University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Heels Enjoy Trip To Littlejohn
January 28, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2002
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
CLEMSON, SC-Don't bother trying to figure it out. One year ago, a delirious Littlejohn Coliseum celebrated a stunning win over a North Carolina team that had won 18 games in a row. That Tar Heel team, which was just beginning the dreaded "Sunday Curse," had two first-round NBA Draft picks on the roster but also featured two football players among the top six.
This year's squad features no football players and several beleaguered recruiting choices. They came into Littlejohn the losers of six in a row and with no reason to expect a blowout on, yes, another dreaded Sunday. Carolina was a team that looked like it would have to go to the end of the earth, which is approximately the location of Clemson, to get a win. The handy directions every bus driver keeps on the dashboard to get to Tigertown are as follows: Locate starting place. Go somewhere else. Try again.
Littlejohn didn't have much life in it at the beginning of the game, but by the time Jawad Williams pump faked and then drove the baseline for a dunk (no doubt delighting the segment of the fan base that has been screaming for him to dunk more often), the fans were streaming for the exits like, well, like their football fans did in the fourth quarter of this season's rout at Death Valley.
Even the notorious Tiger students, who are located directly under each basket and kept up a constant barrage of "witty" repartee with Carolina players before the game, started filing out.
And with 6:30 left in the game and a timeout on the floor, a group of energetic voices could be heard clear across Littlejohn. "Tar...Heels," went the cheer started by a small group of Carolina fans. It wasn't quite up to the noise level of NC State fans last Wednesday, but it was plenty loud enough to be noticeable.
It's been awhile since a win over Clemson seemed this encouraging. But it's also been awhile since a win over Clemson seemed this, well, fun. Maybe that's because victories finally aren't being taken for granted in Chapel Hill.
"It's relief, it's joy, it's pride," said head coach Matt Doherty. "I think there's a lot of emotions that go into it. I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys. A lot of guys would've folded their tent and packed it in. They didn't."
The team could have packed it in after a variety of foul trouble. The main five frontcourt players racked up 12 fouls in the first half, and both Jason Capel and Kris Lang had four fouls with over eight minutes to play.
But even foul trouble couldn't overcome a sublime performance by the Tar Heel guards. Carolina's starting backcourt was outscored 41-6 by NC State's last time out, and much of the pregame talk focused on Clemson's high-scoring duo of Edward Scott and Tony Stockman. But that pair combined to shoot 6-of-21 while the Tar Heel starters, Adam Boone and Melvin Scott, outscored them 40-15.
Boone, especially, played out of his head. He finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and no turnovers, completing the best game by a Tar Heel point guard since at least the Ed Cota era. Of course, none of those stats are what he'll want to talk about. The 6-foot-2 sophomore will likely want to make sure that his second-half skywalking (Well, skywalking for him) rejection is included on this year's highlight tape.
The matchups don't get any easier, as Duke comes to the Smith Center Thursday night. But for one day, Carolina has a chance to get some rare enjoyment out of a win at Clemson, which is more than last year's team can say.
Go figure.
Adam Lucas is the co-publisher of Basketball America. He is a lifelong observer of UNC sports and can be reached at JAdamLucas@aol.com.
