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Rice, Phelps, Reese return with own team

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Staff

Eddy Landreth
By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer

Carolina’s 102-65 victory against Monmouth on Sunday felt more like a family reunion than just another holiday blowout. All five of the Tar Heels’ NCAA championship teams had representatives in the house.

The coaches on the bench for Monmouth represented two Final Fours and a national title. King Rice is the head coach for the Hawks, his first college head-coaching job. He spent the last few years as an assistant at Vanderbilt.

Rice’s assistants, Derrick Phelps and Brian Reese, played with Rice at the 1991 Final Four when they were freshmen, but they were part of the starting lineup at the 1993 Final Four, in which Carolina defeated coach Roy Williams and his Kansas Jayhawks in the semifinals. UNC went on to beat Michigan and the Fab Five in the title game for the national championship.

Rice showed he had a far greater understanding of Carolina history than just the years he spent there and what has happened since.

He had 5-foot-8 Jesse Steele jump center at the opening tap against Carolina’s John Henson, who has a reach of 7-4. That was a nod to the 1957 team, when UNC coach Frank McGuire had 5-foot-10 Tommy Kearns jump ball against 7-1 Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas.

“I asked the guys in the locker room, and they said no,” Rice said. “Then when we went out there and I saw Lennie Rosenbluth, I said ‘We’re doing it.’ It just didn’t work the way it worked in ’57.”

Rosenbluth was the leading scorer and the star of the 1957 Carolina team that went 32-0 and won the school’s and the ACC’s first NCAA title.

That’s where the similarities ended, however. Carolina’s athletes were far superior to what Rice has at the moment.

Henson continued to play the best all-around basketball of his career. He ran the court, blocked shots and sank the baseline jumper that has become such a weapon for him. Henson led the Tar Heels with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and three blocks.

“That is amazing,” Rice said of Henson’s jump shot. “John Henson just keeps getting better. But every time I see him – it’s only once or twice a year – he always comes over and says hello. He always has a big smile. He makes you feel special, and he’s the main dude. He’s the star.

“He’s improved dramatically on the floor. He makes jumpers now. His free throw has smoothed out. It doesn’t look crazy anymore. He is one of the best shot-blockers ever. I know [Sam Perkins] blocked a whole bunch, and we had guys here who blocked them. But this kid is amazing at it. I’m happy he is a Carolina guy.”

Rice said it was a totally different experience returning as an opponent. But the crowd treated him as one of the Carolina family, which, of course, he is.

“The ovation at the beginning was unbelievable,” Rice said. “I didn’t expect that. It was very nice of the fans. I’m a true Carolina guy. What better feeling could you get when the fans give you a standing ovation?”

Now UNC will move into the next phase of the season, when Boston College visits the Smith Center on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. for the first conference game.

“It’s been a long stretch here of these nonconference games,” Williams said. “Now we’re getting ready to start our conference regular season, and our play is going to have to go up a level.”

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