University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Vermont
No. 23 Tar Heels Handle Vermont, 80-54
December 19, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec 19, 2002
Box Score| Quotes| Photo Gallery
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Tom Brennan has been admiring North Carolina basketball from afar for 30 years. The Vermont coach said he saw a lot of Dean Smith's traits in the No. 23 Tar Heels on Thursday night.
Rashad McCants scored 19 points, and Jackie Manuel added 14 as North Carolina forced 23 turnovers in an 80-54 victory over the Catamounts.
"They play like they're all 12th men, that they all have to show what they can do to make the team, they've got to show how hard they can play," Brennan said following a 26-point loss to the Tar Heels. "Man, those guys always do it right, they always throw the extra pass, they always dive for the lose ball.
"When you have great athletes - pros in some cases - that play that hard and with that much passion, it's a tribute not only to this group, but to the people who won't accept anything less. This is the big time."
The Tar Heels (6-2), coming off a 12-day exam break, snapped a two-game losing streak. Vermont (3-6) lost its sixth straight game.
The Catamounts were without their two best players. Honorable mention All-American T.J. Sorrentine is recovering from broken wrists in the preseason. Taylor Coppenrath, averaging 21.7 points, has been diagnosed with pneumonia and didn't make the trip to North Carolina.
"If they had their two best players it could have been a different game," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "They'll be a very good team when those guys come back."
rennan said Doherty learned a lot of class from Smith, the former coach of the Tar Heels. He praised Doherty for subbing freely during several portions of the game.
"If he wanted it to be a mess it could have been," Brennan said.
McCants, the Atlantic Coast Conference scoring leader at 20.1 points a game, was 7-for-11 from the field.
Manuel played his best game in his second season with the Tar Heels. He had a career-best four 3-pointers while adding seven rebounds, four assists and five steals in 24 minutes.
 Jackie Manuel scores 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.  |
|
"Jackie came out and played his heart out and he helped us win this game," McCants said.
Grant Anderson and Mike Goia led the Catamounts with 11 points each.
Vermont was within 11 at the break despite 15 turnovers and no free throws.
ut a 12-2 run early in the second half pushed the North Carolina lead to 19 points with 16:31 left. Jawad Williams, who added 16 points, had five in the run while Manuel added a 3-pointer.
The Catamounts made one last attempt to rally, closing to 51-38 three minutes later. But McCants hit a 3-pointer and added a follow shot in a 52-second span as the Tar Heels pulled away.
"They never let us do anything easy," Brennan said of the Tar Heels, who shot 61 percent in the second half.
"We're not letting people dictate what we do," Williams added. "We're playing hard every possession."
The Tar Heels started hot from the outside, making four of their first six 3-pointers with Manuel and McCants sinking two each in a 16-3 opening run. But North Carolina missed 14 of its next 15 from behind the arc as the Catamounts twice pulled within nine points in the opening half after falling behind by as many as 16.
"In the first half we got a false sense of security shooting 3s," Doherty said. "We made a few and their game plan was to let us shoot the 3s and hope we would miss. We missed our share. We took 21 3s in the first half, and that's way too many."
The Tar Heels, who open ACC play at Florida State on Sunday, are five wins shy of 1,800. Kentucky is the only program with more victories.
"We're going to have to bring it when we go down to Florida State," Manuel said. "We can't go out there and think we're going to win just because we're North Carolina. We're going to have to go out there and play."
