University of North Carolina Athletics
Williams Does It With Defense For Illinois; Felton Gets Offensive For Carolina
April 3, 2005 | Men's Basketball
April 2, 2005
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Deron Williams' defensive effort will be considered one of the best ever in the Final Four. It was Raymond Felton's offense that helped get North Carolina into the championship game.
Williams, a junior guard from Illinois, harassed Louisville's Francisco Garcia for 40 minutes Saturday night and the top-ranked Illini advanced to the NCAA tournament championship game with a 72-57 victory.
The Illini will face the North Carolina and Felton, who bounced back from a subpar first half by getting the Tar Heels off to a great start in the second half in an 87-71 victory over Michigan State in the other semifinal.
It didn't seem possible that Williams could top what he did in the Illini's remarkable comeback win over Arizona in the regional finals - but top it he did.
"I told Coach I wanted him (Garcia) right after the Arizona game," Williams said. "I always want the best player on the other team."
Garcia, a versatile player who has driven many a defense crazy with his ability to shoot the 3, couldn't do anything against Williams except miss shots.
"It was frustrating. I couldn't make an easy shot," Garcia said. "I just couldn't knock down my shots."
Despite giving away 4 inches to the 6-foot-7 Garcia, Williams found a way to beat him to every spot by fighting through screens and showing the same tenacity he did in shutting down Salim Stoudamire of Arizona last weekend, holding him to 2-of-13 shooting.
Garcia came in averaging 16.0 points on 44 percent shooting, including 37 percent from 3-point range.
"I knew he was such a big part of their offense that stopping him was taking a big chunk out of their offense," Williams said.
Garcia had a season-low four points on 2-for-10 shooting Saturday, only the sixth time this season he scored in single digits. In the first four games of the tournament, Garcia averaged 21 points, including 13 in a foul-plagued effort in the regional final win over West Virginia. The other games were all over 20 points.
Not with Williams there.
The play that best summed up his effort came with 7{ minutes left.
Louisville had just called a timeout after Luther Head's 3-pointer gave Illinois a 58-49 lead. Teams coached by the likes of Rick Pitino always come out of a timeout with a set play that usually results in a score, or at least a good look.
The inbounds pass was going to Garcia right in front of the Louisville bench. Williams beat him there and tipped the ball away for a turnover. The Illini went on to add three more points to the lead before the Cardinals scored again.
That play may not have compared to the steals he made in the final minutes of the win over Arizona, but it took some more life out of Louisville and helped the Illini move into their first national championship game.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber knew the assignment was perfect for Williams.
"What we found as the season progressed is if he's on somebody that's good with the basketball, he concentrates," Weber said. "If it's a good player, he really takes pride in stopping them. He's almost worse if we put him on the fourth- or fifth-best guy, he kind of relaxes. He just never let Francisco get going."
While Williams led the Illini with defense, Felton went on the offensive to help carry North Carolina into the title game.
Felton had 10 points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half as North Carolina turned a 38-33 deficit into a 67-52 lead. The man known for his passes took things into his own hands, hitting two 3-pointers, a drive and another jumper as the Tar Heels surpassed their first-half total by the 10-minute mark of the second half. His jumper with 10:17 left gave North Carolina a 67-52 lead.
He didn't forget to distribute the ball, however, finding Jawad Williams on the break with an alley-oop pass and getting the ball into center Sean May who made the two free throws that gave the Tar Heels the lead for good.
Felton struggled in the first half, making only one of five shots and turning the ball over four times, more than his average for a game.
That changed in the second half as he got the Tar Heels, the nation's leading scoring team at 88 points per game, back on the break.
He finished with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting and had seven assists and eight rebounds. Maybe the most impressive stat was that he had a total of five turnovers, only one in playing 19 minutes in the second half.
As usual, it was Felton leading the way as the Tar Heels took control.
