Tar Heels Show a Dogged Determination

Say hello to the NCAA tournament’s most improbable underdog.

North Carolina--long ago faded from the Top 25 and barely worthy of the NCAA field of 64--is in the round of eight.

Make that the crazy eight.

The Tar Heels lost four of their final six regular-season games only to surge within a win of the Final Four after a 74-69 come-from-behind victory over swaggering, stumbling Tennessee.

“We weren’t going to be the team to let that tradition die,” North Carolina forward Jason Capel said.

Down by seven with 4:48 to play--and with 7-foot center Brendan Haywood already on the bench after fouling out--North Carolina climbed back.

“I told everybody we needed to step up, box out, keep our poise,” senior point guard Ed Cota said. “I knew we still had a chance to win this game. We just pulled it out.”

Now all that stands between North Carolina (21-13) and a record 15th Final Four is Tulsa, which will be looking for its first when the teams meet in the NCAA South Regional final Sunday.

Tennessee (26-7) looked as if it would be Tulsa’s opponent until late in the game.

But with 4:27 left, Tar Heel freshman Joseph Forte calmly sank a three-point basket to cut the lead to 64-60. Forte finished with 22 points.

On the other end, Tennessee’s Vincent Yarbrough tried to drive baseline and lost the ball to Capel, whose bank shot moments later left the lead at two.

After a Tennessee turnover by Ron Slay, Cota made a jumper to tie the score.

A turnover on a shot-clock violation gave North Carolina the ball again, and Cota scored on a layup for a 66-64 lead with 1:59 left--North Carolina’s first lead of the second half.

Tennessee’s Tony Harris, 0 for 7 from the field at that point, took another shot.

Make it 0 for 8. Tennessee’s mistakes only magnified.

“I thought for 35 minutes we were awfully good,” Tennessee Coach Jerry Green said. “Then four or five people started trying to make hard plays, and North Carolina made easy baskets.”

And despite a disputed disallowed North Carolina basket on a shot-clock violation, North Carolina marched forward.

Forte, fouled on a rebound, made two free throws with 34 seconds left for a four-point lead.

Tennessee’s Slay missed an ill-advised three-point attempt, and the Tar Heels finished it off, making six of six free throws down the stretch and Max Owens finished it off with a dunk.

Things looked dim for the Tar Heels when Haywood fouled out with 8:03 left and Tennessee leading by three. He finished with 11 points and five rebounds, and was one for four from the line.

North Carolina led by seven early and then fell behind by as many as eight in the first half.

But with Tennessee leading by six, time winding down and the Volunteers’ Harris Walker trying to prevent point guard Cota from getting the ball back, Capel calmly dribbled beyond the top of the key and launched a three-point shot with four seconds left in the half to send the Tar Heels in down only three, 39-36.

By halftime, Haywood had only four points and two rebounds.

Early in the second half, he missed three consecutive free throws as Tennessee opened a bigger lead.

Later he went up for a dunk off a lob on an inbounds play and rattled the rim and backboard--but missed the dunk.

Haywood was outplayed by Tennessee’s Slay, who is 6-8, 225 pounds and likes to grab a rebound and try to take the ball end-to-end.

He threatened to pull off a stunning spin move on one such drive before he was fouled by Forte.

But in the end, he was one of the Tennessee players that took his team down with him.

Now North Carolina, a dubious selection for the NCAA tournament, has won three games and upset Stanford, a former No. 1-ranked team that was the top-seeded team in the South.

“The tournament has been great,” Cota said. “A lot of upper seeds have been knocked off. When we found out we were a No. 8 seed, we knew we had a chance to knock some teams out.”