Tar Heels get Wake-up call

WINSTON-SALEM — Maybe the only thing more ubiquitous than the bright yellow shirts at Lawrence Joel Coliseum was the sound of the referee’s whistle.

Fourth-ranked Wake Forest emerged with a hard-fought 95-82 victory against No. 3 North Carolina in a ragged game in which the two teams combined to commit 51 personal fouls.

“This was a nine-hour marathon,” said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser. “It was a good game between two high-caliber teams.”

In all, nine players committed at least three fouls, and four players fouled out.

The steady stream of infractions played greatly to Wake Forest’s advantage, and not just because the Demon Deacons — who were a mediocre 66 percent from the foul line entering the game — shattered an ACC record by sinking all 32 of their free-throw attempts.

The sporadic pace created by the constant whistles also played into Wake’s favor as the Deacons (15-1, 4-0 in the ACC) aimed to slow down the high-powered offense of the Tar Heels (14-2, 3-1).

“I think because they’re such an up-and-down team, they get a lot of baskets in transition, I think the fouls definitely played a favor to us a lot more than it played to them,” said Taron Downey, who scored 18 points off the bench for the Demon Deacons, and hit three 3-pointers in a 90-second span to erase the Tar Heels’ last lead of the game early in the first half.

Fouls played no bigger role than at the onset of the second half. North Carolina halved Wake’s 10-point halftime lead in less than 40 seconds thanks to five points by Rashad McCants.

But 20 seconds after his second bucket, McCants picked up his fourth foul on a reach-in near half-court. With McCants relegated to the bench, Wake ripped off a 15-3 run to build a 17-point lead.

“I think that when a team gets in foul trouble, other guys have to step up,” said McCants, who was serenaded with taunts of “Jail-Bird” in the second half. “I don’t think everybody on our team came to play tonight — I didn’t come to play tonight. I got in early foul trouble, and we just need to play better.”

North Carolina was only able to start chipping away at the lead after five Wake Forest fouls in the span of 1 minute, 4 seconds led to six free throws for the Tar Heels, who made 21 of 26 shots from the line.

McCants sat for nearly 10 minutes after that fourth foul, but once he re-entered the game, he was next to unstoppable, scoring 17 second-half points. The junior led North Carolina with 19 points despite playing just 20 minutes.

“In the second half, we were much more competitive,” said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. “I’m disappointed in the result, but I think it was a heck of a college basketball game.”

But every late charge by McCants and the Tar Heels was answered by Wake Forest, particularly by star point guard Chris Paul, who scored 26 points and had eight assists to only one turnover.

“I have confidence in him, and so do his teammates, that he will play well,” said Prosser, who is now 6-1 against North Carolina since arriving in Winston-Salem.

“He is a very, very, very talented player with an excellent work ethic. He can also read and watch television, so he knew the magnitude of this game, and I think he stepped up to the challenge and rose to the occasion today.”

And then there were the free throws. After McCants cut the lead to seven with 1:51 remaining, Wake converted all 10 of its free throw attempts to ice the victory in the only meeting between the two rivals.

“I think that if you follow us, you will see (the free-throw accuracy) as an aberration,” Prosser said. “We needed all 32 of those, especially down the stretch. We knew Carolina would make a run, so I’m glad we made our free throws.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.