University of North Carolina Athletics
The View From The Press Box
March 5, 2000 | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2000
By Rick Brewer
When North Carolina plays Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals Friday in Charlotte, it will not be an unusual matchup.
The Tar Heels will be facing the Demon Deacons for the 21st time in league post-season play.
Carolina, 18-12 for the year, has battled Wake Forest more often in ACC Tournament competition than any other team. In fact, these two teams have faced each other more frequently in the league's annual post-season shootout than any other any other schools have met. The Tournament's second-most played rivalry is the 18 meetings between Duke and N.C. State.
The Tournament gets underway Thursday night with top-seeded Duke taking on Clemson and seventh-seeded Florida State meeting number eight Georgia Tech.
Then Friday afternoon the fourth-seeded Tar Heels will play the fifth-seeded Deacons before number two Maryland takes on the FSU-Tech survivor. Third-seeded Virginia and number six N.C. State meet in that evening's final game.
Virginia and Carolina tied for third place in the ACC regular-season race, but the Cavaliers will be seeded third because they swept the season series.
That throws the Tar Heels into a game against a familiar opponent to UNC fans. The Deacons, picked by the pre-season prognosticators to finish among the league's top teams, were 16-13 overall and 7-9 in conference play.
However, Wake Forest finished well with back-to-back wins over Georgia Tech in Winston-Salem and at Virginia. In the three games prior to that, the Deacs were beaten at Duke, suffered a tough six-point loss at Maryland and won by 18 at N.C. State.
The key to Wake's play in that stretch was the scoring of 6-9 forward Darius Songaila who had at least 20 points in each game and averaged 23.0 in this five-game period.
Carolina was beaten at Wake Forest, 66-57, earlier in the year before scoring an 87-64 win at Chapel Hill as Ed Cota, Brendan Haywood and Joseph Forte all turned in standout performances.
"We'll need that type of play from all guys against Wake this time," says UNC Coach Bill Guthridge. "Our games against them traditionally are tough, especially when we've met in the ACC Tournament."
The Tar Heels have won seven of the last eight Tournament showdowns, the most recent an 86-73 triumph in the 1997 semifinals. However, Wake's one victory in that period ranks as one of the most classic battles in Tournament history.
In the 1995 ACC Finals, Randolph Childress scored 37 points and Tim Duncan grabbed 20 rebounds as the nationally seventh-ranked Deacons defeated the fourth-ranked Tar Heels, 82-80, in overtime.
The biggest lead by either team was seven points all day and Wake had a 73-69 advantage with less than a minute to go in regulation. But, Jerry Stackhouse cut that to three with a free throw with 52.5 seconds left. Then Stackhouse fired in a three-point jumper with 4.5 seconds to play to force overtime.
Carolina could never get the lead in the extra five minutes as Childress scored all nine Deacon points. Down three in the closing moments, the Tar Heels tied the game when Donald Williams drilled a three-pointer from the top of the circle. But, Childress hit running one-hander with 4.5 seconds to play for the game-winning basket.
Ten of the previous ACC Tournament games between these schools have also come in the quarterfinals with Carolina winning seven of those. The last quarterfinal meeting was an 80-65 Tar Heel victory in 1992.
There have been a number of memorable games between these teams in the Tournament. In perhaps the most famous, a three-point play by Lennie Rosenbluth in the final minute gave Carolina a 61-59 come-from-behind victory in the 1957 semifinals. That kept the Tar Heels unbeaten in a 32-0 NCAA championship season. In those days only one team from each conference was even allowed in the NCAA Tournament so that win actually saved a chance for UNC's post-season run.
A Bobby Jones tip-in with two seconds to play gave Carolina a 48-46 lead over the Deacons in the 1973 opening round. But, after a Wake Forest timeout, Lee Foye took a length-of-the-court pass and hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to force overtime. The Deacons then won on a last-second layup by Phil Perry, 54-52.
In 1975 the Tar Heels made one of the most dramatic comebacks in Tournament history. Trailing, 90-82, with 55 seconds left, Carolina rallied to tie the game on baskets by Phil Ford, Mitch Kupchak, Walter Davis and Brad Hoffman. Hoffman's baseline jumper came with just two seconds left. UNC won in overtime, 101-100.
The 1981 semifinals saw Carolina come from five points down in the final seven minutes to defeat the Deacons, 58-57, on a Mike Pepper jumper with eight seconds to play.
Carolina last faced Wake Forest in Charlotte for an ACC Tournament game in 1994. The Tar Heels erased a five-point deficit in the final 1:15 of regulation to force overtime in the semifinals. With 11.8 seconds left, the Deacons had a three-point lead when Charlie Harrison fouled Derrick Phelps to prevent a three-point shot.
Phelps made the first free throw, but missed the second. However, he grabbed his own rebound and dribbled away from the traffic in the lane. He then fired a pass to Dante Calabria breaking from the opposite side of the court and his off-balance shot from the baseline tied the game with 3.8 seconds to go.
The Tar Heels won in overtime, 86-84, when Phelps made a great pass to Jerry Stackhouse going down the lane for a layup with five seconds to play.
Now it's Carolina and Wake Forest again in the ACC Tournament. It would be hard to duplicate the incredible finishes they've had in this post-season affair in the past. But, don't bet against it.
