University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Open Second Half of ACC Play vs. Florida State
February 7, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2003
CHAPEL HILL - Carolina will look to snap a five-game losing streak when it hosts Florida State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game, the first for each team in the second half of the 2002-03 Atlantic Coast Conference season, will be televised regionally Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot. Earlier this season, the Tar Heels beat the Seminoles, 69-48, in Tallahassee on Dec. 22.
Carolina (11-10, 2-6 ACC) has lost five games in a row, all to ACC foes, since upsetting No. 6 Connecticut on Jan. 18 in Chapel Hill. FSU (11-8, 2-6 ACC) has had six days of rest since beating Duke 75-70 in Tallahassee last Sunday night.
"Florida State is playing really good basketball right now," UNC head coach Matt Doherty said on Friday. "They have a lot of confidence coming off a big win over Duke. They probably are not the same team we beat in December.
"We are playing very good basketball, as well. It just has not resulted in wins the last five games. Other than Georgia Tech, when we did not play well, we have played good basketball. Our guys have shown great effort. We played some of the top teams in our conference, some of them on the road, and had chances to win almost every game."
Carolina leads the all-time series with Florida State, 29-7, including a 19-6 advantage since the Seminoles joined the ACC prior to the 1991-92 season. Earlier this season, Carolina won, 69-48, in Tallahassee (see below for details).
The Tar Heels have won 10 of the last 12 in the series and are 8-3 against FSU in the Smith Center. The two teams split a pair of meetings last year, with the Seminoles winning 81-71 in Tallahassee and the Tar Heels winning 95-85 in Chapel Hill.
Earlier this season against FSU, Carolina broke a 30-30 halftime tie with a 7-0 run to start the second half and went on to post a 69-48 win in Tallahassee on Dec. 22. The game was the first ACC contest of the season for both teams. Jawad Williams scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the decisive second half. The Cleveland, Ohio, sophomore was one of just two Tar Heels in double figures as Carolina had six players scored seven or more points and two others added five points.
Carolina's bench contributed 21 points. Byron Sanders and Melvin Scott each scored eight points and David Noel had five. Sanders came into the game with two points in his first eight games, but scored six in a span of 52 seconds in the first half.
The Tar Heels shot 27.5 percent (made 11 of 40 shots from the floor) and had seven shots blocked by FSU defenders in the opening half. However, Carolina then held the Seminoles to 29.6 percent and outscored FSU, 39-18, in the second half.
Freshman point guard Raymond Felton had a season-high 11 assists (against two turnovers) and five steals. The Tar Heels outrebounded Florida State, 46-39, including a 20-8 edge on the offensive glass.
Williams is averaging 21.7 ppg in the last three games (24 at Georgia Tech, 22 vs. Wake Forest, 19 at Duke) since scoring a season-low three points at NC State on Jan. 26. He has hit 7 of 14 three-pointers (50.0 percent) in those three games.
Noel has averaged 16.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg in the last two games as a starter. For the season, Noel is averaging 4.3 ppg and 2.4 rpg.
Rashad McCants, hampered by a back injury in Wednesday night's loss at Duke, practiced with the Tar Heels on Friday and is expected to play on Saturday, although not at 100 percent.
