University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Pack Seizes Moment, Win
February 25, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2002
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
Clearly, this was an important moment.
After withstanding a 16-2 NC State run to open the second half, Adam Boone had just drawn North Carolina within one point with a rare four-point play. What's more, the offending party on his made trifecta was Wolfpack senior leader Archie Miller, who picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench with 14:16 left in the second half.
"Miller provides them with a lot of leadership on the floor," Boone said. "They lose that when he goes out."
Without that leadership, the Pack proceeded to score an astounding 42 points over the last 14 minutes of game action. Most everything went wrong for the Heels during that period. Despite the fact that State threw up 21 three-pointers and Carolina only 15, the Wolfpack somehow went to the free throw line 16 more times.
Part of that was due to the penetration of their guards, who fouled out Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel and saddled Brian Morrison and Boone with four fouls apiece. Perhaps Carolina just played extremely physically on Sunday night.
The Tar Heel guards didn't get much of a chance to do some similar penetration because of State's collapsing defense on Kris Lang in the second half. The senior, who for some reason is absolutely despised by Wolfpack fans, scored 11 points in the game's first nine minutes. The Heels were playing fast and loose, and even Matt Doherty was joking with the game officials. But Herb Sendek made an adjustment, and Lang made only three of 12 attempts in the second half while being unable to find open perimeter shooters.
Maybe that's why they were selling "I Love Herb" t-shirts in the parking lot, although those shirts were going only slightly slower than Jesse Helms bumper stickers on Franklin Street.
But for this year at least, Sendek looks like a visionary. He's assembled the type of athletic team that Matt Doherty would love to have. When Miller went out, Sendek simply rotated Scooter Sherrill and Clifford Crawford in the backcourt. The switch to the quicker lineup heated up the tempo and eventually wound up being the undoing of the Tar Heels.
"When Miller leaves the floor they're a little more athletic," Boone said.
The rest of the game was simply painful, in most every way imaginable. Jawad Williams went down with a wrist injury, which was first met with boos and then prompted the clever Wolfpack students behind the Carolina bench to chant, "Hit him again, hit him again, harder, harder."
Don't be fooled into believing that State fans care any less about the Heels during a down season. The ESA was rocking for a 7-18 team, a rivalry that exists more in Raleigh than in Chapel Hill. When the two teams met in Chapel Hill, Carolina fans didn't even care enough about the Pack to go to the game, and the result was thousands of red-clad State fans in the Smith Center. But in the Raleigh rematch, the game was clearly crucial to those folks who prefer red.
The worst thing about losing at the ESA for the first time in three trips is that after a victory, apparently Wolfpack fans aren't angry enough to fire any change at the Heels, as they usually do. So, it was a loss both in the record books and financially on this trip to Raleigh.
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.
