Tar Heels Dealt 2nd Shocking Loss

And with the exception of Fingleton, every scholarship Tar Heel played eight or more minutes in North Carolina's

58-54 loss in front of 14,705 at the Smith Center. UNC's three walk-ons did not play.

After losing the season opener 77-69 to Hampton, UNC coach Matt Doherty decided to mix things up and try different pieces to put the Tar Heels' offensive puzzle together.

"I went to a shorter, quicker lineup to start the game because I wanted to reward the guys who played good defense against Hampton," Doherty said.

Doherty started Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott against the Wildcats instead of Brian Morrision and Jawad Williams.

Scott, who did not score against Hampton, benefitted from his increased minutes, shooting 5 of 9 from the floor for 15 points. Scott sparked North Carolina's comeback in the first half, scoring eight points in one minute, seven seconds to take a 25-23 lead.

The Wildcats (1-1) jumped out to an early lead against the Tar Heels (0-2), stretching their lead to 12 with 10:06 remaining -- then Doherty subbed in four players to get some fresh legs.

"We wanted to pick up the tempo, so you're going to use more guys," said Holmes, who did not take a shot but dished out three assists in nine minutes of play. "So Coach told everyone to be ready."

Doherty's substitutions didn't solve two of UNC's biggest problems - poor ball handling and abysmal shooting.

The Tar Heels turned the ball over 14 times in the first half alone (20 overall) and shot just 30 percent in the game.

North Carolina also failed to prove that it could solve a zone defense, continuing a trend from the Hampton loss.

"Our team doesn't play a lot of zone," said Davidson coach Bob McKillop, who gave Doherty his first coaching job in 1989. "And we felt like we would stay with it. Maybe I did that because I didn't want to wake up tomorrow and pick up the paper and see, 'That dummy McKillop didn't play them zone.'"

McKillop doesn't have to worry about that now, as his team was able to hold off the Tar Heels' down the stretch.

Capel tied the game at 54 with 0:55 left, but Davidson guard Michael Bree drove through a sea of Tar Heels inside and got the ball to forward Chris Pearson, who slammed a dunk, giving the Wildcats all they would need. Peter Anderer sealed the victory by nailing two free throws.

The Tar Heels have only opened their season 0-2 twice before in their history -- in 1928, when UNC started the season 0-3, and in 1982. Doherty played for that team and said it should have been an 0-3 team, but UNC beat Tulane on Nov. 30, 1982, in triple-overtime.

"I didn't expect it to be like this," said UNC center Kris Lang. "You never go into a season thinking that."

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