University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels vs. Texas in NCAA Second Round
March 19, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2004
Sixth-seeded North Carolina (19-10, 8-8 ACC) will play third-seeded Texas (24-7, 12-4 Big 12) in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament on Saturday at approximately 6:10 p.m. (Mountain Time) at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. The game will be televised by CBS. Jim Nantz (play-by-play) and Billy Packer (analyst) will have the call.
Carolina is ranked No. 18 in this week's Associated Press poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Texas is ranked No. 12 and No. 11, respectively, in the two polls.
The winner of Saturday's game will advance to next weekend's regional semifinal in Atlanta.
Carolina is making its 36th NCAA Tournament appearance after a two-year absence from the field of 65. Prior to missing the Tournament in 2001-02 and 2002-03, the Tar Heels had made an NCAA-record 27 consecutive trips to the event from 1975-2001.
UNC is second in NCAA history with 36 appearances, 117 games played and 82 wins in the NCAA Tournament. Carolina has the fifth-best winning percentage (.701) in Tournament history.
Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams is making his 15th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, tying the third-longest streak in NCAA Tournament history. The first 14 of those squads were at Kansas.
Carolina is coming off a 63-52 win over 11th-seeded Air Force in Thursday's NCAA first round. The Tar Heels have gone 11-9 in the 2004 calendar year after starting the 2003-04 season 8-1.
The Longhorns defeated 14th-seeded Princeton, 66-49, in Thursday's first round.
Last Game - Carolina 63, Air Force 52 (March 18)
Sixth-seeded Carolina went on a 21-3 second-half run to pull away and defeat
11th-seeded Air Force, 63-52, in the first round of the Atlanta Regional of
the 2004 NCAA Tournament on March 18 in Denver. With the win, Carolina
advanced to the second round to face third-seeded Texas with a Sweet 16
berth on the line.
The Tar Heels' 21-3 run in a span of 10:18 in the second half turned a 44-38 deficit into a 59-47 lead with 2:32 left to play in the game.
Sean May had 14 points and six rebounds to lead four double-figure scorers for UNC. Jawad Williams had 10 points and nine rebounds, while Raymond Felton had 12 points and five assists and Jackie Manuel had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Nick Welch led Air Force with 17 points but turned the ball over six times. Antoine Hood added 15 points for the Falcons.
The Tar Heels struggled in the first half, shooting just 32.3 percent from the floor as the Falcons led, 28-23, at the break. Carolina shot 54.5 percent in the second half and outscored Air Force 40-24 after the break.
After the Falcons shot 50.0 percent in the first half, the Tar Heels held them to 38.1 percent shooting in the second period.
Notes from the Win Over Air Force
* Carolina's 63 points vs. Air Force were its fewest points in a win this
season.
* Air Force had the fewest field goals (17), field goal attempts (39), offensive rebounds (two), total rebounds (21) and points (52) of any Carolina opponent in the 2003-04 season.
* UNC's free throw percentage of 83.3 percent (13 of 15) was its second-best free throw percentage in a game this season, trailing only the win at Wake Forest on Feb. 10 (90.9 percent).
* The win was Carolina's first this season when Rashad McCants scored in double figures. It was the third game in which McCants scored in single figures, joining the games at Kentucky and at Virginia.
* The Tar Heels trailed 28-23 at halftime of the Air Force game. That five-point halftime deficit is the largest overcome in a win by UNC this season. Carolina overcame four-point halftime deficits in wins at Cleveland State and at home vs. NC State.
* The Air Force game was the third contest this season in which Carolina's leading scorer had as few as 14 points (vs. Akron and vs. NC State at home are the others).
* Guard Jackie Manuel made his first start of the season and his first since the quarterfinals of the 2003 ACC Tournament vs. Maryland. Manuel tied his season high in rebounding (seven) and set a season high in offensive rebounds (five) vs. Air Force.
* Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams is now 15-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament first-round games. Entering Saturday's game with Texas, Williams' teams are 9-5 in NCAA second-round games.
* The Tar Heels have won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament in 21 of their last 22 Tournament appearances (Carolina lost in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament to Weber State).
The Series with Texas
The Tar Heels won the first two games in the series. In UNC's NCAA championship season of 1992-93, seventh-ranked Carolina beat unranked Texas, 104-68, in the Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions in Charlotte, N.C. Two years later, second-ranked Carolina opened the 1994-95 Final Four season with a thrilling, 96-92 win over unranked Texas in the Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
In 1995-96, 11th-ranked Carolina dropped a 74-72 decision at unranked Texas.
Broadcast Information
Saturday's game will be regionally televised by CBS. Jim Nantz
(play-by-play), Billy Packer (analyst) and Bonnie Bernstein (sideline) will
have the call.
This season, 28 of 29 Carolina games have been televised (the lone exception was the Dec. 30 game vs. Coastal Carolina). Fifteen UNC games were nationally broadcast, not including ACC and NCAA Tournament contests, all of which will be televised nationally.
The game will be broadcast live on radio by the Tar Heel Sports Network, for which Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (analyst) are in their 15th year together calling the action for Carolina Basketball. For the third straight season, former UNC All-America Phil Ford (analyst) joins Durham and Mixon on the broadcast team. All Carolina men's basketball games may be heard on the Internet (for a fee) at TarHeelBlue.com.
Ted Robinson and Larry Conley will call the game for Westwood One radio.
Tar Heels Aiming for 47th 20-win Season
North Carolina has won at least 20 games 46 times in 93 previous seasons. A
win versus Texas would give the Tar Heels their 47th 20-win season in this,
the 94th season of UNC basketball.
Carolina won at least 20 games for an NCAA-record 31 consecutive seasons from 1970-71 to 2000-01. In that span, the Tar Heels won at least 25 games 21 times and at least 30 games three times.
Carolina in Search of 25th Sweet 16 Appearance
A win over Texas would give North Carolina its 25th all-time appearance in
the NCAA Tournament round of 16.
Carolina has advanced to the Regional Semifinal (Sweet 16) 17 times in its last 21 NCAA Tournament appearances. The only years UNC made the NCAA field but did not reach the Sweet 16 were in 1994 (lost to Boston College in the second round), 1996 (lost to Texas Tech in the second round), 1999 (lost to Weber State in the first round) and 2001 (lost to Penn State in the second round).
