forward Al-Farouq Aminu is averaging a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds per game, numbers good enough to make him the first ACC Player of the Week for the 2009-2010 season.

Aminu opened the season with 25 points and 13 rebounds vs. Oral Roberts and then had nine rebounds to go with 23 points in an 89-59 road win vs. East Carolina.

Three’s Company
In a rare Sunday night game, East Carolina got a trio of outstanding performances to rout Tulsa and hang onto their lead in the Conference USA East Division.

Leading the charge for the Pirates (6-4, 5-1) was Patrick Pinkney (Fayetteville, NC/Pine Forest HS) who completed 20 of 29 throws for 275 yards and two touchdowns.

One of those scoring throws was a 37-yarder to sophomore Darryl Freeney. That catch was one of eight receptions Freeney had on the day to go with a career-high 152 yards receiving.

Pinkney also connected through the air on a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Dominique Lindsay (Charlotte, NC/Independence HS). Lindsay’s touchdown catch was trumped by a career-high 172 yards rushing on 31 carries.

Providing good company to their three offensive stars was the ECU Defense. ECU entered the fourth quarter with a 23-17 lead and got three defensive touchdowns in the decisive quarter to pull away for the 44-17 victory. The Pirates had interception returns of 42 and 57 yards and then added a 50-yard fumble recovery and return for the final three scores of the night.

Four Runner
Kendric Burney (Jacksonville, NC/Southwest Onslow) intercepted three Jacory Harris passes to lead North Carolina to an upset win over No. 12 Miami at Kenan Stadium on Saturday. Burney’s three picks give him four on the season. In tallying three picks, Burney amassed 171 interception return yards which broke a 29-year old ACC single game record.

One of Burney’s interceptions was a 77-yard touchdown return, his second career interception return for a touchdown. Burney now has a school-record 317 interception return yards for his career.

Fifth Element
Seventh-ranked Appalachian State entered their game against No.6 Elon Saturday as a slight underdog, according to the polls. The Mountaineers, who have won three of the last four FCS national titles, jumped all over the visiting Phoenix, taking a 21-0 first quarter lead enroute to their fifth straight Southern Conference championship.

The win pushed ASU past Elon in the FCS polls as they replaced the Phoenix at No.6 while Elon dropped to No.10 in rankings released Monday.

Lucky Seven
After posting their seventh straight shutout, the University of North Carolina’s third-ranked women’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA women’s soccer Sweet 16.

North Carolina opened NCAA tournament play with a 1-0 win over High Point University, champions of the Big South conference. In round two, UNC dropped the 25th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs by a 4-0 score to move into the Sweet 16 for the 28th consecutive year.

The Tar Heels move on to take on a Maryland team they beat twice in a three day span during the second and third games of their streak.

Dressed to the Nines
In a 42-23 loss to Clemson on Saturday, North Carolina State at least got a record-setting performance from Jarvis Williams, a junior wide receiver from Orlando. Williams caught two Russell Wilson touchdown passes, giving him nine touchdown receptions on the season. The nine scores are the most for a receiver in a Wolfpack uniform since Jerricho Cotchery’s 10 scoring receptions in 2003 and are the sixth-most in school history.

Ten Commandments
When Scott Cherry was named the new coach at High Point University, he promised that the Panthers would look like a different team than the one that averaged less than 65 points per game last season. The book on Cherry is that he commands his players to play hard and fast.

One of his commandments is that if the shot’s there – take it. In a season-opening 104-72 win over UNC-Pembroke, Nick Barbour made certain he followed his coach’s orders, making 10-of-11 shots from 3-point range (and 13-of-18 overall) en route to a game-high 38 points in 28 minutes.

Baker’s Dozen
The Baker’s dozen for the Carolina Hurricanes is the 13 different NHL teams they lost to during a franchise-record 14-game losing streak that was halted Sunday night with a 5-4 OT/shootout win over the Minnesota Wild.

The Hurricanes dropped a pair of 4-3 OT games to the New York Islanders during their streak. Those two losses were among the four OT losses in Carolina’s slide, which began with a 5-2 road loss to Tampa Bay on October 10th.

In their streak-breaking win over the Wild, Carolina blew a three-goal lead on two separate occasions and needed a Jussi Jokinen backhander to open the shootout period to prevail for the fourth straight time at home against Minnesota.

