Tar Heels Suspend J.R. Reid for Game Against the Bruins : Leading Scorer Sent Home After Missing Curfew

Is North Carolina shot without J.R.?

The Tar Heels will find out today when they play UCLA without forward J.R. Reid, their leading scorer and No. 2 rebounder.

Reid, a member of last year’s U.S. Olympic team, was suspended Saturday along with teammate Rodney Hyatt, a redshirt guard, and both were sent home to Chapel Hill, N.C., by Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith.

Smith said the players violated the team’s curfew, arriving at the Tar Heel hotel headquarters Saturday a few minutes past 1 a.m.

Reid, a 6-foot 9-inch junior, scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds a few hours earlier in North Carolina’s 93-79 victory over Southern University.

“I have had to send them home,” Smith said in a statement released to reporters Saturday. “We have very few rules on our basketball team, and the ones we do have were all made by the seniors.

“This is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make as head coach, due to the importance of the UCLA game to all our squad members.”

Smith said that his seniors were consulted before a decision was made and said that both Reid and Hyatt would be reinstated if North Carolina advanced beyond today’s second round of the Southeast Regional.

“We’ll be lucky to be playing next week,” Smith said, “but if we are, J.R. and Rodney will be members of our squad.”

The fifth-ranked Tar Heels (28-7) seemed all but certain to march past UCLA (21-9) before Saturday’s turn of events.

In fact, they were such prohibitive favorites that even former UCLA coach John Wooden favored the Tar Heels over the Bruins.

“That’s not the way I hope, of course,” said Wooden, who picked North Carolina to reach the Final Four in a poll conducted last week by the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, “but I was trying to be objective.”

And realistic.

Even with only a minimal contribution from Reid, who had missed the previous nine games with a stress fracture in his left foot, North Carolina hammered UCLA, 104-78, three months ago at Chapel Hill.

Only three other times in its history has UCLA absorbed a worse loss, most recently against Arizona last month at Tucson, 102-64.

How will Reid’s absence affect today’s game?

“It probably diminishes the odds,” said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, “but not by much because they handled us at their place when he only played 10 minutes.”

Indeed, North Carolina still rates as a favorite to reach the regional semifinals for a ninth consecutive season.

But UCLA has reason to hope.

“We’ve got a shot now,” said Bruin assistant coach Paul Landreaux, who learned of Reid’s suspension from a reporter.

Actually, the Bruins believed they had a chance even before the action against Reid, who averages 15.5 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Two weeks after its annihilation at Arizona, UCLA battled the No. 1-ranked Wildcats to the end of a game at Pauley Pavilion.

Arizona, though, won that game, too, 89-86.

Still, UCLA has shown that it can compete with almost anybody, despite its inconsistencies.

That may even include North Carolina, which has won four straight games in the Omni, where last week it won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

UCLA, which uses two freshman in its starting lineup, is more experienced this time and probably won’t be as easily intimidated, Harrick said.

“We’ve been in games of this magnitude,” he said.

Also, the game will not be worked by ACC officials, which Harrick believes will work in UCLA’s favor. For several weeks after the Bruins’ game at Chapel Hill, which was officiated by Dick Paparo, Gerry Donaghy and Duke Edsell of the ACC, Harrick referred to the trio as Manny, Moe and Curly, apparently confusing the Pep Boys with the Three Stooges.

Harrick wasn’t the only one confused by the events of that day.

North Carolina pressured the Bruins, who came unglued, fell behind early and trailed at halftime, 55-36.

Harrick promised a more competitive game.

“We’ll play them better this time,” he said. “How much better, we’ll have to see.”

Bruin Notes

J.R. Reid scored six points and took four rebounds in 10 minutes Dec. 17 in North Carolina’s 104-78 rout of UCLA at Chapel Hill, N.C. . . . Jeff Lebo, who took an elbow in the face Friday night from Southern’s Carlos Sample, did not practice Saturday. Lebo broke a bone at the bridge of his nose and complained of blurred vision but is expected to play. . . . In December, North Carolina outshot UCLA, 54.2% to 41.0%, and limited freshman Don MacLean to eight points. MacLean, who scored 23 Friday night in an 84-74 win over Iowa State and is the Bruins’ leading scorer, has failed to score in double figures one other time in 30 games.