THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503130129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
From his seat near the end of North Carolina's bench, Rasheed Wallace leaned over, tied his left sneaker and then tried to walk on his throbbing left ankle.
It was futile.
``Pain,'' Wallace called it. ``Pure pain.''
Two minutes remained in an 82-80 overtime loss to Wake Forest for the ACC tournament championship Sunday when it became obvious that the Tar Heels would have to carry on without their sophomore center.
Whether they'll have to do the same when they face Murray State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Tallahassee, Fla. is the next pressing issue. Trainer Marc Davis said he expects Wallace to be ready, but Wallace said he knows he'll be there.
``I'll take pain killers or whatever,'' said Wallace, who was slated for precautionary X-rays Sunday evening. ``But I have to be in the tournament.''
Wallace landed hard and suffered what Davis described as a mild to moderate sprain after missing a baseline jumper with 7:41 left and North Carolina ahead, 61-55, and on a 10-0 run. Five minutes later, as Wake Forest converted a string of offensive rebounds into points in Wallace's absence, it was the Demon Deacons who owned the six-point lead.
North Carolina scrambled back to tie but could do nothing in the extra period with Randolph Childress, who scored all of his team's nine points. The last two came on an 8-footer from the lane, a shot made easier because Wallace wasn't there to try to swat it into the third row.
``It was tough to even start the overtime because we wanted to get the tap and get control, but they were able to get it first and scored,'' said Stackhouse, a 6-foot-6 forward who contested the jump ball against 6-11 Tim Duncan, who finished with 20 rebounds. Childress grabbed the ball and hit a 3-pointer to force the Tar Heels to play from behind again.
``Our (lack of) depth may have come into play a little bit today,'' Stackhouse said.
In the end, North Carolina was unable to retain its ACC tournament crown and also lost the NCAA's top seeding in the East to Wake Forest. The irony is that, by losing, the Tar Heels gained an extra day for Wallace to recover.
The Deacons play North Carolina A&T in Baltimore on Thursday. That would have been North Carolina's draw. Now, the Tar Heels, seeded second in the Southeast, play Friday and could enter the tournament with an extra motivational tool, despite their immediate heartbreak.
``We competed,'' said Stackhouse, who led North Carolina with 24 points. ``You can't really say if Rasheed was in there that we would've won that game. Still, you can look at it this way, that we didn't have Rasheed for almost 15 minutes and still were able to compete and had a chance to win. Or we could just look at the disappointing side of it, that we lost. But I think we proved that we're getting better and, hopefully, this just helps us in the tournament.'' ILLUSTRATION: PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Rasheed Wallace grimaces after spraining his ankle. Coach Dean
Smith, left, looks on.
by CNB