North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Ready to Entertain `New Look' Tar Heels
1/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-The North Carolina basketball team that will invade the RBC Center on Sunday will look nothing like the beleaguered squad that stumbled down I-40 some 11 months ago. In their wildest dreams, many NC State fans figured they'd walk on Mars before they would be around long enough to see the Tar Heels lose 20 games in a season. But it has taken UNC very little time to retool and recover from last year's disaster. In fact, the North Carolina club that will clash with NC State this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. needed just 11 games to equal last season's total of eight victories.
There has been an infusion of youth, exuberance and energy in coach Matt Doherty's program. In many ways, it's similar to the type of boost the Wolfpack received last year with the arrival of several fresh faces, players who weren't burdened by the baggage of the past. In other words, rookies like Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants have brought to the Heels many of the same winning qualities that Julius Hodge and Ilian Evtimov gave NC State a year ago.
"It seems like they've had really good chemistry from day one," said Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek. "The guys on the team have really seemed to jell and enjoy playing together. I think they have really good team athleticism and team quickness. They've had some awfully impressive wins when you look at some of the teams they've been able to beat."
Even though they were starting three freshmen at the time, the Tar Heels rocketed out of the gates quickly, posting stunning victories over Kansas and Stanford in the Preseason NIT. And last week at home, Carolina added yet another quality win by knocking off nationally ranked Connecticut at home.
But like NC State, UNC has also been negatively affected by the loss of a key player. Rookie big man Sean May was establishing himself as a serious rookie of the year candidate before breaking a bone in his foot in late December. Lacking much of an inside presence since the May injury, Carolina has gone 4-3.
Not only does McCants lead the Tar Heels in scoring, he also ranks No.1 in the ACC with an average of 19.4 points per game.
"He's really special and he scores in every way," Sendek said of McCants. "He can put the ball on the floor and hurt you in transition. He's a really good three-point shooter and he's big and strong and can post you up. There's not really one part of offensive basketball that isn't part of his package. To be a freshman in this league and to be scoring almost 20 points per game is a heck of a number."
The job of controlling McCants could fall on the shoulders of NC State senior Cliff Crawford, who virtually shutdown Duke shooting star J.J. Redick in the second half of the Wolfpack's 80-71 upset win over the Blue Devils on Wednesday. But when asked about possible defensive match-ups on Friday, Sendek was non-committal.
"We're going to play with those kind of things for the next couple of days," Sendek said. "I don't know that any one player is always matched-up against the same player anyway with substitutions and transition and all the other things that happen in the game of basketball. It's usually not as neat and clean as a certain player always guarding another player."
Sendek, in fact, could make a strong case for putting Crawford on Felton, the lightning quick point guard who has done a good job of setting the table for the UNC offense with his dribble penetration. Either way, NC State will have its hands full with a couple of freshman guards that have adapted to the college game with amazing ease.
A win on Sunday would give the Pack a week unlike any other in the annals of NC State basketball because never before has the Wolfpack posted back to back regular season victories over its two closes rivals in the same week. Sendek can only hope that the emotional tanks that were emptied against Duke can be refilled by game time on Sunday.
"I think that's one of the great challenges of conference play," Sendek said. "The games in basketball come two and three a week. It's a real test of fortitude to be able to come back in a couple of days after any one game because they require so much, emotionally, mentally and physically. It's not unique just to this week when you have Duke and North Carolina, but it's that way through the season. Any one of the games you play, it takes a total commitment, and you've just got to re-energize for the next one because they come so quickly."
Super Sunday Ceremonies:Sunday's game will feature a halftime ceremony honoring NC State's 1983 national championship team. During the observance, a banner paying tribute to that team's coach, Jim Valvano, will be raised to the RBC Center rafters. All of the squad's members, with the exception of Terry Gannon, Dereck Whittenburg and Harold Thompson, will be on hand. This will be the 12th time NC State has played basketball on Super Bowl Sunday. The Pack's record in the 11 previous games is 6-5, including 1-1 against North Carolina.
