Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 18, 1990 TAG: 9003182499
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WILT BROWNING LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: AUSTIN, TEXAS LENGTH: Long
"I still think we're the best team in the country," said Oklahoma's somber Skeeter Henry.
==r Rick Fox shrugged when he heard the statement. "They're a team of controversy," the Carolina senior said, "and they're going to say what they want to say. But we're the team going to Dallas."
In one of the more stunning victories of the Dean Smith era, Fox scored with two seconds left as Carolina beat No. 1-ranked Oklahoma 79-77. The victory sent the Tar Heels to the Midwest Regional semifinals in Dallas, their 10th straight appearance in the final 16. They will face Arkansas, which beat Dayton 86-84 in the second game here Saturday.
For Carolina, it was a victory made possible by an improbable sequence of events in the final 10 seconds.
With time running out and with the Sooners, leading by a point, pinching the life out of the Tar Heels with its zone traps, Carolina coach Smith tried desperately to call timeout.
He couldn't be heard although King Rice was only 2 feet away in front of the Carolina bench, trying to elude a trap. But Smith and the Heels got the break they needed when Oklahoma guard Smokey McCovery reached for the ball and fouled Rice in the process.
Rice had missed badly on two technical foul chances earlier in the game and still was smarting from that experience.
Now, he would have to go to the free-throw line for what likely would be the most important free throws of his career. At stake was chance to tie and possibly win. However, Oklahoma called a quick timeout to ice the junior guard.
Smith, who has been at this long enough to know all the tricks, broke the spell for Rice. He told his point guard that he already had taken those two practice free throws, referring to the missed technicals, and that he should be ready. The coach and player grinned at each other.
The first toss swished to make it 77-77 with 10 seconds to play, an eternity in college basketball.
Rice's second effort missed. "I thought it was good when it left my hand," he lamented.
In the scramble for possession, Rice's teammate Kevin Madden slapped at the ball and sent it in the direction of another Tar Heel, Pete Chilcutt, who felt it only briefly at the tips of his fingers.
Oklahoma players slapped at the ball and Jackie Jones sent it out of bounds. Carolina ball.
All this took two seconds and Carolina quickly called timeout.
The Tar Heels decided on a play that has no name, although it now may be referred to as "Sooner." Rice would pass it in to Hubert Davis, who would find Fox on the right wing.
Rice would rush toward Fox, by then just beyond the 3-point stripe, then find the player nearest Fox and set a screen.
Rice found Jones pestering his teammate. "In that situation, in a game like that, they're not likely to call a foul on a screen, so you can set a pretty physical one," Rice said. "I don't even know who I screened, but I got it done."
Fox reacted. So did Oklahoma's McCovery, who hurried over from near the lane and flew into the air as Fox faked a 3-pointer. It was a fatal decision. McCovery was left a spectator as the big Tar Heel drove boldly toward the basket.
"I don't know if I'd have taken the 3-point shot," Fox said, "but Coach had told me to remember that we didn't need three, that we only needed one to win."
He got two, banking the ball home on a strong move to the basket, a move that was so free and easy it surprised even Fox.
"I was going to go strong to the basket," he said. "I was going to make the shot or get fouled. Either way, we were going to win."
Although Carolina had succeeded in at least slowing Oklahoma's run-and-gun game through much of the contest, there never was a point at which the Tar Heels could feel smug, not even when they led by 10 points eight minutes into the game.
The Tar Heels wrested the lead from the Sooners once in the first 10 minutes of the second half and built a seven-point lead.
It was at that point, however, that the chances of winning this game began to take on a slim-and-none look. Carolina came in understanding that it would have to rely upon the inside work of Scott Williams, the tallest starter on the floor.
But Williams, a senior, played as if he were a freshman. He seemed intimidated, scoring only two points and fouling out with 6:37 to play.
Carolina later lost George Lynch, the freshman from Roanoke, Va., who played like a senior in the absence of Williams and was much of the force that kept the Tar Heels in the game.
He left with his fifth foul with 1:36 to go, and Oklahoma's William Davis sank the two free throws to put the Sooners in front 77-76.
Before that, however, Fox made a play every bit as important as his winning drive and bank shot.
With the Sooners leading 74-73 and Carolina in its four-corners offense, the Tar Heels came close to frittering away all 45 seconds on the shot clock. Fox got the ball in front of the Carolina bench, and, with the crowd chanting down the final five seconds of the shot clock, he pulled the trigger.
From a good 22 feet away, the shot swished and Carolina led 76-74.
Davis' three points gave the Sooners their final lead with 39 seconds to play, but the next 29 didn't count. All the action that mattered took place in the final 10.
\ N. CAROLINAMPFGFTRAFPT Chilcutt346-105-552117Fox339-160-032423Williams171-80-03252Rice385-81-427212Ma dden294-46-722214Lynch232-52-28156H.Davis131-20-01102Rodl101-10-10003Harris20- 00-00100Wenstrom10-00-00010Totals20029-5414-1932182079\ OKLAHOMAMPFGFTRAFPT Jones336-130-202215Patterson191-21-11143W.Davis368-146-7140222McCovery344-83-4 47313Henry404-92-246312Martin205-100-011310Evans180-22-20412Totals20028-5814-1 828211877 N. Carolina 4039-79 Oklahoma 3839-77
Three-point goals-N. Carolina 7-10 (Fox 5-7, Rice 1-1, Rodl 1-1, H. Davis 0-1), Oklahoma 7-19 (Jones 3-6, McCovery 2-5, Henry 2-5, Evans 0-2, W.Davis 0-1).
Turnovers-N. Carolina 17, Oklahoma 17. Technical fouls-Martin. Officials-Higgins, Mingle, Humphrey.
A-NA.
by CNB