03.17.1990 Carolina v Oklahoma - NCAA Second Round

Call it Carolina blue mystique or what have you, but a North Carolina team that has struggled throughout the season knocked top-ranked and testy Oklahoma out of the NCAA tournament Saturday, 79-77, on Rick Fox’s driving layup with one second left.
The victory sends North Carolina to Dallas to face Arkansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals Thursday in Dallas. Arkansas beat Dayton, 86-84, in Saturday’s other second-round game here.

The trip will mark the 10th consecutive season that the Tar Heels have reached the NCAA’s Sweet 16, but, after a 12-loss season that netted North Carolina the eighth seed in the Midwest, it can hardly be called a ho-hum experience.

“This kind of gives us our Carolina blue,” said Fox, who hit on five of seven three-point attempts and scored a game-high 23 points. “Before, we might have been wearing dark blue.”

Leaving the University of Texas’ Erwin Center with faces to match their crimson uniforms were the Sooners (27-5), the region’s top-seeded team.

Oklahoma guard Skeeter Henry, whose on-court antics have been criticized by the media recently, told reporters after the game: “We came as far as we could. Now you people are happy. We’re going home.

“We’re probably still the best team in the nation. Our guys gave 100%. The ball just didn’t bounce right.”

In truth, the Sooners never could generate one of their 45-rpm runs and make North Carolina play their game. “Remember, we like to run,” North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said later. “But we thought that maybe they like to do it better, and so we tried to keep the score in the 70s.”

The Tar Heels shot 53.7%, including seven of 10 from three-point range. And on a day when 6-foot-11 center Scott Williams had only two points and three rebounds before fouling out with 6:35 remaining, North Carolina out-rebounded the quicker Sooners, 32-28.

North Carolina (21-12) took control early, opening a 10-point lead eight minutes into the game, and every time Oklahoma’s pressure turned the tempo up a notch, North Carolina was able bring it back to Smith’s desired level.

The Sooners led by four, their biggest lead of the game, with three minutes left in the first half, Smokey McCovery’s layup off a fast break capping a 13-2 Sooner streak. But the Tar Heels answered with a 7-1 run to lead by two at the half.

Oklahoma crept back into the lead again early in the second half, going ahead by three with 13:35 showing. But the Tar Heels answered again, using all 45 seconds on the shot clock with their spread offense and making each shot count.

With 8:20 remaining, a jump shot by Pete Chilcutt--who scored 17 points--put North Carolina ahead by seven.

The Sooners came back, retaking the lead at 74-73 with 1:36 left. Fox came back with a three-pointer, but Oklahoma center William Davis--who had 22 points and 14 rebounds--scored inside, drew a foul and finished off the three-point play: Sooners by one again, 39 seconds to play.

The Tar Heels looked shaky as they worked for the last shot. Finally, with Smith frantically making a timeout signal that none of his players saw, point guard King Rice was fouled by McCovery. Rice made the front end of his one-and-one opportunity to tie the game, 77-77, but he missed the second free throw.

The 6-9 Chilcutt, however, managed to keep the ball alive, and it went out of bounds off the Sooners’ Jackie Jones under the North Carolina basket. The Tar Heels had another shot with eight seconds left.

Smith brought a little levity to the situation by reminding Fox in the huddle that a three-point shot wouldn’t be necessary to win the game. Then the Tar Heels went out and won it.

Rice inbounded the ball to Hubert Davis, who fed Fox on the right side. The 6-7 junior pump faked--”I’m surprised they fell for it,” he said--swept along the baseline and flicked his winning shot off the glass, well ahead of Jones’ late dash for a block.

Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs, who seemed to view his time in Austin as some sort of ordeal, said of Fox’s play: “We didn’t stop their penetration all day. The guy just took the ball and did a good job. We could sit here and talk strategy all day. It’s not going to change things.”

No, Oklahoma will go home and North Carolina will go to Dallas. On paper, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Sooners had surged into the tournament with eight consecutive victories, taking over the No. 1 spot in the rankings by routing both Missouri and Kansas when those teams were No. 1.

North Carolina had lost four of its last six games, including an overtime loss to Virginia in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

“Check our schedule again,” Smith said after the Oklahoma game. “A lot of teams playing that schedule might lose a few.”

It was having that experience that paid off in crunch time against Oklahoma, Fox said. “Our poise just took us down the stretch,” he said.

When told that Henry still considers Oklahoma to be the best team in the country, Fox showed he has some Sooner red in there with the Carolina blue.

“They’re a team of controversy,” he said. “They can say what they want to say. We’re the ones going to Dallas.”

Then, perhaps remembering whom he plays for, Fox added, “Although I don’t mean that in a cocky way.”