THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 15, 1996 TAG: 9601150129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Peace reigned between North Carolina and Clemson on Sunday afternoon at the Dean Smith Center.
Except for one small incident involving Clemson's Bill Harder and North Carolina's Jeff McInnis, there was no pushing and shoving among the players. And there was nary a harsh word exchanged between Clemson coach Rick Barnes and North Carolina's Smith.
``It was too peaceful, I guess,'' Harder said afterward. ``They walked all over us.''
The Tar Heels certainly did, rolling to an 86-53 victory that was marked by none of the controversy that erupted in North Carolina's 78-62 ACC tournament win last season.
It was during that now-famous game that Smith and Barnes had a heated sideline exchange about the nature of Clemson's defensive play. Smith objected to what he said he were dangerously hard fouls by Clemson. Barnes vigorously defended his team.
Both coaches said the incident is long behind them. But naturally the matter was brought up again Sunday by reporters.
Barnes said it was ``not a big deal.'' But he jokingly thanked Smith for not having him introduced over the public address system before the game.
``I'm sure I would have gotten a nice welcome home,'' Barnes said.
According to North Carolina officials, opposing coaches are never introduced.
Smith was also eager to put the controversy behind him.
``The only disagreement we had last year was the hard fouls,'' Smith said. ``I was afraid somebody might get hurt. (Clemson) had chances today to foul somebody hard and they didn't.''
The Tigers (11-1, 2-1 ACC) were often not close enough to the Tar Heels shooters to foul them, let alone foul them hard. North Carolina (12-3, 3-1) shot a season-high 61 percent, exploiting Clemson's defense for layup after easy layup.
Antawn Jamison and McInnis led the way with 17 points each. Jamison grabbed 10 rebounds while McInnis had seven assists.
``That was the best ballgame we've played all year offensively and defensively,'' Smith said. ``We did pretty much what we set out to do.''
Clemson, meanwhile, had its worst outing. The 16th-ranked Tigers shot an anemic 28 percent. And Clemson's defense, which had been holding teams to 38 percent shooting, could offer only token resistance Sunday.
``They came in 11-0,'' North Carolina's Dante Calabria said. ``They were eventually going to lose.''
The odds were overwhelming that the Tigers would lose Sunday. Clemson has never beaten North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 42 tries. In fact, the Tigers have rarely been close. The average margin of victory for North Carolina in the first 41 games was 21 points.
``That didn't enter our minds,'' Calabria said. ``It might have entered theirs.''
Barnes said it didn't.
``I don't think once the game starts they ever think about that,'' Barnes said. ``Maybe I'm wrong.''
More likely on the minds of the Clemson players was the absence of leading scorer Merl Code, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Wednesday in an 89-79 win over Virginia.
With Code gone, some of the scoring load in the backcourt shifted to 5-foot-8 freshman Terrell McIntyre, who appeared to try to do too much at times and struggled through a 4-of-15 shooting afternoon, good for nine points.
Harder, the other starting guard, is coming off a knee injury himself.
``In a situation like today you really miss Merl Code,'' Barnes said. ``If (Harder) had been 100 percent, I believe things would have been better. Now we have to make adjustments.''
Clemson made some after falling behind 19-7 early. The Tigers began attacking the basket and cut North Carolina's lead to 24-20 with 7:11 left in the half.
But North Carolina went on a 13-2 run and Clemson never again got within 13 points.
``We had a lot of things go right,'' Calabria said. ``They missed a lot of shots I think they'd normally make.''
The lone bright spot for Clemson was the shooting of freshmen Andrius Jurkunas, who hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points.
``We have to play harder than we played today, especially defensively,'' Barnes said. ``We have to learn from this. This is going to help us somewhere, I'm just not sure where right now.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clemson's Rick Barnes, left, and UNC's Dean Smith, here before the
game, seemed ready to put their past squabbles behind them.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNC's Antawn Jamison shoots for two of his 17 points during the Tar
Heels' victory. Jamison also pulled down 10 rebounds.
by CNB