Feb. 13, 2005

By Adam Lucas

HARTFORD--Students were jumping. Connecticut players were yelling. 16,294 Hartford Civic Center fans were on their feet, sensing their defending national champions about to move in for the kill on the visiting Tar Heels.

Charlie Villanueva had just slammed through a dunk that brought UConn within four points, 58-54, with under nine minutes to play. The environment was frenetic.

And there stood the smallest player on the floor, an unruffled look on his face, palms out facing downward, glancing at every member of his team.

Calm down, Raymond Felton seemed to be saying. We've got this.

Then he went out and proved it. Having already sliced through the Connecticut defense for several key baskets, including an impossible half-hook over shot-blocker Josh Boone on Carolina's previous hoop, he drew significant defensive attention. That seemed to be the plan. As soon as two Huskies followed Felton, he swiveled his head to find the open man, hitting Jawad Williams for a wide open three-pointer that restored a 7-point advantage and sucked every bit of enthusiasm out of the Hartford Civic Center crowd.

"I had to make something happen," Felton said. "I had to attack their defense some kind of way so we could get open."

That's exactly how Carolina won the game 77-70--some kind of way. They were coming off a disheartening road loss to their biggest rival. Several key players were trying to fight off slumps. A handful of players were battling sickness, including Jackie Manuel (who threw up on the sideline in the first half), David Noel (who spent much of his bench time with an icepack on the back of his neck), Rashad McCants, and Sean May.

The players refer to it as being "under the car." And with so many bodies ailing, the stars seemed to be aligning for a letdown.

But Felton wouldn't let it happen. He handed out six assists during the crucial opening 8 minutes of the second half and finished the game with 10 assists and two turnovers. His play wasn't particularly flashy, but it was smart. He passed the ball at the right time to the right person, and he penetrated when the opportunity was there. His second half play was in stark contrast to his first half effort, when he was beaten too often by Marcus Williams and looked to be in a bit of a post-Cameron funk.

"Raymond was still feeling the impact of the other night (in the first half)," Roy Williams said. "He felt he didn't make a play down the stretch and that was bothering him...But I thought he was really big for us in the second half."

It turned into a total team effort, the kind where you simply run your finger down the stat sheet and say something good about everyone. Despite his illness, Manuel made five steals. Jawad Williams had a team-high 17 points. Noel made a quality backdoor pass to McCants late in the second half. May turned in what has become routine for him, another double-double. Quentin Thomas and Reyshawn Terry gave Carolina some much-needed relief help in the first half, combing for 3 assists and 1 turnover in 12 minutes of action.

And then there was Rashad McCants, who took Wednesday night's loss so personally that after the game he went player-by-player to his teammates and took personal responsibility for the loss. After a disappointing first half, May got him going with a steal and feed for a fast break dunk, and suddenly McCants was on fire, even running by the Carolina bench and requesting a play that would isolate him in the post, where he took his game after struggling with his outside shot. His ball awareness created a pair of key second-half second chance points and his movement without the ball created the backdoor opportunity on the pass from Noel.

It wasn't the usual way he might control a game, but it was the way his point guard might have wanted him to do it.

The Tar Heels didn't shoot particularly well, hitting just 40.5% of their field goals. They were outrebounded by 12. They saw their shots swatted away 16 times. There was very little flow to the ugly game--in other words, an NCAA Tournament-type environment.

But they still got the win.

Some kind of way.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.