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Sports Monday mmmmm j I _ > ' -X: .. .- ... .. . i<a - j ', * - DTH ALISON DOMNAS North Carolina junior Matt Baldwin fires off the wall at the start of the 200-yard backstroke Friday against N.C. State. Tar Heels Take Out Tigers Bv Evan Mark field Senior Writer CLEMSON, S.C. - Once North Carolina’s players realized there was lit tle hope for cooling off the hot hand of Clemson guard Will Solomon, they opted for the next best thing. They made sure his fiery fingers touched the ball as infre quently as possible. Hens Basketball UNC 73 Clemson 60 As the sophomore got fewer looks at the basket, UNC’s men’s basketball team made sure it would not be smoked by his stroke and held on for a 73-60 win in front of 10,300 at Littlejohn Coliseum. “Once a guy gets going, he’s tough to stop,” UNC forward Jason Capel said. “I think in the last few minutes, we did a good Aggressive Cota Drives Tar Heels Past Clemson See Page 9 job of denying (Solomon) the ball, mak ing him get tough looks, and making somebody else win the game for them.” But nobody stepped in to fill Solomon’s shoes. In the final seven minutes of the game, Clemson (8-14, 2-7 in the ACC) shot 1-for-11 from the field, the lone bas ket coming on a tip-in by center Adam Allenspach. “I thought we were getting shot after shot that we liked,” Clemson coach Bv Mike Ogle Assistant Sports Editor The only thing about ESPN and ABC college basketball analyst Dick Vitale that shines more than his hair cut is his personality. Vitale’s enthusiasm and his knowl edge of college basketball have made him one of the best-known per sonalities in sports broadcast ing. He coined phrases such as “PTPer” and “diaper dandy” that are now household terms. He joined ESPN in 1979 and is signed through 2004. Vitale coached at the University of Detroit (1973-77) and for -4,®? For audio clips and the full transcribed interview with Dick Vitale, go online at wtvw.unc. edu/dth the Detroit Pistons (1978-79). Vitale signed copies of his new book, “Campus Chaos: Why the Game I Love is Breaking My Heart” on Friday afternoon in Student Stores. He talked with The Daily Tar Heel about basketball and his career while he promoted his book and posed for photographs with fans. The Daily Tar Heel: How do you feel about the (seating) situation here? Dick Vitale: The situation should f ; \\/y ■' Larry Shyatt said. “We may not have made it, but we got what we want ed.” Outside of Solomon’s lights-out perfor mance, the Tigers’ long-range shoot ing was horren dous throughout the contest. While Solomon was 10-for-18 overall and 6-for-7 from downtown on his UNC point guard Ed Cota scored a team-high 17 points and added seven assists and six rebounds. way to a game-high 26 points, his team mates were just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc. At the other end, UNC (14-9,5-4) put the ball in the basket with consistency. All five starters scored in double figures, and the team shot 52 percent overall. Tar Heel point guard Ed Cota pene trated and scored virtually at will, lead ing UNC with 17 points -most of which came in the paint. Cota dropped in floater after floater in the lane to spear head North Carolina’s relentless offen sive attack. The senior also added seven assists and six boards. “Ed’s being more aggressive offen sively, and I’d like to see more of that,” UNC coach Bill Guthridge said. “1 thought he was sensational.” Solomon was just as terrific for the Tigers until the Tar Heels started deny- The King of College Hoops 'Chaos' rmniwm v " * ■i 1 ; mm *p: *£ 4k i - 'ttbt 1 jHHKi i Wm , .kJL A 'V DTH/EMILY SCHNURE Dick Vitale, a basketball commentator for ABC Sports and ESPN, speaks to fans at a book signing Friday at Bull's Head. He inscribed copies of "Campus Chaos: Why The Game I Love Is Breaking My Heart." have been resolved years ago prior to the building’s being erected, because what’s happened now is there’s no way in the world you can slap in the face people who have donated X num ber of dollars based on building the Smell of Victory Eludes UNC Men Bv James Giza Staff Writer Heading into the meet’s final event Friday against N.C. State, the North Carolina men’s swimmers and divers could smell victory in Koury Natatorium. The Tar Heels had their first lead after taking the top three spots in the penulti mate event - the 200-yard breaststroke - Men’s N.C.State ..123.5 