Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 25, 1991 TAG: 9103250029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. LENGTH: Long
Then, true to his word, the senior point guard drained two free throws with eight seconds left that enabled the Tar Heels to return to the Final Four for the first time in nine years.
But the 75-72 victory Sunday wasn't fulfilled until Temple star Mark Macon, who played the game of his life, was short on a 3-point attempt from 25 feet.
The Heels took Temple's best shot - specifically a 31-point, nine-rebound performance by Macon - and survived, thanks to Rice at the foul line.
Rice, who had been a 76 percent shooter throughout his career, had labored in the 60s most of this year.
But during tournament time, Rice has stepped up the quality of his play. He had 12 points, six assists and no turnovers against Eastern Michigan, then came back with 12 more points, seven assists and one turnover against Temple.
But it was his four free throws in the last 22 seconds that sent the Tar Heels (29-5) into the Final Four at Indianapolis, where on Saturday, UNC will meet Dean Smith's alma mater, Kansas, and his former assistant coach, Roy Williams.
With Carolina leading 71-66, thanks to back-to-back clutch hoops by Roanoke's George Lynch, Temple got an NBA-length 3-pointer from Mik Kilgore just before the shot clock ran down.
Milking the clock, UNC absorbed a foul that Temple had to give. "I always want the ball at the end," Rice said. "I looked at Coach Smith and he shrugged his head, like `Oh, well.' "
With the shot clock working down, Rice was fouled by Vic Carstarphen while taking a short jumper.
"I felt really comfortable at the line," said Rice, who swished two with 22.9 seconds left that made it 73-69.
Then Macon, voted the most outstanding player, rebounded his own miss and made a 3-pointer that trimmed it to 73-72 and the Owls got a timeout with 8.6 seconds left.
Rice was fouled immediately on the inbounds pass.
"I've shot 80 percent and 84 percent the last two years," he said. "I've been at 69 percent [actually 70.7] this year, but I know I'm a good free-throw shooter. I've done the work in practice."
Rice spoke briefly to Ford, another point guard who wanted the ball at crunch time, and then reminded his teammates in the obligatory huddle at the foul line "that when I'm shooting free throws, I hold it a little longer, and I didn't want them to fall in [the lane]."
He made both, completing a 6-for-6 day. He's hit 49 of his past 61.
But it wasn't over.
"If there were less than five seconds, we were going to foul," Smith said. "But we wouldn't foul the shooter."
Macon had the ball the whole time. Rick Fox was guarding him. "I thought he was going to take another dribble," Fox said. "I certainly wasn't going to foul him. When he shot, I thought to myself, `Boy, that's a long shot,' and then it hit the rim and bounced away."
Macon, who had his worst game ever in this same Byrne Arena three years ago in a regional loss to Duke, said he felt the shot was on target. "I thought it would go in, but it didn't," he said.
But Macon also has the habit of saying "good" on many of his shots. "My thinking basically is to always think good."
"It was amazing," Rice said. "Every time he said `good' the ball went in, and if he didn't, it didn't."
With a wide grin, Fox said, "He didn't say it that time, he really didn't."
And so the Tar Heels, who led virtually all the way but never could put Temple away, are returning to the NCAA semifinals for the 10th time, the eighth for Smith.
"That's about as well as we can play," Smith said. As far as the last half was concerned, he's probably accurate.
Carolina led 10-0 at the start, but then Smith inserted four new bodies, three of them freshmen. "They had two or three guys that didn't know what they were doing," Macon said.
Macon got Temple's first points with a 3-pointer at 15:28, and 4:10 later, at a TV timeout, the score was Temple 16, Carolina 14, and Macon had 15. He had made six straight shots, two of them 3-pointers.
But Macon had no more baskets the rest of the half and the top-seeded Tar Heels led 35-30, although each team had shot poorly - 40 percent for UNC, 33.3 for Temple.
In the second half, each team shot better than 51 percent. Carolina had two early turnovers, none in the last 17 minutes. But Temple, which protects the ball as well as anybody, didn't have a single floor mistake.
The Tar Heels led by 11 points (43-32), but never could take charge when Carstarphen - moved to shooting guard with Macon bringing the ball up the floor - hit two threes and Kilgore added two more.
But Carolina kept making the plays when it was necessary as an ACC team won here for the fifth time in six years in the East finals.
"I'm most pleased for the seniors," Smith said when asked about returning to the Final Four for the first time since he won his only title in New Orleans.
"You have to be good and lucky," he said. "We've been good. This time we were lucky."
Three-point goals-Temple 9-24 (Macon 4-9, Kilgore 3-6, Carstarphen 2-9), North Carolina 7-17 (Rice 2-2, Davis 2-6, Fox 2-7, Rodl 1-1, Chilcutt 0-1). A-19,601.
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