Dean Goes To Head Of Class Smith Passes Rupp On All-Time Victories List As Unc Advances

They came to honor their coach with cheers and chants of “Dean, Dean” on his extraordinary day.

Minutes after breaking the record as the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history, Dean Smith hurried off the court and ran a gantlet of former players in the hallway outside the locker room.

“I never dreamed they were all coming back. I don’t know how they got tickets,” Smith said.

“That walk down the hallway was so special. As any teacher knows when a former pupil comes back, it’s special,” he said. “They all seem to remember when I got mad at them. I don’t.”

From former stars such as Sam Perkins, Bobby Jones and Mitch Kupchak to player-turned-coach George Karl to walk-ons and managers, they all saw Smith make history when topseeded North Carolina beat Colorado 73-56 Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I share it with all the guys who played,” Smith said of the record.

Win No. 877 for Smith put the Tar Heels (26-6) in the round of 16 for the 21st time in his 36 seasons, and was his 63rd NCAA Tournament victory, extending his own record. UCLA’s John Wooden is second with 47.

Smith tied Adolph Rupp with 876 wins on Thursday when North Carolina beat Fairfield 82-74 in the first round.

“It had never been a goal at any point. I’m not that type of goal-oriented person,” Smith said. “Wait. I’d like to win No. 27 (this season). That’s my goal.”

President Clinton, who watched the game from his hospital suite, congratulated Smith.

“As a great college basketball fan, he of course followed that with a great deal of interest,” White House press secretary Mike McCurry said of Clinton, who is recovering from knee surgery.

“The president wanted me in particular to extend congratulations to coach Dean Smith for his record-breaking wins now in the NCAA Division I.”

The 66-year-old Smith broke the record at Joel Coliseum with his adoring Carolina faithful filling most of the 14,600-seat building just 80 miles from Chapel Hill. The crowd stood and chanted “Dean, Dean” after the game.

Smith is 877-253 as a head coach, all at North Carolina, while Rupp, who retired in 1971 and died in 1977, was 876-190 in 41 years, all at Kentucky. The two met seven times, with Smith winning five of the games.

The Tar Heels dominated the ninth-seeded Buffaloes (22-10) in the second half, and their 14th consecutive victory moves them into the East Regional semifinals next Friday in Syracuse, N.Y., against California, which beat Villanova 75-68.

“I’m really glad we’ll be playing next weekend,” Smith said. “It was not an easy win but we’re very pleased about it.”

After a week of trying to deflect attention from the record so it wouldn’t distract his team, there was little Smith could do Saturday. Photographers and TV cameramen followed his every move before the game and the 38-14 run over the first 12 minutes of the second half had a whole building, and an entire state, ready to explode with pride.

Antawn Jamison led the Tar Heels with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while freshman point guard Ed Cota had 15 points and Shammond Williams 15.

“We’re a part of history. It’s not just something this team accomplished,” Jamison said. “It was very emotional. People didn’t think we’d get it this year, but we came together as a team.”

Fred Edmonds led the Buffaloes with 18 points, while star guard Chauncey Billups had 11 on 5-for-16 shooting.

“We just didn’t knock down shots in the second half and they were hitting them,” said Billups, who averaged 19.4 points.

Colorado led 31-30 after a ragged first half.

The Tar Heels came out in the second half a different team. They started hitting their shots and the defense forced turnovers that became easy baskets.

Cota, the catalyst to North Carolina rebounding from a worst-ever 0-3 Atlantic Coast Conference start, keyed the burst. He hit two 3-pointers in the first 7 minutes, the second giving the Tar Heels a 48-39 lead. He followed that with a great pass to Serge Zwikker, who converted a three-point play for a 12-point lead.

California 75, Villanova 68

California is one of the more physically imposing basketball teams in the nation. But, that’s only half of the Golden Bears game these days.

“It’s more than physical, we’re a mentally tough team as well,” said Cal forward Alfred Grigsby, who scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Golden Bears advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993.

The Golden Bears (23-8) are now 4-1 since Ed Gray, a second-team AllAmerican who averages 28.4 points a game, broke his foot on Feb. 22.

“People expected us to panic and get desperate, but we all know each other and we know what each are capable of doing and we each know our roles,” said Grigsby. “Everybody on this team can play defense, and that is the ultimate focus right there.”

Gray, the nation’s second-leading scorer, sat on the bench with his right foot in an air cast and the rest of his teammates picking up the scoring slack.

“We never packed it in,” Cal coach Ben Braun said of Gray’s injury. “We were all disappointed when Ed Gray went down. You’re not only talking about one of the best players on our team and in the Pac-10, but you are talking about one of the better players in the country and one of the most prolific scorers in the country.

“We knew that the points were going to be an adjustment,” Braun added. “We just weren’t going to be able to get easy baskets. Nothing today was easy, but that’s kind of how our season has been all year long. We really hadn’t had anything come easy to us anyway.”

Tony Gonzalez, the hero of fifth-seeded Cal’s opening-round 55-52 win against Princeton, led the way with a season-high 23 points, while Randy Duck added 16, including a pair of key 3-pointers that sparked his team in the second half.

No. 4 seed Villanova (24-10), a top 10 team in the preseason, made another early exit from the NCAAs after losing in the first or second rounds in each of the last two seasons. Alvin Williams led the Wildcats, who shot 34 percent in the second half, with 31 points.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NCAA SCORES Saturday’s second-round scores from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament:

East Regional North Carolina 73, Colorado 56 California 75, Villanova 58

Southeast Regional Kansas 75, Purdue 61 Arizona 73, Charleston 69

Midwest Regional Iowa State 67, Cincinnati 66 UCLA 96, Xavier 83

West Regional St. Joseph’s 81, Boston Coll. 77 (OT) Kentucky 75, Iowa 69