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Tar Heels look to move ahead

Posted on March 8, 2012March 7, 2012 by Staff

Eddy Landreth
By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer
Between now and the beginning of the NCAA Tournament, Carolina must find a way to put aside its grand finish to end the regular season, fight off the lure of satisfaction and move ahead with a determination to accomplish more.

The fourth-ranked Tar Heels (27-4, 14-2 in the ACC) hammered then-No. 4 Duke (26-5, 13-3), 88-70, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on senior night to finish in first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings.

The Tar Heels put together a game for the ages, leading by 24 points at the half.

“It’s been a fantastic run for our club,” Williams said. “Now we get to go see what can happen for a four-day period down in Atlanta, and we are excited about that.”

In the ACC Tournament, the top-seeded Tar Heels will play the winner of today’s noon Maryland-Wake Forest game at noon on Friday.

Last year the Tar Heels were the first seed, but they fell behind in all three games and could not manage a comeback against Duke in the title game.

“We’re going to try not to get down by 15 or 20 this time,” said senior Tyler Zeller, the ACC player of the year. “That always takes a lot of energy. When you let yourself get down by that much, you can’t let yourself slow down in the second half. You have to go even harder than you have been.

“You spend a lot of energy doing that. That’s something that is tough. Hopefully we can come in, get a nice win and kind of recover the next day.”

Williams’ teams have been dominant in the regular season since he returned from Kansas and got UNC going again. The conference tournament has been a mixed bag.

The good news is both times the Tar Heels won the national title under Williams, they failed to win the ACC Tournament.

Zeller said the players realize they have to put Duke behind them and move ahead if they wish to realize their ultimate goals.

“We have to bounce back,” Zeller said. “We can’t be happy with what we have done in the past. We have to look at the future.”

Zeller, John Henson and Harrison Barnes were named first-team All-ACC earlier in the week. Point guard Kendall Marshall was named to the second team.

Marshall had a spectacular game against Duke. He scored 20 points, dished out 10 assists to four turnovers and also had four rebounds and a steal.

“Marshall was sensational,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “What a performance by that kid. He has just had a magical year for them. He stirs the drink real well.”

Krzyzewski had just as much praise for the entire Carolina team, which drilled the Blue Devils from the very outset. Everyone playing for Carolina performed with more confidence than they have shown as a group throughout this entire season.

“They were terrific,” Krzyzewski said. “We were overwhelmed in the first half. They played just beautiful basketball and were so efficient. … They’re a great team: They are not a good team – they’re a great team.
They played like it tonight. They played like it for most of the season.”

Now the time has arrived to see if the Tar Heels are a genuinely great team, one that can stand the test of time and the rigors of tournament play. The biggest thing is to stay healthy, and next is to recapture, as much as possible, the passion and determination with which they played in Durham.

Their ultimate fate will be determined by these factors.

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