UNC 119.5 and needed to touch first in the 400-yard freestyle relav to seal the victor)'. They missed it by four seconds. The putrid odor of the 123.5-119.5 Wbrmn’s Swimming N C. State 86 UNC 157 loss left UNC pining for the fast approaching ACC Championships - and a chance to clear the air. ing him the ball after he dropped 16 points on them in the first half, including three consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the period. Only a 3-ball from Cota just before the buzzer kept Solomon’s buckets from swinging the momentum the Tigers’ way as the teams headed for the locker room. But Solomon stayed hot to start the beginning of the second half as well. “I got fired up, and shots were just falling,” Solomon said. “It’s a matter of confidence.” UNC had to survive a surge from the Solomon-led Clemson squad midway through the second half before solving that problem and eventually taking repeated trips to the line in the closing moments to seal the win. Solomon hit two 3-pointers and a layup to pull the Tigers within four going into an official timeout at the 7:28 mark. But after that, the Tar Heels worked to keep the ball out of Solomon’s deadly hands. He took only three shots the rest of the game and missed them all, including one that was blocked by UNC center Brendan Haywood. “We definitely wanted to get him inside where I could kind of bother his shot toward the end of the game,” said Haywood, who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. “I really wasn’t even focusing on my man that much. I knew my teammates had my help, and I was going over to make sure Will Solomon didn’t score.” building. Those people built the build ing. I feel bad. I’d love to see the stu dents on the floor. But that should have been designated at the time that the building was constructed. They should have taken downstairs and o tM “(The loss) won’t mean any thing if we beat them at confer ence,” UNC swim mer Brad Kline said, “but right now it definitely hurts a little bit.” The Tar Heel women also saw action, downing State w'ith ease, 157-86. But it was the men’s meet that had all the drama. UNC swimming and diving coach Frank Comfort said N.C. State's request for a 13-event format was legal. Because of a disagreement between UNC coach Frank Comfort and State coach Scott Hammond, the regular 16- event meet format was abandoned for a condensed 13-event version. Comfort wanted to go with 16 events, but Hammond was adamant about only including 13. Comfort said NCAA rules stipulated that when two coaches cannot UNC freshman Joseph Forte, given the task of guarding Solomon, received some advice from injured point guard Ronald Curry, who advised the young ster to force Solomon to go to his right and send him toward the big men. “I played a little bit smarter (later in the second half),” Forte said. “I tried to make him go inside more, make him go in there and shoot over those guys.” Although Forte and the lar Heels had effectively erased Solomon down the stretch, the Tigers hung around long enough to be within four, at 62-58, with 3:09 remaining. Clemson accomplished that feat despite shooting just 31.4 per cent from the field in the second half -a far cry from the 52.2 percent clip it shot during the first 20 minutes of play. The shooting numbers dipped for Clemson thanks in large part to a 2-of-10 performance from forward Andrius Jurkunas, who fired up most of the 3-pointers once the Far Heels sealed Solomon off. Only the fact that they hardly turned the ball over - they had six turnovers in the game - left the Tigers with a chance to shoot their way to victory. But without Solomon scoring like he had earlier in the game, Clemson couldn’t hold on. “With four minutes to go, we had them right where we wanted them,” Solomon said. “But down the stretch, we couldn’t buy a shot.” The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. given the students a better section and a larger amount right on the floor. I don’t see a remedy to go back now, because I don’t see those people giving up their seats. They’ve donated too much money. And I think that if a Track Teams Enjoy Success in Fairfax, Va. Senior DeAnne Davis (left) finished first in the triple jump and placed second in two other events to lead the UNC women Saturday. See Page 11. agree on the event format of a men’s meet, the schedule automatically defaults to a preset one- with 13 events. The