University of North Carolina Athletics
Indiana, Kentucky Make For Marquee Saturday
December 1, 2000 | General
Dec. 1, 2000
By Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus
Read Brewer's Previous Car-O-Lines Columns
It's hard to imagine North Carolina hosting a bigger matchup of marquee names in athletics than the Tar Heels do Saturday when the men's soccer team faces Indiana in the NCAA quarterfinals and the men's basketball team plays Kentucky.
Indiana has long been one of the biggest names in men's soccer and Kentucky has been a perennial powerhouse in men's basketball.
Strangely, this will be only the second time either of these opponents has played in Chapel Hill.
Carolina, 21-2 and ranked first in the nation, will square off against the Hoosiers at 1 p.m. on Fetzer Field. The basketball game is set for 3:30 p.m. at the Smith Center.
Indiana has won five NCAA titles in men's soccer, including the last two in a row. The Hoosiers are 15-6 after blanking San Jose State, 4-0, and defeating Washington, 2-1, in this year's Men's College Cup Tournament.
"Anytime you play the defending national champions, you know you face a major challenge," says Carolina Coach Elmar Bolowich. "Ryan Mack is one of the best players in the country and T.J. Hannig is one of the top goalkeepers. When you get to the last eight teams in the NCAA Tournament, you know you're going to be facing a tough opponent.
"It's hard to imagine a more difficult assignment than this. But, I've been pleased with the way our team has played down the stretch. We have to continue performing at that level in order to win this weekend."
Mack, a midfielder, was the Big Ten Player of the Year He has six goals this season and 12 assists. Indiana is 63-9 with Hannig in the goal. His 42 career shutouts are the most in Hoosier history.
Carolina has been led by Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Chris Carrieri. The junior forward has scored a school-record 25 goals and also added 14 assists. Midfielder Michael Bucy, defender Danny Jackson, forward Caleb Norkus and goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey also have had sensational seasons.
Despite the fact Carolina has been playing soccer since 1947, this will mark only the third game against Indiana. The schools split the two previous games, both played in Bloomington.
Even more unusual has been Carolina's basketball series with Kentucky. The two teams have played 22 times with the Tar Heels holding a 16-6 edge in the rivalry. However, only one of those games has been in Chapel Hill.
Carolina faced the Wildcats on a fairly regular basis throughout the 1960's and 1970's. But, Adolph Rupp always refused to bring a team to Chapel Hill. Carolina has played in Lexington seven times and also faced Kentucky in Louisville. But, Rupp demanded the return games be in Charlotte or Greensboro.
It wasn't until C.M. Newton became the Wildcat athletic director that Kentucky would come to Chapel Hill. A six-game series was set up between Newton and Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith to begin in the 1989-90 season.
The Wildcats made their only appearance here on Dec. 10, 1990. With five players scoring in double figures, Carolina pulled off an improbable late comeback for an 84-81 victory.
The Tar Heels trailed 41-33 at halftime and were lucky to be that close. Carolina committed 19 first-half turnovers and made just 28 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes of play.
Kentucky led throughout the second half, once by as many as 14 points. The Wildcat advantage was still eight with only 6:25 to play. Despite a Tar Heel rally, they still trailed, 81-77, with 1:38 left.
Rick Fox, who had missed his first eight shots of the game, then nailed a three-pointer at the 1:25 mark and Carolina took its first timeout. Even with a lead, Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino had already used up all his timeouts at that point.
The Wildcats missed from inside on their ensuing possession and the ball bounced off two Wildcats' hands before Fox finally grabbed it. John Pelphrey flicked it away and Fox teetered on the sideline as he retrieved it. He finally got it away to King Rice, who was in the process of falling down near midcourt.
While sitting on the floor, Rice passed ahead to George Lynch. He fed Pete Chilcutt, who had slipped behind the defense, for an uncontested dunk and an 82-81 lead.
Unable to take timeout, Kentucky got off a shot with 36 seconds left. But, it was offline and Lynch grabbed the rebound. Pitino screamed at his players to foul someone as Carolina kept the ball moving with crisp passes. Exasperated, Pitino swung a towel that accidentally hit the public address microphone, creating a sonic boom throughout the Smith Center.
Rice was finally fouled with only one second to go. He made both his free throws for an 84-81 win. Carolina finished the game with an incredible 28 turnovers, but hit 20 of 30 shots in the second half.
Pitino asked out of the series later that spring and the remaining four games were dropped. Smith agreed to tear up the contract as a favor to Newton, a close friend. The two teams have only met once since--in the 1995 NCAA Southeast Regional with the Tar Heels scoring a 74-61 victory at Birmingham. That gives Carolina a six-game winning streak in the series between the two winningest schools in college basketball.
The Wildcats have gotten off to a slow start this year and will bring an unusual 1-3 record to Chapel Hill. The record is a little deceiving, however. The losses were a one-point setback to St. John's in Madison Square Garden, an overtime loss to UCLA and a five-point setback to Penn State.
Carolina goes into this game after its first loss of the year, a 77-64 defeat at Michigan State on Wednesday. While unhappy about getting beat, Coach Matt Doherty liked the way his team hustled on the road against the defending national champions.
Poor free throw shooting and an inability to hit from three-point range were major factors in the loss. The Tar Heels got good shots against a rugged Spartan defense, but just couldn't get anything to drop.
"If we play with that same energy all year, we'll be okay," said Doherty. "We need to do a better job of rebounding and we'll get that. It's strange to be upbeat after a defeat, but I feel better about this team now than I have after any of the opening three wins."
A sidelight to the game Saturday will be seeing Kentucky's Keith Boggans and Carolina's Joseph Forte on the same floor. They were teammates at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md. for Coach Morgan Wootten.
It promises to be a busy day for sports in Chapel Hill with the biggest men's soccer game of the year and a classic basketball showdown.
