Lucas: March 28 Flashback

By Adam Lucas

"Brian, you won't have time to dunk it." From all accounts, those were Dean Smith's final words to his team as they left the huddle with 0.8 seconds remaining in a tie game with Cincinnati in the 1993 regional final at the Meadowlands.

But the Tar Heels ran a brilliant inbounds play that freed Reese, a junior, and he did indeed try to dunk it, which seemingly took much longer than 0.8 seconds. But his dunk attempt--which officials ruled would have counted--clanged off the rim, sending the game into overtime and causing assistant coach Phil Ford to do a full somersault in frustration on the Carolina bench.

Luckily for Reese, the play became a mere afterthought because of the Tar Heels' play in the extra period. Donald Williams foreshadowed his Most Outstanding Player performance in the Final Four by drilling two three-pointers in overtime, and Carolina advanced to New Orleans with a 75-68 victory. George Lynch, named the Most Outstanding Player in the regional, had 21 points and 14 rebounds to go with six steals. Williams scored 20, and Eric Montross had 15 points and seven rebounds (the buildup to the dunk attempt comes around 1:34:00 in the below video, but the whole game is worth watching as an example of one of Carolina's best teams).

But the Tar Heels wouldn't have even been in overtime, much less on their way to a matchup with Kansas and head coach Roy Williams, without the defense of Derrick Phelps. It was Phelps who drew the assignment on Nick Van Exel, the talented Cincinnati guard. The confident Van Exel had made headlines during the week with his comments on Dean Smith. "I think Dean Smith is a good coach with great players," Van Exel said. "With all the talent he's had, who wouldn't have won all those games? To be honest, I think he should have won a few more championships. I don't really consider him a great coach."

Van Exel then backed up his mouth by scoring 21 points in the first 15:10 of the game. He helped Cincinnati to a 13-point advantage and was on pace for a 50-point game.

That's when Smith altered Carolina's defensive principles. He gave Phelps one simple job: stay with Van Exel all over the court. No help responsibilities. No trapping. Just Phelps on Van Exel, all the time. Van Exel made just one of his final 10 field goal attempts and made one basket over the final 30 minutes of the game. It was the latest in a season-long list of Phelps shutting down quality opposing guards; he also held Duke's Bobby Hurley to 2-for-12 and Virginia's Cory Alexander to 4-for-14.

Phelps' defense allowed the Tar Heels to creep back into the game and move into position to win it on the final possession. In fact, Smith thought they had it. When he saw how Cincinnati lined up to defend that final play, he tapped Ford on the leg. "We've got them," Smith said.

But when Reese missed the dunk, Smith didn't rant against his junior. Instead, he gathered the team around him. "We haven't had an overtime all year," he told them. "We can use this practice."

Carolina would go on to defeat Williams and Kansas in New Orleans, and then topple Michigan's Fab Five for the national championship. For more on the 1993 team, here's a strong recommendation for Friday's Carolina Insider podcast, which features a look back at the comeback win over Florida State, plus insight from Lynch and Phelps.

Also on March 28

1981: In one of the best individual NCAA Tournament performances in Carolina history, Al Wood poured in 39 points to lead the Tar Heels over Virginia in the national semifinal. The game was one of a series of classics in the Ralph Sampson era for the Cavaliers, and it was also the one with the highest stakes, as it moved the Tar Heels into the national championship game (a loss to Indiana). Virginia had won both regular season meetings, but Dean Smith's defense limited Sampson to just 11 points. Wood scored 25 of his points in the second half at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

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