University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Clemson (ACC Tournament)
No. 6 North Carolina Comes Back, Claws Clemson 99-81
March 9, 2001 | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2001
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By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA - Every player has a favorite spot on the floor. Jason Capel found his.
Capel made all six of his 3-pointers from the top of the key and scored 23 points Friday as No. 6 North Carolina beat Clemson 99-81 to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals.
Capel got a handshake from coach Matt Doherty afterward for breaking North Carolina's tourney record for 3s in a game. Doherty was one of three UNC players to hold that mark before Capel's long-range display.
"They just kept leaving him open and they didn't respect his jumper," North Carolina's Kris Lang said of his 6-foot-8 teammate. "He just kept burning them with it."
The Tar Heels (24-5) avenged a loss to Clemson last month that snapped their 18-game winning streak and knocked them out of the top spot in the rankings.
"If you couldn't get up for this game you need to check your pulse," said Doherty, who was coaching in his first ACC tournament game.
Doherty and Clemson coach Larry Shyatt exchanged angry words on the court after the game, but both refused to talk about what was said.
The Tar Heels remain angry that Shyatt called a timeout in the final seconds of his team's 75-65 win over then-No. 1 North Carolina on Feb. 18 at Clemson.
"That was just rubbing it in our face," UNC center Brendan Haywood said. "He didn't need to do that, he had already won. Enjoy it, go home and eat dinner with your wife and kids. I feel coach just whispered something about that to him.
"We wanted coach (Doherty) to call a timeout. We had four left and we wanted him to call all four - keep them out there forever," Haywood added. "But he wasn't going to do that. He probably mentioned that he could have but he didn't and coach Shyatt took a dislike to it. But hey, he started it."
Ronald Curry added a career-high 10 assists for top-seeded North Carolina, which had lost three of five coming in. The Tar Heels are 12-1 in the ACC tournament against the Tigers.
Joseph Forte, the ACC's leading scorer, had another subpar game against Clemson. He shot 6-for-17 and finished with 15 points. He scored 14 and 16 against Clemson earlier this season, and his three-lowest conference point totals came against the Tigers.
But with Forte off, Capel took over, going 8-for-9 from the field while adding nine rebounds and four assists.
"Jason just kept saying, `Somebody better guard me,"' Haywood said. "It was amazing because they were so determined to take away myself and Joe (Forte) that they were just giving him wide-open shots."
Capel, one of North Carolina's best all-around players but not noted for his scoring, made all of his 3s against a sagging zone. He had never made more than four 3-pointers in a game.
"Coach really stressed shooting the ball lately," Capel said. "We shot a lot of perimeter shots before we came here to give us the confidence to shoot in the Georgia Dome."
Haywood added 17 points for the Tar Heels, while Lang had 16.
Will Solomon led the Tigers with 23 points, going 7-for-13 from 3-point range.
With the score 54-all early in the second half, Clemson's Ray Henderson picked up his fourth foul, knocking Curry to the ground in the lane. Henderson then said something to Curry and referee Larry Rose gave Henderson a technical, which was his fifth foul.
"I would like to think that if there wasn't a technical we would have still won the game," Doherty said. "But it kind of woke us up a little."
Shyatt said the technical was not a major turning point.
"North Carolina was just too good and too smart for too long," he said.
Forte and Curry each made two free throws and the Tar Heels began to pull away, going on a 12-2 run to take a 66-56 lead with 12:45 left.
A 3-pointer by Solomon three minutes later pulled Clemson to 76-70. But North Carolina scored on its next seven possessions to push the margin to 16.
Capel made four 3-pointers in the final 5:01 of the first half - three in a span of 1:22 - as the Tar Heels went 7-for-8 from long range early.
Clemson, last in the ACC in field-goal percentage, kept pace with the Tar Heels, making 7 of 12 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. The Tigers trailed 50-45 at the break.
