Tar Heels Win Big For Home Folks

East Regional

With 32 seconds left, the sky-blue crowd rose as one Thursday night at Greensboro Coliseum in tribute both to the dominance of North Carolina and the comfort of familiar surroundings.

Serenaded by a heavily partisan crowd of 23,235, the No. 1 Tar Heels flogged Michigan State, 73-58, to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s final eight.

The decibel level hardly could have been higher had Carolina been allowed to play in its Chapel Hill palace, the Dean Smith Center, just 50 miles up the road.

“You got the sense there were a lot of people out there rooting for Carolina,” Tar Heels All-American Antawn Jamison said in an obvious understatement after his 20-point, 14-rebound game.

The short trip to Greensboro, where the Tar Heels are now 98-25 all-time, was Carolina’s reward for top seeding in the East Region. It probably wouldn’t have mattered where they played the Spartans (22-8) on this night, though.

Alternating between man-to-man and zone defense, Carolina completely shattered Michigan State’s offensive rhythm. Perhaps more impressively, the Tar Heels dominated the boards against the Big Ten’s best rebounding team by a whopping 51-33 margin.

“We frustrated them,” Jamison said. “Our defense was everywhere. Team defense really got to them.”

The Spartans never found an answer on offense, shooting just 30.9 percent for the game and 24 percent from the three-point line.

Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves, Big Ten Player of the Year, hit just 7 of 21 shots and had to play 39 minutes to get his team-high 18 points.

Vince Carter matched Jamison’s 20 points and added 10 rebounds. Shammond Williams hit only 2 of 6 3-point tries but threw down two dunks and totaled 18 points.

Down 38-24 at halftime, the Spartans made their only serious run at the outset of the second half. A 16-6 run, capped with a pair of three-pointers by Charlie Bell, got them within four points.

After getting within 44-40, the Spartans didn’t score for the next 5:44, and didn’t get another field goal for 9:41, missing 15 straight shots.