THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504020183
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SEATTLE LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Lady Luck may have delivered Arkansas to the Final Four, but unless she was playing defense Saturday night, the Razorbacks get all the credit for making it back to championship game for the second straight year.
The Hogs, as President Clinton likes to call his favorite team, limited North Carolina to its poorest shooting performance of the season in a 75-68 victory in the Kingdome.
North Carolina, the second-best shooting team in the nation during the regular season, made only 25 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half and went 12:47 during one stretch without a goal.
Still, they had a chance in the final minute until more poor shooting ended their comeback hopes for good.
Jerry Stackhouse missed a free throw with 48 seconds remaining that would have tied the score and with 8.9 seconds left Donald Williams missed a 3-pointer that also would have tied.
The result was that the ACC will not have a team in the championship game for the first time in six years and Arkansas will shoot for its second straight title on Monday night against UCLA.
North Carolina, which was looking for its second title in three years, seemed on their way to that end until a couple of seconds before intermission.
At that point, Arkansas' beefy Dwight Stewart tossed in a 55-foot 3-pointer from behind the midcourt stripe to cut Carolina's 38-31 lead to only four at the half.
That was a close as anyone could come to calling the Hogs lucky, though, and Stewart would even contest that allegation.
``We practice those kind of shots in practice every day, and I had a good look at the basket,'' said the 285-pounder.
Teammate Corliss Williams said the long 3-pointer gave the Hogs a much needed lift.
But it was nothing compared to the lift that Williamson provided.
After scoring only 2 points in the first half, the junior All-America forward erupted for 19 in the second.
``It wasn't Corliss' fault he wasn't scoring in the first half,'' coach Nolan Richardson contended.
Richardson informed his players during intermission that either they get the ball to Williamson or they would be sitting beside him on the bench.
``I think when that took place it changed our game, and we also talked about how we should step up our defense,'' Richardson said.
Williamson's seventh point of the second half gave Arkansas a 49-47 lead.
The Heels replied with a 3-pointer by Jerry Stackhouse at 15:14, but that was their last goal until Williams' 3-pointer 12:47 later.
``I don't know if you can say it was luck that they weren't hitting their shots,'' Williamson said. ``But our defense is just tough sometimes.''
The Tar Heels gave credit to the Arkansas defense.
But they did a lot of head-shaking, too, missing shots they normally hit.
Dante Calabria, the second-best 3-point shooter in the nation, missed all seven of his attempts and was 1-for-10 overall.
Stackhouse, who bruised his back in the opening minute, scored 18 points but got off only seven shots - his second lowest effort of the season.
``It (the bruise) did throw me off,'' he said. ``I couldn't explode offensively as I normally do.''
North Carolina coach Dean Smith said Arkansas seemed to be giving his gunners open jump shots. ``You have to be able to hit those against that defense,'' he added.
Smith and his players agreed, though, they thought they could pull out the victory in the last minute.
``We just didn't get what we wanted,'' Smith said of the 3-pointer that Williams missed.
Smith didn't get what he wanted, either, when Calabria deliberately fouled Clint McDaniel after Stackhouse split a pair of free throws at 47 seconds. McDaniel made both of his shots for a 71-68 lead.
Richardson contended that his team's depth wore down the Tar Heels and contributed to their poor shooting in the second half.
Smith refused to blame fatigue for his team shooting 37.5 percent.
``Our kids showed a lot of character coming back,'' he said. ``They are in shape, and we had the long television timeouts. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Carolina's Jerry Stackhouse soars over Corey Beck, below, and
Corliss Williamson of Arkansas in the Razorbacks' semifinal
victory.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Carolina's Dante Calabria forces a jump ball as Arkansas'
Corey Beck tries to call a time-out.
by CNB