By Frank Heath
Sports Writer
Only the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team could have figured out a way to win this one. At Clemson’s berserker Littlejohn Coliseum, in a contest that had been dubbed there as the “biggest game ever in the state of South Carolina,†UNC faced a deep, aggressive and fired-up — not to mention flat-out-good — Tigers squad Sunday night and somehow clawed its way out of the place alive.
That’s even after Carolina discovered that its usual solid methods for taking apart opponents — depth, speed, rebounding and Tyler Hansbrough — were not quite doing the trick.
With the game winding down Sunday, the Tar Heels held a statistical advantage over Clemson in just one category — foul-shooting percentage — after the No. 19 Tigers had thrown pretty much everything they had into winning the ACC opener for both teams.
With three minutes remaining in regulation, Clemson had out-Carolina’d UNC at nearly everything the Tar Heels have been good at this season: offensive rebounding, turnover margin, scoring in transition and playing a lot of players to keep the first-teamers fresh. Hansbrough had been frustrated inside all night by (count ’em) three athletic 6’9†Clemson defenders, and the Tigers were even Carolina’s match in the experience department, where Clemson uses two seniors, two juniors and two sophomores among its eight regulars.
The Tigers were ahead by seven points, which meant they actually had whipped Carolina by nearly 20 while the clock was running.
But Carolina was still within striking distance of the win. And as anyone knows who has either loved or hated the Tar Heels over the past four decades, that meant the outcome was in doubt and that Clemson had better keep doing what it had been doing if it wanted to win.
About this time, Coach Roy must have turned to assistant Steve Robinson and said, “OK, time to cut ’em loose.†Because it was at this point that Carolina’s most talented players — Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Hansbrough — exerted their wills on the game, and the other guys on the team did a pretty good job of following suit.
Over the final 3:42 of regulation, Hansbrough grabbed two key rebounds, drew a charge on Clemson’s next-to-last possession and made three of four foul shots. This from a relentless player who had been on the court for all but three minutes of a game that was played mostly at breakneck speed and intensity, and who should have been worn out and barely able to move. The guy’s determination is unbelievable.
Lawson controlled the tempo of the game, dished three assists and spearheaded a five-possession defensive stand over the same stretch.
And Ellington scored five points and made a key three-pointer with 2:34 remaining — cutting a seven point Clemson lead to four and sending waves of doubt from the Clemson bench all the way up to the Littlejohn rafters.
In case that wasn’t enough, Marcus Ginyard grabbed two big rebounds, Danny Green made a three that cut the Heels’ deficit to one and Deon Thompson had a steal. On its final possession in regulation, Carolina gaffed and didn’t get a good shot off, but the Tar Heels had at least done the work necessary to get the game into OT.
Ellington scored five more in overtime — including the game winning three with 0.4 seconds remaining, which pushed his total for the game to 36. The 27 points he scored after halftime would have been a career high for the silky smooth sophomore. Talk about a strong “Plan E.â€
When junior Bobby Frasor was lost to an ACL injury two weeks ago, this UNC basketball team lost a big part of its margin for error. No longer can the Tar Heels count on burying every opponent for 40 minutes with waves of fresh, talented, experienced players.
As an example, during the final minute or so of the first half against Clemson, Williams brought Lawson, Ellington and Green — each of whom had two fouls — to the bench, and the Tigers took quick advantage and mounted a 7-0 run, grabbing a halftime lead and the momentum.
There will be times this season when other teams will have a better group of players on the court, and Carolina must adjust to this fact or fall short of its dreams.
Sunday’s win at Clemson demonstrated that the Tar Heels, now 15-0 and still No. 1, are at least up for such a challenge.