University of North Carolina Athletics
View From The Pressbox
February 10, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2000
By Rick Brewer
He controls a basketball game the way a conductor handles a symphony orchestra.
He doesn't have to make music himself to produce something beautiful.
Ed Cota proved that again Wednesday night in directing North Carolina's 70-62 victory at N.C. State. Brendan Haywood scored 19 points and Joseph Forte had 16, but it was Cota who stole the show and helped hand the Wolfpack its first home loss of the season.
"He was just dominant," said State Coach Herb Sendak afterwards. "We didn't have an answer for his penetration. We tried to trap him as much as we could to get the ball out of his hands. But, he he doesn't seem to get rattled and simply controls the game. He has supreme confidence and great ability, as well."
The 6-2 point guard from Brooklyn, N.Y. was credited with 11 assists and could have been given four or five others. When N.C. State tried to throw a fullcourt press at the Tar Heels in the second half, it was Cota who constantly beat it?either by simply dribbling through it or tossing the ball over it to Haywood in the Carolina press offense. The guy just handles traffic better than a New York City taxi driver.
Cota had five assists in the first half, but it was in the game's second 20 minutes that he really took over the game.
The Tar Heels had taken a 28-26 lead at intermission by scoring the final four points of the half on a pass from Cota to Haywood for a layup and two Forte free throws.
Anthony Grundy put State back in front early in the final period with a three-pointer. Carolina regained the lead on a spectacular play by Cota. The Tar Heel guard had slipped down the lane, but Forte's pass to him was too low and Cota had to catch it at the top of his shoes. Without looking, he simply flipped it through his legs, like a football center, to Haywood for a dunk.
But, the Wolfpack regained a 34-31 lead with 17:20 to go in the game. Cota then dribbled through a maze of players on the right sideline and tossed the ball to an open Haywood on the right block. The 7-0 UNC center could have scored himself, but gave a head fake and then slipped the ball to Kris Lang for a dunk.
On Carolina's next possession, Cota again found Haywood inside. This time the junior center spotted Forte set up behind the three-point arc and fired a pass to him. Forte's three-pointer gave Carolina a lead it would never relinquish.
Two minutes later, Damien Wilkins missed a jumper and Cota was off and running on a fast break after Haywood cleared the defensive rebound. Driving down the left of the lane, Cota was being tightly defended by Grundy. So he did what only seemed natural to him to free himself?dribbled once between his legs at full speed to cut to the right and take the defender with him. He then bounced the ball behind his back to Forte for an easy layup.
Carolina regained possession when Cota knocked the ball out-of-bounds off a State player on the other end of the court. He came down and missed a baseline jumper, but Julius Peppers rebounded the shot from the weak side and scored for a 40-34 UNC lead.
State responded with two straight baskets with Haywood and Forte out of the lineup for shorts rests. But, after they returned following a television timeout, Cota again got the ball to his big center inside. This time Haywood found Max Owens open for a three-pointer on the opposite side of the court.
Archie Miller missed a jumper and Haywood again got the defensive rebound. Cota raced in front of the Tar Heel bench and fired a crosscourt pass to Owens in almost the same spot for another three-pointer and a 46-38 lead.
Grundy scored from the baseline for State, but Cota found Lang open for a layup and then drove inside the defense and pitched out to Forte for an open three-pointer.
The lead was 51-40.
State refused to quit and five straight Damon Thornton points got the Wolfpack to within six. Haywood took a Cota pass for a dunk to push the lead to eight with 6:52 left. When Cota missed a jumper on UNC's next possession, Haywood tapped in the offensive rebound for a 55-45 edge.
Justin Gainey's driving layup cut that to eight, but Cota found Forte open for another three-pointer. He missed the shot, but was fouled and made two of the free throws for another 10-point cushion.
The Tar Heels needed every bit of that as State continued to battle back. When Thornton hit one of two foul shots with 1:32 to go, the UNC advantage was just 63-58.
The Wolfpack defense tightened even more and Cota found himself with the ball and the 35-second clock winding down. He was four feet behind the three-point arc when he had to toss up a shot with 57.1 seconds in the game. It had a high trajectory and appeared as if it would be short, but instead settled into the basket without touching the rim.
"I knew Justin (Gainey) thought I was going to try to penetrate, but there wasn't time so I just put it up," said Cota.
That was the final dagger into an inspired State team. Cota missed the front end of a one-and-one seconds later. But Carolina's other hero, Owens, somehow got around the giants inside to tap in the offensive rebound.
Cota finished a competitive game against an arch-rival with only one turnover in 39 minutes of action. That came with with 1.3 seconds left when he grabbed one of his five defensive rebounds and lost it out-of-bounds.
The victory marked the first time an opposing team has won on State's new homecourt, the Entertainment and Sports Arena. But, Cota said he missed played in the Wolfpack's old gym, Reynolds Coliseum.
"This is a great building, but I liked the old place better," he said after going two-for-nine from the field. "I couldn't buy a shot here. Well, I did hit that three-pointer at the end. But, I like having the ball in those tight situations."
Lang agreed with Cota on that.
"He's so tough-minded," said Lang. "He's become a better outside shooter. I have confidence anytime he takes an outside shot. But, he's at his best when he's penetrating and either taking running one-handers or dishing off to a teammate if the inside defenders move over to cut him off."
Plus, he know how to run an offense better than any point guard in the country. If any of the All-America teams are picked solely by position, the crowd at Wednesday night's Carolina-State game saw the point guard who should be on it. Nobody is better at making the easy play or the seemingly impossible one, if needed. That's what he did to the Wolfpack in a key Atlantic Coast Conference win for his team.