default schedule does not include the 100-yard butterfly, breaststroke or backstroke - three events UNC rou finely scores well in. It was the same for mat N.C. State had requested. “If I’d been him, I’d have been asking for the same thing,” said Comfort, who was on the NCAA rules compfifiee in 1982 that set the event format. “Perfectly within the rules.” Chris Helin led the Tar Heels with victories in the 200-yard individual medley, the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. But the Tar Heels were out-touched at the wall in several races, giving the ’Pack the chance it needed. “We just basically handed them the win,” Helin said. “We had opportunities, but we just opened the door for them, and they took advantage of it.” Like the men, the women also swam a shortened 13-event format, but this V ■Aft/ DTH/KATK MtXLNIK North Carolina forward Julius Peppers goes up for a jumper against Clemson's Andrius Jurkunas. Peppers made the shot, his only field goal attempt Sunday in UNC's 73-60 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum. student was there and it was their fam ily, they wouldn’t want them to give up their seats. There’s no question the Maryland game was exciting. It was a great advantage, and that is an advan tage at Duke, where those kids are on the floor and are a vital part of inspir ing that team. And in close games, that usually turns the tides. DTH: You’ve been doing this for a long time ... DV: It’s my third decade -21 years. I did the very first game ever on ESPN. DTH: How much longer do you want to do this? DV: As long as I have the enthusi asm and as long as 1 have the same spirit and feeling I have today, age is not a factor. I’m 60, and I act 12. I’ll match my energy with any young kid or anybody out there. The bottom line is 1 will know. Nobody will have to tell me. I will know when I lose the urge of going to an arena, lose the desire to want to be at courtside. I will be able to say, ‘bye-bye,’ and that’s the end of it. But it’s been great. I tell you it’s been unbelievable to have now, this is actually my sixth book - four hard covers - being in videos, being in movies. Being with all the kids is just a great thrill, and when I lose that thrill, then it’s time to pack it up. You know what’s great about our job as opposed to coaching? You can go on if you can carry yourself physically and you’re in good shape. One thing I’m See VITALE, Page 9 TODAY: ■ The UNC women's basketball team hosts Virginia at 7:30 p.m. The No. 24 Cavaliers lead the all-time series with the Tar Heels 28-26 and are gunning for a season sweep of UNC. time both coaches agreed. Unlike in the men’s meet, however, the Tar Heel women’s victoiy was never in question. It wouldn’t have mattered if they swam 13, 16 or 105 races - the Wolfpack, which hasn’t beaten UNC since 1981, was simply outmatched. UNC stroked off with victories in the first three events, boosting the score to 46-9 and immediately putting any ratio nal hopes of a State comeback out of reach. Senior Jennifer Strasburger, com peting in her last regular-season meet as a Tar Heel, ensured herself a memorable farewell by claiming first in both the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle. She said the easy victory was a wel come respite for UNC as the team head ed into the ACC Championships. Said Strasburger, “It’s kind of nice because you don’t want to spend a lot of energy, a lot of stress and a lot of emo tion on a dual meet.” The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. UNC Tennis Serves Up Goose Egg The North Carolina men's tennis team won its season opener against Campbell without dropping a set. By Rola\d Hoffman Staff Writer After struggling in the ACC Indoor Championships two weeks ago, the North Carolina men’s tennis team looked to bounce back against Campbell on Saturday. It did just that. The Tar Heels won every match en route to a Hen’s Tennis Campbell 0 UNC 9 9-0 victory against the Camels at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. Senior Tripp Phillips led the charge for UNC (1-0). He played in his first doubles match in almost two years after sitting out last season with a shoulder injury. After struggling early, Phillips settled down and garnered come-from-behind victories in singles and doubles play. In No. I doubles, Phillips and partner See MEN’S TENNIS, Page 9 14
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