Three days after what would have been his namesake’s 93rd birthday, Dean Smith’s Center radiated with tradition.
The Hall of Fame coach was mentioned before the game against N.C. State Saturday when UNC Hospitals was saluted for, among other things, saving the life of one of Smith’s grandchildren.
Later, the team he coached for 36 years made a rapid rally on the 50th anniversary to the day of the famous 8-points-in-17-seconds comeback against Duke in 1974. The video boards showed the late Walter Davis’ buzzer-beater and called it from 30 feet, tying the game after Smith’s legendary use of the clock. Of course, those Tar Heels beat the bedeviled Blue Devils in overtime.
Carolina in 2024 is reminding us more and more of some Smith teams — particularly its resolve when the going gets tough by making an 18-point turnaround in the first 10 minutes of the second half, going ahead by 8 points after trailing State by UNC’s largest halftime deficit of the season.
These Tar Heels clamped down on defense, putting on a full-court press after some made baskets, and cooled off hot-shooting State that had made 7 of 11 long balls and shot 58 percent overall in the first half. The Wolfies had several scoring droughts in the second half, missing 15 straight attempts at one point, and shot miserably from the floor, as it took UNC only five minutes to regain the lead.
It was a defense-driven retaliation in the 38th win over the last 45 meetings with State. Roy Williams owns 33 of those, Hubert Davis now has 5. Smith was 60-30 in 90 meetings with the Wolfpack, dating back to 1962. Bill Guthridge was 6-1. The Smith Center record against the Pack is 31-7. Not exactly an arch rivalry.
Eventually the Heels went ahead by 13 before having to hold off a late charge by State that made their slam-sold-out crowd grow anxious — after Carolina barely repelled Miami just five days before. The Pack made only six field goals in the second half, hit 2 of 8 from downtown, shot 22 percent (season-best defense for Carolina) and finished at 42 percent for the game after getting 13 points off UNC’s turnovers and winning in second chance and bench scoring in the first half.
It was another game of “Who’s Stepping Up” as the red-clad visitors kept R.J. Davis from scoring until 53 points were rung up by both teams. The unselfish senior leader for ACC Player of the Year and almost a certain All-American attempted only four first-half shots and hit one but made himself useful with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. As he did at Virginia, the last time an opponent shut him down, Davis came back with 12 points in the second half and finished with UNC’s best line in the box score – 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a block.
Harrison Ingram led the committee in this game with a season-high 22 points after shooting miserably against Miami; he had 13 points (more than he had the entire Miami game) to go with Armando Bacot’s 8 and Elliot Cadeau’s 7 in the first half.
Harrison Ingram finishes a dunk off a missed shot against N.C. State during the first half on Saturday. Ingram led the Tar Heels with 22 points, a career high. (Photo via Todd Melet/WCHL & Chapelboro.)
Cadeau was a big part of the show by burning State’s overplaying defense to find lanes to the basket and confidently drained his one 3-pointer when State dared him to shoot. He wound up with 15 points and a game-high 7 assists, twice firing cross-court bullet passes to the left corner, where Cormac Ryan made his only 3-pointer and Ingram made his second to give Carolina its biggest lead.
The unsung hero for UNC was Ryan, the grad transfer who now gets to face his old Notre Dame program in his last home game for his new school. After State star D.J. Horne scored 16 points in the first half, the 6-5 Ryan covered him for most of the second, when Horne went 1-for-7 shooting and missed his only 3-point try.
Smith’s teams often looked unbeatable to opponents and occasionally opened flat before turning it on. This time it was at the end of the first half when Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels squandered a 6-point lead by making exactly one free throw over the last four-and-a-half minutes.
Based on how fired up Hubert was in the second half, stalking the sideline and clapping in the faces of his players and team, the locker room at intermission must have been not for the weak at heart.
The Dome was full but visibly worried that this would be the trap game before the last week of the season: Senior Night on Tuesday against the 11th-place Irish and then the grand finale at Duke Saturday, when the Blue Devils will likely enter one game behind their archrivals if they can win in Raleigh Monday night.
In the case of a tie for first place, the top seed in the ACC tournament could be determined by whether Clemson, Syracuse or Wake Forest winds up in third place. (Hint: root for Wake Forest, which lost to the Heels and beat the Devils.)
Bacot, who is tied for the most ACC games (161) played, will have his second Senior Night in his last home game after five seasons in Carolina blue and continues to be a different kind of difference-maker. He missed some bunnies around the basket but spent much of the game setting high ball screens and banging bodies down low with State’s huge man D.J. Burns, eventually forcing Burns to go out with four fouls. The trailing Wolfpack went to a smaller, quicker rotation trying to catch up and got the deficit down to 5, after which R.J. swished two free throws of the team’s 23 and hit a pull up in the lane to ice the 79-70 win. It is Carolina’s 23rd overall and 15th in the ACC against 3 losses.
Armando Bacot helped steady Carolina on Saturday, and will play in his final game in the Dean E. Smith Center on Tuesday night against Notre Dame. (Photo via Todd Melet/WCHL & Chapelboro.)
This is clearly the best place Hubert’s program has been in his three years, with an NCAA tournament bid assured and likely with a top four seed. The way this team takes turns making the big plays means it doesn’t have to always rely on the player Davis to make Coach Davis a happy clapper.
“I always say if you take care of the basketball, everything else takes care of itself,” Hubert said of the three turnovers after intermission. “And I just felt like our energy, our effort, our willingness to get stops fueled us on the offensive end and allowed us to play really well. [N.C. State shooting] 22 percent in the second half… that’s elite.”
Of the rough-and tumble game with 44 fouls called, Davis said, “When things got a little chippy, that got us going too. I got fired up and our guys got fired up and we talked about raising the level of our competitive fire, but also staying in control of our emotions. And from that point on, I felt like we just took off.
“Tuesday is the last time a number of our guys will run out of that tunnel. It gives me tears of joy, but also sadness. The year has gone by so quick, but we have a great opportunity to at least have a share of the ACC and for these guys to hang their first banner. I think that’s huge.”
His old coach, who hung 17 of those, would agree.
Featured photo via Todd Melet/WCHL & Chapelboro.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Very nice.
Coach Smith would be very proud of this team.