Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403190122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LANDOVER, MD. LENGTH: Medium
For 30 minutes of their first NCAA Tournament game Friday afternoon, the Flames made believers of more than themselves and an enthralled basketball crowd at USAir Arena.
"I really believed we could beat North Carolina," said Jeff Meyer, Liberty's coach.
And, for 30 minutes, the Tar Heels had to believe the Flames believed that, too. By that time, Liberty point guard Matt Hildebrand believed. He was just too weary to do anything more about it.
"I'm not sure I believed we could play like this, against a team like that," said Hildebrand, whose college career ended with praise despite defeat. "I guess you'd have to say Liberty made a believer out of me, too."
In a noontime NCAA East Regional opener that surely was Flame-kissed, top-seeded North Carolina survived 71-51 - but only by scoring 26 of the game's last 31 points.
It was plain old UNC, but the Flames (18-12) played like the storied foe was Big South Conference rival UNC Asheville or UNC Greensboro. In the final 10 minutes, the Flames' problem was that the task was much bigger than the Big South.
"Their size was too much," Meyer said. "They wore us down. When they went to the [2-3] zone in the second half, it made it much harder for us offensively."
Liberty's offensive motion and inside-out attack had UNC going in circles. At the other end of the floor, the Flames' position defense didn't allow penetration, and Carolina became impatient.
The Flames ran the baseline and worked the perimeter.
"We didn't have much choice," Hildebrand said. "You're not going to take the ball to the basket against 7-footers. Well, you can, but it wouldn't be smart."
So, Liberty launched a school-record 34 3-point shots. "If we had shot a lot better, it might have been different," Meyer said.
Had Liberty shot only a little better, it might have been different. The Flames' 29 percent day was their worst of the season and one of the lows in the program's 23-year history.
"The ball just stopped going in," said Liberty forward Jody Chapman.
That's because the Flames were flickering. Meyer basically played only six players because he couldn't afford to go much deeper into his bench. The television timeouts - rare in a Liberty game - allowed him to do that.
While Meyer was coaching his suit jacket off, on the UNC bench Dean Smith was expending his energy trying to become the fourth official. The more UNC complained, the more apparent it was that the region's 16th seed was anything but a pushover.
Only the play of Carolina twin towers Eric Montross and Rasheed Wallace - they combined for 35 points and 20 rebounds - doused the Flames. UNC freshman ace Jerry Stackhouse was awful. Jerry Falwell had a better game.
"Dr. Falwell came in the locker room after the game," Hildebrand said. "He told us we played well, and that this would be remembered as the day everybody stopped eating lunch and came in to watch Liberty University."
The Flames' goal was to reach the NCAA's annual feast. What they produced against Carolina (28-6) was dessert.
"I was a little surprised, to tell you the truth," Hildebrand said. "I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how we'd play.
"We've never faced a team like North Carolina. We played Virginia this season and that's a good team, but they're not No. 1. I've never played a team that has 10 All-Americans - probably more than that, and I apologize to all the ones I missed."
That was the only apology by the Flames. None was required.
"We were the 16th seed and they were the No. 1 seed," Meyer said. "I guess we found out what that was all about."
The evangelical university made some converts in the basketball world, too, while proving something else.
The NCAA Basketball Committee seeds the field with records, polls and the Ratings Percentage Index.
Computer printouts, however, do not measure heart.
by CNB