North Carolina Rallies to Defeat Rutgers, 71-67, in Preseason NIT
Nov 20 | Men's Basketball
The Tar Heels, despite 20 turnovers, are off to a 2-0 start off last season's worst-ever 8-20 record and now head to Madison Square Garden next week.
Rutgers (1-1) led 59-48 with 7:26 left, but fell apart down the stretch against a North Carolina lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores.
McCants, who scored 28 points in his collegiate debut in a 30-point win over Penn State on Monday night, was quiet most of the night before his late heroics.
A fastbreak slam by McCants brought the Tar Heels to 67-65 with 2:48 left and his two free throws with 9.2 seconds left helped seal it after Jawad Williams' go-ahead layup with 31 seconds remaining.
Sean May led the Tar Heels with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Williams added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Herve Lamizana scored a career-high 20 points and Ricky Shields also added 20 for Rutgers, but leading scorer Jerome Coleman was 2-of-18 from the field and had five points.
Scarlet Knights coach Gary Waters used the last of his timeouts with five minutes left and could do nothing but watch his team lose the lead down the stretch.
Lamizana scored 13 points over a seven-minute span of the second half as Rutgers built a three-point lead to a 57-46 advantage with 8:20 left.
The Scarlet Knights started 1-for-8 from 3-point range, but made seven of eight over one stretch to stay in the game in the second half.
The Tar Heels ran into a little more defensive opposition than in their 85-55 blowout of Penn State as North Carolina turned it over 12 times in the opening 20 minutes.
Coach Matt Doherty slammed his fist on the scorer's table after Raymond Felton threw a pass away less than six minutes in as the Tar Heels scored on just two of their first 14 possessions.
Felton, with 10 assists in his collegiate debut, had five turnovers by the half in this one and finished with seven giveaways and nine assists.
McCants also got off to a rough start. After making his first seven shots in the opener, the freshman began 1-for-4 with two missed free throws as North Carolina's offense sputtered.
That was in sharp contrast to its opener when North Carolina scored on 12 of its first 15 possessions in building a 25-point halftime lead.
POST-GAME NOTES
Lamizana Career High
Herve Lamizana’s 20-point outing vs. North Carolina was a career-high,
surpassing the 19-point performance he had in last season’s overtime win
over Georgetown at the RAC on Jan. 5, 2002. Lamizana’s four made three-pointers
matched a career high for the 6-10 junior forward. His sterling evening (8-for-11
from the field, 4-for-4 from 3-point range) marked the second time he has played
well vs. an ACC opponent. On Dec. 23, 2001, Lamizana scored 15 points on 5-for-9
shooting in a 76-68 loss to 5th-ranked Virginia.
Shields Pours in 20
Sophomore swingman Ricky Shields poured in 20 points vs. North Carolina, 16
of which came in the first half. Like Lamizana, Shields nailed four three-point
jumpers, which also matched his career high. For the 6-4 Shields, it was the
sixth 20-point game of his career. Last season, he became the first Rutgers
freshman since Phil Sellers in 1972-73 to record consecutive 20-point games
when he scoreed 22 vs. Loyola on Dec. 1, 2001 and followed that up with a 24-point
outing vs. La Salle on Dec. 5, 2001.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs North Carolina
11/20 7 p.m. at Smith Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.
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VISITORS: Rutgers 1-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 LAMIZANA, Herve..... f 8-11 4-4 0-2 1 1 2 2 20 1 0 3 3 35
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... f 6-11 4-8 4-6 1 2 3 3 20 1 3 0 2 37
55 WRIGHT, Kareem...... c 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 6 0 3 0 0 20
03 SHERROD, Mike....... g 2-6 0-1 0-2 1 4 5 2 4 3 4 0 2 33
11 COLEMAN, Jerome..... g 2-18 1-7 0-0 2 2 4 1 5 3 2 0 2 31
04 HILL, Adrian........ 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 5
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 1 1 0 1 12
21 McCOY, Jason........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
32 AXANI, Sean......... 4-6 0-0 0-1 1 3 4 5 8 1 0 1 1 20
44 WOOTEN, Calvin...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 27-66 9-22 4-11 12 19 31 20 67 10 15 4 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-36 41.7% 2nd Half: 12-30 40.0% Game: 40.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-14 42.9% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 40.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-6 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-5 80.0% Game: 36.4% 4
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HOME TEAM: North Carolina 2-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Williams, Jawad..... f 4-10 1-1 4-6 6 5 11 0 13 2 0 0 0 30
32 McCants, Rashad..... f 7-13 2-5 2-4 3 3 6 4 18 2 4 2 3 31
42 May, Sean........... c 8-13 0-0 3-4 0 10 10 2 19 0 2 2 2 35
02 Felton, Raymond..... g 1-7 1-3 2-3 1 6 7 1 5 9 7 0 2 36
05 Manuel, Jackie...... g 5-7 0-1 1-2 2 3 5 3 11 3 6 1 0 32
01 Scott, Melvin....... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 11
14 Holmes, Jonathan.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
34 Noel, David......... 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 10
41 Sanders, Byron...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
44 Johnson, Will....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 6
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 27-57 5-14 12-19 14 30 44 13 71 19 20 5 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 15-29 51.7% Game: 47.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 35.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 63.2% 4
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Officials: Karl Hess, Bryan Kersey, Olandis Poole
Technical fouls: Rutgers-None. North Carolina-None.
Attendance: 14656
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 36 31 - 67
North Carolina................ 33 38 - 71
Second Round, Preseason NIT
Points in the paint-RUTGERS 16,NC 32. Points off turnovers-RUTGERS 19,NC 19.
2nd chance points-RUTGERS 14,NC 14. Fast break points-RUTGERS 0,NC 0.
Bench points-RUTGERS 12,NC 5. Score tied-6 times. Lead changes-13 times.
