The loudest the Smith Center ever was!

Roy Williams said he never heard any arena, anywhere, louder than in the final minutes of the 2005 game against Duke. And hearing the re-airing Wednesday night on 97.9 The Hill, the hysteria came through.

Here are a few things I remember, on and off the court, about that epic afternoon in Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels finally had a better team than Duke that season, having already clinched a tie for first in the ACC before Senior Day for Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott and Jawad Williams, plus what would also be the last home game for Felton, May, McCants and Marvin Williams.

However, Carolina had already lost its fourth straight to the Blue Devils, and 15th of the last 17 since 1999, during which Duke had been to three Final Fours and won the 2001 NCAA championship. It would have been a bittersweet regular season if the Heels didn’t answer.

Already stuck in third place, Mike Krzyzewski’s team had no pressure and played like it early before Carolina rallied to take a 47-41 lead at the half. Walking off, an angry Coach K cursed scorer’s table official Mark Isley, who he claimed was late buzzing one of his subs in.

J.J. Redick had scored all of his 17 points in the first half and never scored again, but somehow Duke took a nine-point lead with three minutes left. Williams called a timeout and told his players to get their heads up. “If you do exactly what I asked you to do for the rest of the game, we’ll have a chance at the end,” Roy said, searching.

Duke didn’t have to score again, just take care of the ball and make free throws, but neither happened. Two turnovers and four misses from the foul line allowed Carolina to creep back to two down before Ray Felton was fouled attempting the tying basket in the lane. Felton made the first and tapped his missed second to Marvin, who banked in the follow shot while getting fouled, as the crowd almost blew the Teflon dome off its girders for the 11-0 run and 77-75 win.

After the game, the triumphant Tar Heels cut down the nets at the Dean Dome, as they would in St. Louis a month later. How sweet it was.

 


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