North Carolina Overcomes Rice's 46, Beats BC

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North Carolina Overcomes Rice's 46, Beats BC

By Mike Shanlin

Mar 3, 2008

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BOSTON – With 17:07 left in the game and his team trailing Boston College by 17 points, Roy Williams pulled all five of his starters off the court at once.

“I was just mad at what they were doing defensively,” Williams said later.

It was more like what No. 3 North Carolina was NOT doing defensively. The Tar Heels were torched for 34 points in the first half by B.C. star guard Tyrese Rice, trailed by 14 at the break, 18 early in the second half and 17 when he made the five-man substitution.

“Basically, if I’m going to get my tail kicked, I’m going to get 100 percent effort,” Williams said.

Then the Heels pulled off what is believed to be the biggest road comeback ever by a Carolina team.

UNC, on its way to 12-0 on the road this season, went on a 32-8 run and wound up with a 90-80 victory over the upset-minded Eagles.

Rice finished with 46 points, a Conte Forum record, and the most points ever scored against UNC in an ACC game (the third-most overall and the most since 1970). But after going 8-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half, he didn’t hit a trey after halftime with boyhood pal Ty Lawson providing air tight defense.

“[I wanted to] make it harder for him to get the shots he got in the first half,” said Lawson, who started picking Rice up closer to the half-court line instead of letting him walk the ball up closer.

While the defense picked up, the offense caught fire. Wayne Ellington (20 points, three steals) and Danny Green (18 points, seven rebounds off the bench) outscored BC, 28-26, in the second half. Green drilled four 3’s and Ellington two during the 32-8 run.

The five new faces Roy Williams inserted into the lineup started the comeback. The starters, starting with Hansbrough, began drifting back in – and the Heels were off to their sixth straight victory as they raised their record to 27-2 (12-2).

They staged an unlikely rally to beat Clemson earlier this year, but that was at home. This was on the road.

With what seemed like thousands of powder-blue-clad Carolina fans going nuts, the visitors scored 18 straight points to take their first lead of the game at 62-61 with 11:13 left in the second half.

“It’s just amazing what this team can do,” said Marcus Ginyard, who had the final basket of the streak. “It was just a snowball effect.”

Rice was on quite a streak of his own in the first twenty minutes.

Williams said he told the UNC radio audience on the pre-game show, “We gotta hope (Rice) doesn’t go off for 35 or more.” Well, the lefty guard had 23 in the first 6:59 of the game.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen many exhibitions more than what I just saw,” he said. “I will say that’s about as impressive as anything I’ve ever seen.”

Williams reeled off a list of players who had gone for over 40 against the Heels, but pointed out UNC won all of those games. They won this one, too.

Ginyard said he had a chat with Rice during the first half. “I told him, ‘slow down, relax a little.’

‘We’re trying to save our season," Rice responded. "Y’all ain't got nothing to lose. We gotta go for it.”

The loss was the fourth in a row for BC, which has lost 10 of its last 11 to fall under .500 (13-14, 4-10 ACC) this late in a season for the first time since 2000.

Rice, who had scored 32 points in a game three times and broke that single-game high in the first half, admitted looking up at the scoreboard late in the half and saying, “Wow, it didn’t look right.”

It looked right for the Heels to have Lawson back, even if his left ankle still isn’t 100 percent. He said it’s getting better every day. The sophomore speedster was able to come off the bench and contribute 21 minutes, four points, five assists, two steals and some tough defense on Rice.

Hansbrough finished with 25 points and nine rebounds.

UNC Notes

It was the 25th 25-point game of Hansbrough’s career…Ellington hit the 20-point mark for the third time in the last six games and is averaging 20.6 ppg over that stretch…UNC shot 50 percent from the field for the fifth straight game…Rice's eight treys tied the second most ever against UNC…Hansbrough and Rice came into the game 1-2 in the ACC in scoring.

Most Recent Comments

"There is no denying the hook occurred, no matter what you think happened before it, so the intent was there if nothing else."

Who cares if he hooked him or had the intent to hook him as a foul was being called? It was after the fact, bad call or not.

For those that keep whining about the foul call at the end of the game, I was about 20 feet from it and it should have been called a foul. Nelson was driving to the basket and McCauley changed his direction with a bump - something you have to call.

Maybe so, but TV had good replays of it, too. Through my light blue glasses, it sure looked like McCauley was playing good defense by moving his feet - just what you're supposed to do - and got hooked. There is no denying the hook occurred, no matter what you think happened before it, so the intent was there if nothing else. I'm not complaining that officiating was unfair, just that I didn't agree with that particular call. I'm sure State got their share of the calls / no calls. Not that it really matters because State had their chances and just couldn't get it done.

Sorry to hear about our #1 ranking - would prefer to get it in April!

"UNC #1 in ESPN/USA Today Poll........."

And the AP Poll!

Go Heels!

"Cookie - I don't think Duke will win the NCAA with or without Paulus - but he has won several games for them this year - leads the league in assists to turnover ratio - he hit two bigtime 3's against state. Lay off."

Lay off? I can't have an opinion about a player? I didn't attack him personally. Why exactly am I "laying off"? I have an opinion and it probably won't change.

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