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WRALSportsFan

Wolfpack Shocks UNC in ACC Semifinals

By Tim Peeler, GoPack.com

Mar 21, 2008

Atlanta — Dereck Whittenburg missed N.C. State’s victory earlier this season over North Carolina, and he was absent offensively for practically the first 40 minutes of Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinal against the fifth-ranked Tar Heels at the Omni as well.

But the senior guard, seemingly left along the side of the road earlier in the season because of broken right foot, hitch-hiked his way back to stardom Saturday afternoon in overtime of the Wolfpack’s 91-84 overtime victory over the defending national champions and the tournament’s top seed.

Whittenburg scored nine consecutive points during one stretch of the extra period, wiping out a seemingly impossible six-point North Carolina advantage. In all, the Wolfpack outscored the Tar Heels 15-2 over those last two minutes to close out the game. Whittenburg scored 11 of his 15 points in OT, making up for his slow start with an unstoppable performance.

The Tar Heels, literally, had no answer for Whittenburg, since sophomore guard Michael Jordan was sitting uncomfortably on the bench beside UNC coach Dean Smith, having fouled out against the Wolfpack for the second consecutive game. Jordan was whistled for his fifth foul with 3:42 remaining in regulation, after he tried to take the ball away from Wolfpack sophomore Terry Gannon as Stated tried to milk its five-point lead.

Jordan committed his first foul just 15 seconds into the game and was clearly frustrated trying to maneuver against the Wolfpack’s gimmicky box-and-one defense, in which either Whittenburg or Gannon chased him all day long while the rest of the team played zone defense. Jordan wasn’t the only one frustrated by the fouls.

“Of course, we would like to play State with a full game from Michael Jordan,” Tar Heel coach Dean Smith said.

Whittenburg’s long-awaited offensive explosion was a welcome relief for the Wolfpack (19-10 overall), which has now positioned itself for a spot in the 52-team NCAA Tournament against second-ranked Virginia. It’s a difficult matchup for the Wolfpack: Virginia is the one ACC team Valvano has never beaten in his three years as N.C. State’s head coach.

But the coach had no thoughts about that following Saturday’s game, savoring his second consecutive victory over the Wolfpack’s chief rival and the performance of his senior co-captain.

“I just can’t say enough about Dereck Whittenburg,” Valvano said. “To see him at the end of the game means a great deal to me personally. We kept going to him. I knew he would come through, eventually.”