The Tuesday 12

The smell of fall fairs has faded fast into November, a month where we salute those that have fought for our country and give thanks for the things that are plentiful and good in our lives. In North Carolina, the first full week of November brought elections, the beginning of the NBA and college basketball seasons and the end of baseball. November also landed us squarely in the heart of the college football schedule. So fittingly, this week’s edition of The Tuesday 12 celebrates all things pigskin with twelve outstanding gridiron performances.

For the Record – Elon’s solid 1-2 punch
Elon’s Terrell Hudgins (Rocky Mount, NC/Rocky Mount HS) entered Saturday’s game vs. Western Carolina needing 35 yards receiving to break NFL Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice’s Division I FCS (Football Championship Series) record for career receiving yards. On the first play of the game, Hudgins hauled in a 44-yard pass from QB Scott Riddle to move into first on the all-time list. He finished with 153 yards on eight catches including a 2-yard TD reception in the second quarter.

Earlier this season Hudgins broke Rice’s career record for receptions and has now caught more passes than any player in Division I history (including Football Bowl Series, formerly Division I-A or Football Championship Series, formerly Division I-AA).

Hudgins record-breaking performance was matched by teammate Brandon Newsome who ran for 143 yards on 16 carries and scored four touchdowns in a 42-17 Phoenix win.

On the Defensive
North Carolina defensive end Robert Quinn is in the midst of an All-American season and Saturday may have been his coming out party. Against Duke, Quinn spearheaded a Tar Heel defense that limited the Blue Devils to 12 yards rushing (including minus-21 yards from their running backs) and 113 yards through the air.

Quinn finished with seven tackles, including three sacks and another 1.5 tackles for loss. For good measure, he also added a forced fumble, six quarterback hurries and one pass deflection. Through nine games the sophomore lineman has 15.5 tackles for loss which ranks fifth nationally and has 10 sacks, sixth-most in the nation. Quinn has also forced four fumbles this year.

East Carolina LB Jeremy Chambliss and DB Van Eskridge did their best to help ECU to a second straight upset of Virginia Tech. Although the Conference USA East-leading Pirates didn’t win, the senior defenders gave valiant efforts that helped hold the Hokies to 16 points (nearly 15 points below their season average) and 137 yards passing.

Chambliss had 10 tackles, including one sack, to go along with three tackles for loss. Eskridge (Shelby NC/Shelby HS) added 11 tackles and a forced fumble while breaking up two Tyrod Taylor passes.

Running Wild
Ryan Houston (Charlotte, NC/Butler) has been the short yardage go-to-guy for North Carolina all season. When Shaun Draughn went down with a season-ending injury on the first play of the game, Houston became the feature back. The junior running back must have liked his new found role as he amassed 164 yards on 37 carries and added another 15 yards receiving on three receptions.

All-Around Good Guy
Freshman quarterback Seth Adams completed 17 of 22 throws for 225 yards and a touchdown while rushing for three more touchdowns in Greensboro College’s 42-20 win over Methodist College. The Pride signal caller only carried the ball five times for Greensboro but scored from three yards out in the first, followed by a four yard scamper to the end zone in the third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, Adams plunged in from a yard out to cap a 10-play, 64-yard drive.With his performance, Adams (Burlington, NC/Williams) won the USA South Rookie of the Week award for the second time this season.

Feast or Famine
N.C. State Wolfpack fans were treated to the highs and lows of stardom through three quarters of their 38-31 win over Maryland. QB Russell Wilson tossed three touchdown passes and rushed for another in the first three periods. But, Wilson was also intercepted three times and had one of those returned 70 yards for Maryland’s second score of the game in the first quarter. Wilson finished with 343 yards passing on the day.

Bound for Playoff Glory
In 2007, the inaugural season for Braves football, UNC-Pembroke made their debut in the NCAA’s Division II as one of twelve Independent programs in the country. A 9-1 campaign in their second season of competition opened eyes in the Division II world. A road upset of 24th-ranked Fayetteville State University to open the 2009 campaign signaled that the Braves had truly arrived.

