University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina-Clemson Postgame Notes
March 11, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2005
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• No. 2-ranked North Carolina improved to 27-3 overall with Friday's 88-81 ACC quarterfinal win over Clemson at the MCI Center. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak in conference tourney play for the Tar Heels and marked Carolina's first tournament win since an 84-72 victory over Maryland in the 2003 quarterfinals. UNC is now 34-12 in quarterfinal games and 36-10 as a No. 1 seed.
• Carolina is off to a 27-3 start. The last UNC had a better record after 30 games was 1997-98, when the Tar Heels went 34-3 before losing to Utah in the national semifinal. The 27 wins are also the most since that same season.
• With the win, the Tar Heels improved to 13-1 versus Clemson in ACC Tournament play. Carolina's last victory over the Tigers was a 99-81 quarterfinal win in 2001. The Tar Heels went 3-0 versus Clemson this season.
• Carolina trailed 43-40 at the half, marking the sixth time the Tar Heels trailed at intermission this season. Clemson extended its lead to 71-58 with 7:53 remaining, but Carolina closed with a 30-10 run for its largest comeback victory this season. Prior to Friday, the largest margin overcome was a nine-point hole with 2:41 to play versus Duke last Sunday.
• The Tar Heels claimed the lead for good on a Raymond Felton three-pointer with 1:19 remaining. Felton finished with a career-best 29 points on 7 of 15 shooting. He made 4 of 6 threes and was 11 of 16 from the line. Friday's game marked the third 25-point game of Felton's career and first since Jan. 11, 2004 versus Georgia Tech. He also had seven rebounds and three assists and marked the second time Felton led the team in rebounding this season.
• Junior Sean May had 13 points and six rebounds, snapping a streak of eight straight double-doubles.
• Junior Rashad McCants entered the game at the 14:11 mark of the first half for his first action since February 19 versus Clemson. He finished with 13 points in 15 minutes and made two three-pointers during the Tar Heels' 13-point comeback.
• The Tar Heels shot just 38.9 percent from the field, marking their lowest total in a win this season. The previous low was 40.0 percent in the home win over Florida State. Friday's shooting performance was also the Tar Heels lowest since the season-opening loss to Santa Clara (36.5).
• Carolina shot 37 of 47 from the line, marking Carolina ACC Tournament records in both attempts and makes. The previous season high for the Tar Heels was 27 of 40 versus Kentucky on December 4.
• Carolina had just 10 assists tying a season low set at Duke on February 9. Raymond Felton had just three assists, tying a season low.
