DEREK HOWLES

Sports

The best college memories are Carolina blue

By DEREK HOWLES | April 26

Ever since I started working at The Daily Tar Heel, I've gotten to cover sports - something that makes me extremely fortunate. I've been even more fortunate to be able to write a number of sports columns, of which maybe one has dealt with an issue of any sort of traditional importance. I've philosophized about the merits of college basketball announcers. I've lamented misspellings on soccer jerseys (which managed to infuriate a lot of people). I've written about Quentin Thomas not having a posse (which, by the way, he absolutely deserves by this point).

Sports

Heels hang on, kill buzz down stretch

By DEREK HOWLES | February 16

It's not often that David Noel stammers three times before answering a postgame question. But when a reporter asked the North Carolina forward to describe the locker room during halftime of the Tar Heels' 82-75 thriller of a win against Georgia Tech on Wednesday night at the Smith Center, Noel took a few seconds searching for words. "You know how the Tasmanian Devil has this little thing, and he just destroys everything?" Noel finally said. "That's kind of how it was."

Sports

Tar Heels turn over a new leaf

By DEREK HOWLES | February 14

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Never mind they were on pace to score 191 points, having poured in 22 in the game's first 4:36. Never mind they made their first 10 shots - six 2s, three 3s and a free throw. Never mind they jumped out to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 8-0 lead in the opening minute-and-a-half. All those things paled in comparison to the most impressive thing the No. 23 North Carolina Tar Heels did in the early minutes of their 80-70 win Sunday night at the BankUnited Center. Actually it was more like something they didn't do. They didn't turn it over.

Sports

Rational analysts a rarity

By DEREK HOWLES | February 13

College basketball fans don't agree on much. Except when it comes to one thing, of course: the incompetence of the game's announcers. Want proof? Just look around the ACC. It's a subject on which fans of both North Carolina and Duke can unite, as evidenced by their joint pastime of relentlessly smacking Billy Packer around on Internet message boards, in bars and at work. It's a subject that jacks up N.C. State faithful, who wonder why Dick Vitale, while calling a game in the Big Ten, spends so much time praising Roy Williams and so little time discussing the merits of Herb Sendek.

Sports

Hurricanes held at bay

By DEREK HOWLES | February 13

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - North Carolina started the game by scoring nine times on nine shots - once on each of its first nine possessions. Still, Miami came back. North Carolina recorded a rebound margin of plus-11 - an emphatic reversal from its first meeting with the Hurricanes in January, when it was dominated on the boards. Still, Miami kept it close. North Carolina turned it over just 13 times - five fewer than its season average - and only five times in the second half. Still, Miami wouldn't go away.

Sports

UNC retreats from Virginia with loss

By DEREK HOWLES | January 20

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - When Tyler Hansbrough catches the ball in the paint, he's going to score. Sometimes it's on his first shot. Sometimes it's on his second shot. And sometimes it's from the free throw line after he's been fouled. In other words, Hansbrough's efficiency in the lane ranks right up near death and taxes on the scale of certainties in life. But that all changed Thursday night, as Virginia employed a relentless double- and triple-team attack on the North Carolina center, which repeatedly forced him to kick the ball out to open teammates.

Sports

'Canes come to town, Heels fail to board up

By DEREK HOWLES | January 17

Undefeated in the ACC and tied atop the conference standings, then-No. 20 North Carolina entered its game against Miami on a high note. The Tar Heels will enter their next game, however, looking to rebound. In more ways than one. Despite outrebounding its opponents by almost 10 per game - a figure that led the ACC - North Carolina was dominated on the glass by the bigger, quicker, more energetic Hurricanes in an 81-70 loss before 21,413 fans Saturday afternoon at the Smith Center.

Sports

Late goal seals tough defeat

By DEREK HOWLES | October 10

What if North Carolina had converted a few of its nine first-half shots? What if the Tar Heel defender hadn't turned over the ball deep in his own end? What if the opponent who forced the turnover hadn't been staring at an unbroken expanse of green carpet - or was it a red carpet? - between himself and 6-foot-3 goalkeeper Ford Williams? What if Williams had eaten one more bowl of Wheaties as a kid? Maybe then he would've grown to 6-foot-4. Maybe then he could've have stretched juuust far enough to deflect the game-winning goal.

Sports

Tarheel men's soccer team leaves little space for error

By DEREK HOWLES | September 28

So I've been covering the men's soccer team lately, and this one thing keeps bugging me. Every time I go to a game it's there, taunting me. It's so glaring, so obvious, so ridiculous, so annoying that I can't help staring at it, wishing it would just go away. No, I'm not talking about Carolina Fever. (Just kidding. You guys are true fans!)

Sports

UNC tops Tigers despite another 1st-half snooze

By DEREK HOWLES | September 26

Five minutes before North Carolina's men's soccer game Friday, the stands at Fetzer Field were mostly empty. Sure, the band had managed to cobble together a few tuba players and a guy with cymbals and even some woodwinds to play the national anthem. But that was only about 20 members - and about a third of the attendance. The starting lineups were read, and people clapped. About five people. You could tell because you could hear the different sound each one made.