By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist
It seems likely that only on this past Sunday, at NC State’s home arena, the RBC Center, could one have witnessed such a scene. There, in plain view, a sea of light blue-clad fans screamed their heads off for a team from North Carolina clad in State red uniforms, as that team came back from 17 points down to upset a highly ranked opponent, the Georgetown Hoyas — those very same Hoyas who happened to have bounced UNC from the post-season twice in the past six seasons.
Other than 1,500 or so Georgetown fans who had scored tickets, every soul in the Wolfpack’s lair seemed to get caught up in Davidson Wildcat hysteria. (Well, there was that one sad-looking guy in the Duke shirt who wandered the aisles and really didn’t look consolable.)
Davidson’s All-America guard, Stephen Curry — who I’m guessing had some sort of feelings about UNC basketball growing up in Charlotte — could have cut the irony with a knife as he dropped in free-throw after free-throw down the stretch, to the thunderous cheers of 15,000 Tar Heel faithful, to finish off the fading Hoyas,
Curry’s dazzling second-half display of moves, shots and panache that seemed to channel the legendary Pistol Pete Maravich may have left many Heels fans in attendance wondering “what if.†But Davidson’s come-from-behind win against the towering Hoyas provided such compelling drama that even the most single-minded Tar Heel fans in the crowd found themselves going with the flow. It didn’t hurt that the Wildcats’ band kept cranking out “Sweet Caroline.â€
And the really good news was that this turned out to be just the start of Sunday’s fun. Because once the supposed headline matchup between UNC and Arkansas began and Carolina grabbed a quick 9-0 lead, Heels fans were able to relax and allow the good vibes of a Round-of-32 blowout to wash over them like the warm salt-water waves of an August Hatteras afternoon. Even the two State fans sitting to my left — who had arrived dressed in red just in case Arkansas made a game of it — began waving the white flag midway through the first half and eventually admitted that Carolina was playing well.
Maybe the stars aligned, or perhaps all of the Tar Heels’ hard work was really paying off, because Carolina played the type of splendid hoops against the Hogs Sunday that in general only finds its form on a coach’s imaginary chalkboard.
But the stats to back up that reality jumped off the sheet — five players in double figures, with Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson scoring a combined 26 points on perfect 13-13 shooting; Ty Lawson and Quentin Thomas teaming for 11 assists, 25 points and no turnovers (following up on 10 assists and no turnovers on Friday night); team shooting of 67.7 percent from the floor, including 50 percent from three-point range; 28 assists on 44 field goals against just seven turnovers; and a defensive effort that shut down the Razorbacks’ hot scorer Sonny Weems and limited the Hogs to 35.7 percent in the first half.
Then there was the true proof positive — Carolina’s lead, which steadily grew from nine points early, to 20 to 27 points in the first half, and eventually topped out at 36 near the end of the game. This all coming against an opponent that had promised to provide some resistance inside, and a school that has over the years has been a bit of a thorn in Carolina’s side (see: Seattle, 1995; Dallas, 1990; Pine Bluff, 1984).
By game’s end, almost the only thing Coach Roy Williams could find to question with his team’s performance was that Thompson got only one rebound. This coming from a coach who demands 100 percent effort every minute of every practice and every game — and, it might be noted, said in reference to a player on a team that leads the nation in rebounding by a sizable margin.
Carolina fans prefer nothing better than to be able to spend this time — the four or five days between the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament — skipping through crosswalks, hoping and dreaming about what could come to be over the next two weekends. And this is one of the lucky Marches when that happens.
It must be noted, however, that regardless of how good the Tar Heels looked in their first two NCAA games, a lot still remains to fall into place if they hope to attain stated goals.
Many great teams have stumbled in these rounds, and even in North Carolina’s best basketball seasons — the championship years of 1957, ’82, ’93 and 2005 — there have been tense moments in the regional semifinals and finals when Tar Heel fans gnawed their fingernails and doubted whether the Heels would play another day.
Coach Roy reminded everybody listening Sunday following the rout of the Hogs that it’s gotta be one game at a time, or you won’t play another.
“I don’t get real caught up on how we play today and how that is going to relate to how we’re going to play next weekend,†Williams said in Raleigh. “You’ve got to play on game day. We’ve got to put this one behind us and feel good about it and enjoy it, but we’ve got to get ready for next week.
“Next weekend in Charlotte, they’re not going to give us points because we played so well.â€
In college basketball, these are words to live by — and, hopefully, to survive and advance by.
Carolina scored over 100 points in each of its two games this past weekend. The Tar Heels’ next opponent, Washington State, limited its two foes over the weekend to fewer than 50 points each.
So it is doubtful that the Heels will break any scoring records this Thursday night.
But this UNC team is an experienced group that has grown very good at identifying a challenge, breaking it down and studying it, and coming up with a workable solution that ultimately helps them overcome the problem and brings a win. There have been 34 of them, exactly, so far. And the Tar Heels really want more.