Tar Heels Falter Down the Stretch

Ice cold.

That's what Carolina went - ice cold…colder than the coldest Arctic day. This 96-84 loss to Georgetown in overtime will be one that the Tar Heels will remember for a long time. It was one that got away.

Seven minutes and 19 seconds away from the Final Four, and with a ten-point lead, the Tar Heels were in control. But who was to know that during the next 12 minutes and change Carolina would hit just two of their 22 field goal attempts. I didn't think it was possible for a team with the talent of Carolina, with the offensive firepower that they have, to completely fall apart. I don't think they thought it was possible either.

Roy Williams sensed a momentum change even before that.

"It was a ten-point game, we came down and had a wide open three, I didn't even want it because it was so early in the shot clock and it missed," a dejected Williams said. "All of a sudden they get a dunk at the other end, we come down and miss, they get a three at the other end and all of a sudden it's a five-point game."

Although Georgetown was behind, and had been the entire second half, they seemed the more confident team. The Hoyas were a team that was used to coming back. They didn't panic and they began to get the shots they wanted - high percentage shots, and Carolina could do nothing about it.

"We're playing against a team that tries to go back door; we didn't guard it effectively," Williams lamented. "We didn't do a good job of putting pressure on the passes. We didn't get turnovers and their back door cuts led to dunks."

Still, Carolina had a 75-65 lead with 6:02 left, but a basketball game is a game of momentum, a game of runs, and Georgetown had one coming. They became the aggressor. They started to drive the ball to the basket and the Hoyas became the team with the swagger, while little by little Carolina began to wilt…and as the shots began to miss, the shoulders began to sag.

Georgetown's active zone defense was giving Carolina fits. Everybody knows Carolina's strength is pushing the ball up the floor, and the Hoyas began to deny that. A very active zone defense limited UNC to shooting jumpers, and perhaps just as important, they got on the boards, limiting the second-chance points that had been Carolina's life blood.

A 16-6 Hoya run over those last six minutes, capped by Jonathan Wallace's three with 31 seconds left tied it up at 81-81. I sensed that if Carolina didn't win it in regulation they were in deep trouble.

Carolina had a good chance at the end to win it, but Wayne Ellington's open shot was off the mark.

The overtime was a Georgetown blitzkrieg with Carolina in full retreat. The Hoyas outscored UNC 15-3, as the Heels missed their first 12 shots of overtime.

This was a shocking loss for a team that believed it was destined for the Final Four. The team with so much depth was the one that wore down in the end.

Sophomore center Tyler Hansbrough, who scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, took the loss harder than anybody.

"They have some tough players," a downcast Hansbrough said. "And down the stretch they hit some tough shots and we didn't."

That included Hansbrough, who managed just 6 of 15 from the floor.

So it ends for Carolina in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A team with Final Four talent that could almost see the Atlanta city limit, but that ran out of gas just a few minutes short.

"I loved coaching my team, I loved being with them," said an emotional Roy Williams. "We just didn't make enough shots down the stretch."