UNC Gets Triple-Double From Double Zero in Win

Brendan Haywood accomplished something Monday night that no North Carolina basketball player ever has.

The 7-foot center messed around and got a triple-double. Taking a cue from rapper Ice Cube, Haywood scored 18 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and swatted a school-record 10 shots.

"It's definitely an honor," Haywood said. "Triple-doubles don't happen every day."

Haywood recorded his 10th block with 10:04 remaining in the game to complete the feat. By that time, UNC led Miami (Fla.) 49-28 before cruising to a 67-45 victory.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the No. 14 Tar Heels (4-2), who dropped games to No. 2 Michigan State and unranked Kentucky.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," UNC coach Matt Doherty said. "I was a basket case the last few days."

Doherty's team earned the win largely because it kept the Hurricanes

(3-2) from putting the ball in the basket. UNC played more straight man-to-man defense instead of switching back and forth from man to zone as it had in the season's first five contests.

Doherty also played more with a smaller line-up, alternating Haywood and Kris Lang at times while using Jason Capel and Will Johnson at power forward.

While the Haywood rejection machine controlled the low post ("They kept coming right at me, but today I just kept sending it back"), Ronald Curry played 18 minutes at point guard and led the UNC defense in putting the clamps on Miami's perimeter game.

Five of Miami's top seven players wore headbands as a part of their uniforms, and they shot like those black bands were pulled down over their eyes. UNC hounded the Hurricanes into

23-percent shooting from the field, including 18 percent in the first half.

Those figures left Miami coach Perry Clark shaking his head.

"Can I find somebody that can make a basket? Can we find one play that gets a score?" Clark said.

The Hurricanes never really did, producing two stretches of more than seven minutes where it did not score. Miami went 8:19 without making the scorekeepers flinch in the second half and 7:42 in the opening period.

The Tar Heels took advantage of the droughts by going on a 16-0 run in the second half and a 9-0 spurt in the first. They led by 27 points twice in the second half before Doherty emptied his bench.

The blowout wasn't all smiles for the Tar Heels. Capel sustained a deep bruise to his lower back while converting a lay-up with 8:24 left in the first half. He did not return, but Doherty doesn't expect him to miss any time.

Then there was Joseph Forte, who continued his shooting woes by going

3-for-8 from the field, including 1-for-5 in the first half. He has made less than 35 percent of his shots in his last three games.

"Am I thinking about it? Yes," said Forte, who finished with eight points. "But I think the thing is to just go out there and try to play a good floor game, try to get a triple-double like Brendan."

And Doherty's take on Haywood's big game?

"I played more than 10 minutes one game, I had more than 10 cups of water at halftime and I set more than 10 screens in a game once," Doherty said. "That was my triple-double."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.