After finishing off a second straight 9-1 season with a 42-14 win over North Greenville, UNC-Pembroke jumped up four spots in the national polls and are now ranked No.15 in the nation by the D2football.com Media Poll. In a six-game winning streak (including the last four on the road) to cap the season, the Braves outscored their opponents 232-43.

UNC-Pembroke enters the Division II playoffs for the first time as the fifth seed in Super Region 2 where they will take on Arkansas Tech, currently ranked No.22 in the country. On the season the Braves are led by sophomore running back Travis Daniels (Washington, NC/Washington High), who has gained 980 yards rushing while scoring 10 touchdowns, and junior quarterback Cory Smith (Indian Trail, NC/Sun Valley HS) who has thrown for 1,662 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Joining UNC-Pembroke in the Division II playoffs will be Fayetteville State University, champions of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). The Broncos, sporting an 8-3 record after an 0-2 start on the season, will travel to California, Pennsylvania to battle third-seeded California University of Pennsylvania in Super Regional 1. The winner will move on to face second-seeded Shippensburg University.

FSU is led by senior linebacker Marcos Esquivel who has 98 tackles on the season including 7.5 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss. Esquivel also has two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and has blocked a kick this season.

Game of the Week
The Southern Conference Championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Series) playoffs are on the line Saturday when the No.6 Elon Phoenix travel to Boone to take on the seventh-ranked Appalachian State Mountaineers. The Phoenix, despite coming into the game as the higher ranked squad, make the trek west as the upstart underdog, David battling the FCS-Goliath, ASU.

Both squads enter the game unbeaten in SoCon play. ASU has won four straight Southern Conference titles and carries an 18-game conference win streak into the matchup. Meanwhile, Elon has won six straight games overall and look to capture their first-ever Southern Conference title as well as assure themselves of the first Division I playoff appearance in school history.

The game will feature a slew of record breakers and will highlight the two top passers in Southern Conference history. ASU’s Armanti Edwards enters the game with 9,324 yards passing while Elon’s Scott Riddle (Ramseur, NC/Eastern Randolph) has thrown for 9,234 yards in his stellar career. Riddle is also the SoCon’s all-time leader in completions (822) and his 75 touchdown throws leads Edwards’ 72 scoring strikes atop the career list. Both players enter the game with a career completion percentage of 65.4 pct.

ASU has won 13 straight meetings with Elon including a 24-16 win last November. Appalachian enters the game ranked no.1 in scoring offense and total offense while Elon is second in both categories. Defensively, Elon seems to have the upper edge. The Phoenix are no.1 in the SoCon in scoring defense (12 points per game), rushing defense (77.1 yards per game), passing defense (131.1 ypg) and total defense (208.2) while ASU is fourth in the conference in scoring, passing and total defense and fifth in the league against the run.

The Carolina Sports Guy prediction for this game:
Elon 26 Appalachian St. 24

The Tuesday 12

On November 21, 1789 North Carolina ratified the Constitution to become the twelfth State of the Union of what would eventually become the United States of America. To honor The Old North State’s status as the twelfth state, every Tuesday The Carolina Sports Guy will unveil 12 teams, names or events that marked the most recent sports week in North Carolina.

Ghosts & Goblins
What better way to kick off the Halloween edition of The Tuesday Twelve than talking about the Duke Blue Devils football program. Resurrected by 2nd-year coach David Cutcliffe, the Blue Devils are on a three-game win streak – the likes of which haven’t been seen in Durham since Steve Spurrier took his Fun ‘N Gun attack to The Swamp in 1989.

If the ghost of The Old Ball Coach isn’t enough for ACC opponents, how about the ghost of the original quarterbacking Big Ben. Following his 343-yard performance vs. the Virginia Cavaliers Saturday, Thaddeus Lewis became the first Duke QB to ever record four 2,000 yard passing seasons. Lewis is on pace to eclipse Ben Bennett’s Duke career passing mark which was set from 1980-1983 under Spurrier’s watchful eye as Duke’s then-offensive coordinator.

Orange Crush Flames out in Blacksburg
When Virginia Tech trotted out their new orange jerseys vs. Butch Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels Thursday night for their annual “Orange Effect” game, the 13th-ranked Hokies didn’t expect to be blindsided by a fast and fierce defense that would hold the Hokies to 95 yards rushing, 25 of which came on the game’s first play.

