University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Passion Play
February 3, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2007
By Adam Lucas
Carolina arrived at the RBC Center Saturday afternoon ready to play a game.
NC State arrived at the RBC Center Saturday afternoon ready to contest a rivalry.
The difference showed.
It's been a nice almost decade-long hiatus for this particular rivalry. During that time, the Carolina-Duke battles exploded into a national phenomenon. Several cycles of UNC students have come and gone from Chapel Hill without fully appreciating the Carolina-State rivalry.
There wasn't much to appreciate. In the early 2000s, the Tar Heels fell from their familiar perch atop college basketball. Once the ship was righted, State was being led by Herb Sendek, who approached the Carolina game exactly like the other 30 on his schedule.
That's not how the rest of Wolfpack nation sees it. Never has been. Never will be.
The only people surprised by Saturday's outcome were those not up on their Carolina-State history, a group that--up until Saturday at about 6 p.m.--evidently included most of the Tar Heel players.
Surprised? Try this:
1992. Carolina's starting lineup: George Lynch, Hubert Davis, Eric Montross, Pat Sullivan, Derrick Phelps. State's starting lineup: Tom Gugliotta, Donnie Seale, Curtis Marshall, Kevin Thompson, Mark Davis.
The outcome? A 99-88 State victory. The Wolfpack went on to lose their next 9 games, including a home loss to East Tennessee State. They broke the losing streak against Carolina, with a 99-94 victory.
1995. Carolina's starting lineup: Jeff McInnis, Donald Williams, Pearce Landry, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace. State's starting lineup: Lakista McCuller, Ishua Benjamin, Bryant Feggins, Todd Fuller, Ricky Daniels.
The outcome? An 80-70 State victory.
1998. Carolina's starting lineup: Ademola Okulaja, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Makhtar Ndiaye. State's starting lineup: Kenny Inge, Ron Kelley, C.C. Harrison, Ishua Benjamin, Cornelius Williams.
The outcome? An 86-72 State victory.
Sure, all of that is history, and none of it had any impact on Saturday's game.
Or maybe it did. State played the game like it meant something in a grander historical context. Carolina played the game like it was the last one they had to get out of the way before going to Duke on Wednesday night. Five or 10 or 15 years from now, we'll list the starting lineups from this game and they'll look just like the above--like a walkover on paper.
We're officially back to the days when the State game is a tossup no matter what the relative strength of the two teams competing in the game. Sidney Lowe gets it. He has the same purebred hatred for Carolina that Roy Williams has for State. For the last three seasons, the Tar Heels have thrived on Williams's passion because there wasn't an equal amount of emotion coming from Raleigh. That's over now. No one has any idea what kind of success Lowe will have at State, whether he'll be there for five years or 50 years. But for every single one of those years, he will burn to beat Carolina.
If you're Carolina coming into Raleigh, you have to expect someone to have a career day from the 3-point line (Courtney Fells, 4-for-5). You have to expect an unsung player to shine (Ben McCauley, 6-of-6 from the floor and 17 points). You have to expect the fluky, the bizarre, and the weird. Because that is what happens in Carolina-State games.
"They had much more passion for the game than we did today," Williams said.
That's a good word for it--passion. Ty Lawson was asked about the team's lack of passion after the game. This was the exchange:
Ty, Coach said the team lacked passion. Did you think so?
"I thought I played with intensity. In the beginning you could tell they had more intensity than us, though."
See, that's the thing. Intensity means focus. Let's accept that the Tar Heels had that.
Passion means you can't bear the thought of losing the game. Passion means the mere sight of the other team's uniforms makes your pulse quicken. Passion means you've known the date of the game since the schedule was released.
Only one side had passion on Saturday.
The current Tar Heels don't know this rivalry. They grew up at various towns in America weaned on Carolina-Duke. No matter where they lived, no matter what kind of cable package they had, they've always watched Carolina-Duke. The nation watches that game.
The state watches Carolina-State. These Tar Heels don't know about Vinny Del Negro in 1987 or the sheer joy (and relief) at finally beating David Thompson in 1975.
There was a play with one minute to go in the first half. Brandon Costner got the ball at the top of the key against Tyler Hansbrough and Lowe asked everyone else to clear out and let Costner operate. As the other four Wolfpack players moved aside, a buzz built in the RBC Center.
This is what State fans love. This is their scrappy underdog against Carolina's All-American. This is the perfect embodiment of exactly how they picture the rivalry in one nice, neat package. You could feel it. When Costner lofted a 3-pointer, no one wearing red had any doubt that the ball was going straight through the hoop. When it bounded off the rim, there was an audible, "Awww...," as if someone had just ripped off Santa's beard.
That's how much they care.
"It seemed like everyone in our locker room understood this was a big game," Wes Miller said.
"But I know everyone understands it now for sure."
Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
