North Carolina is headed back to the regional semifinals after the young Tar Heels found a way to survive the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
The second-seeded Tar Heels (28-7) are advancing after rallying past Washington and then withstanding the Huskies’ frantic, final push.
Now they’re preparing for their record 24th trip to the round of 16 and will play 11th-seeded Marquette (22-14) on Friday night in the East regional semifinals in Newark, N.J.
“We’ve got to keep the same mental focus, just go out there and just try win and contribute,” sophomore Dexter Strickland said. “Whatever you have to do to help this team win, you’ve got to do it well.”
North Carolina entered with only two players who had ever played in the tournament – forwards Tyler Zeller and Justin Watts, who combined for 49 minutes during the Tar Heels’ 2009 national championship run.
None of the scholarship players knows what it feels like to lose in the NCAA tournament; they were in either high school or at other colleges when the Tar Heels lost – in the 2008 Final Four.
“The kids have really done some nice things, and with each and every week during the course of the season I think we’ve gotten better,” coach Roy Williams said following the 86-83 third-round win over Washington in Charlotte, N.C.
With a starting lineup that includes two freshmen and two sophomores surrounding Zeller, it’s natural to expect occasional struggles, but a common theme has emerged in this postseason for the Tar Heels – they tend to fall behind on the scoreboard.
North Carolina is a combined 4-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA tournaments, but have trailed by double figures in all but one of those games. Their latest escape helped them beat a Washington team that led them by 11 in the first half and five in the second.
“These two games here were much better than what we played last week (at the ACC tournament), to say the least,” Williams said.
Harrison Barnes, the nation’s most highly touted incoming freshman who has earned a reputation as a clutch shooter, followed his big shots in the ACC tournament full with the go-ahead basket against the Huskies – a 3-pointer with 4 minutes left that put the Tar Heels up for good.
Strickland hit a pair of late free throws, lanky forward John Henson made a key defensive play on an inbound pass to protect a one-point lead.
“Even some of the games that we’ve won, we’ve had instances where a guy would try to do it on his own, and I never felt that way” against Washington, Williams said. “I thought that everybody was working together, everybody was trying to carry out their assignment.”
The Tar Heels overcame what could have been a couple of costly mental blunders to preserve their three-point advantage in the final seconds. Washington’s Venoy Overton uncorked a premature halfcourt heave that fell well short, but the ball hit off Henson’s hands and went out of bounds, giving the Huskies one final chance with 0.5 seconds left.
Isaiah Thomas’ final jumper hit the rim as Henson leaped to block it. The Washington bench erupted, claiming Henson should have been called for goaltending.
Ultimately, it wouldn’t have mattered: Thomas’ foot was on the 3-point line.
Maybe that inexperience is starting to work to North Carolina’s benefit. Perhaps, on college basketball’s biggest stage, not knowing is benefiting this free-spirited bunch of youngsters.
“John (Henson) is a very mischievous 11-year-old who happens to be about 20,” Williams quipped.
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