After the game, Quan Sturdivant, an Oakboro, NC native was caught on camera consoling Tech’s freshman running back, Ryan Williams. It was Williams’ fumble two minutes earlier that led to Casey Barth’s 21-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. Afterwards, Williams sat alone and dejected on the VT sideline until Sturdivant, who had a team-high seven tackles in the game, gave the speedy freshman some encouraging words.

Scary, scary stuff
After a 3-1 start, the North Carolina State Wolfpack have dropped four straight games and have seen their defense shredded in ACC play. The Pack has given up 1,928 yards of total offense in dropping to 0-4 in the conference. Last week they gave up 555 yards in a 45-42 loss at Florida State on Halloween, a slashing that would have even made Michael Myers proud. Before being drummed by the Seminoles, State had given up a combined 820 yards passing and eight scores in the air against Wake Forest’s Riley Skinner and Duke’s Lewis. To compound their problems, they then allowed Boston College’s Montell Harris to romp for 264 yards on the ground and a school-record five rushing touchdowns in a 52-20 road loss.

The Charlotte Bobcats kicked off the 2009-2010 NBA season in horrific fashion. In a 92-59 loss to the Boston Celtics in their season-opener, the Bobcats set a dubious team record for fewest points in a game. On the night, the Bobcats shot 31% from the field and missed all ten of their three-point field goal attempts. They even finished a Shaq-like 13-25 (52%) from the charity stripe.

Best Costumes
Nominations go out to:

N.C. State’s Russell Wilson and Toney Baker as Batman and Robin:
Despite the defensive woes of the Pack defense, Wilson and Baker had outstanding performances for State on the offensive side of the ball. Wilson threw for 349 yards and tossed five touchdowns while Baker rushed for 112 yards, his second career 100-yard game and first since a 2006 loss at Clemson.

Baker entered N.C. State as the all-time leading rusher in North Carolina high school history with 10,231 yards, the third highest total in national high school history. After only playing one game the past two seasons due to multiple knee injuries, Baker is beginning to show some of the explosiveness that once made him one of N.C. State’s highest profile recruits.

Carolina Panthers DE JuliusPeppers as Superman:
In Carolina’s 34-21 win over the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals Sunday, no one stood out more than the Panthers’ Peppers. Peppers spent the day hurrying future Hall-of-Fame QB Kurt Warner, never allowing the Arizona signal-caller to get the potent Cardinals offense into high gear. A freakishly athletic play in the second quarter in which Peppers fought off a cut block from Arizona’s Mike Gandy, leapt into the air to snag a Warner swing pass and then floated into the end zone for a pick-six proved Peppers worthy of the Superman moniker. Superman later recorded a game-clinching sack and forced fumble of Warner that sent the Panthers back to Charlotte as upset winners.

Florida Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes as Pokemon:
Spikes, a former high school star at Shelby’s Crest Senior High School, played the role of Pokemon (pronounced poke-E-mon for The Carolina Sports Guy readers) to perfection with his eye-gouging antics against Georgia running back Washaun Ealey. Spikes, who was the number one rated overall prospect in North Carolina coming out of high school, is a 2008 First Team All-American linebacker and is expected to be one of the top linebacker prospects in the 2010 NFL Draft. Pokemon has been suspended for the first half of Florida’s game Saturday against Vanderbilt.

Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace as The Lone Ranger:
In the Bobcats come-from-behind 79-68 victory over the New Jersey Nets, Wallace looked like The Lone Ranger reigning in rogue bad guys in the Old West. In a 24-point, 20-rebound performance against the Nets, Wallace logged 44:30 of playing time, ten minutes more than the next closest Bobcat. In addition to his game-high 24 points, Wallace collected one more rebound than the rest of the Bobcat starters combined.

And the Best Costume Award goes to:
Appalachian State University QB Armanti Edwards as The King:
The ASU senior signal caller would be the top pick in every Division 1 fantasy football draft. But his 461 yards of total offense and six touchdowns in Appalachian’s 52-27 rout over Furman were no fantasy. After passing for 355 yards and rushing for another 106 yards, Edwards became the first player in Division 1 history (including FCS and FBS teams) to account for more than 9,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards rushing in a career.