ATLANTA – In a fascinating game fueled by storylines of controversy and attrition, North Carolina edged N.C. State, 69-67, in an ACC tournament semifinal Saturday.
UNC coach Roy Williams didn’t play John Henson (left wrist injury) during the game because Henson still couldn’t catch or grip a basketball without pain. Williams said Henson was questionable for the ACC tournament final. “If it had been the Final Four, he probably would have played,” Williams said of Henson.
N.C. State forward C.J. Leslie was the best player on the floor for long stretches, but he didn’t play the final 8:03 after picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in 32 seconds when the Wolfpack coaches didn’t take him out immediately following his fourth foul.
N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said he didn’t know it was Leslie’s fifth foul when it happened. He blamed the problem on himself and the N.C. State coaching staff, calling it a “miscommunication.” If he had known Leslie already had four fouls, Gottfried said, he would have taken Leslie out. It was a bad mistake by N.C. State.
N.C. State was down by five points when Leslie left, but they still made it a game – and by doing so should have assured themselves an NCAA tournament spot in my opinion. Roy Williams said he thought N.C. State (22-12) should make the field as well.
Lorenzo Brown scored five straight points and the game was tied at 67-all (and Tyler Zeller had fouled out, too) when Kendall Marshall drove with the shot clock running out and knocked down a bank shot with 10 seconds to go (N.C. State fans believed Marshall charged on the play, but no call was made).
Then N.C. State’s Scott Wood then threw the ball away trying to get it inside when Justin Watts saw the passing lane and made a timely steal. Watts heaved the ball downcourt and N.C. State recovered the ball and called timeout with 1.2 seconds remaining. There was a lot of contact on the lob pass to Richard Howell, but no foul was called and UNC won by the two-point margin of Marshall’s shot.
“I feel like in that situation I don’t think they’re going to call a ticky-tack foul,” Marshall said of the no-call on his banked jumper. “Thankfully I was able to make that play for my team.”
Gottfried said he wasn’t going to talk about the officiating because he would get fined if
he did so.
Henson looked lonely on the second row of the Tar heels’ bench, and the Tar Heels sometimes looked lonely in the paint without him. Without Henson’s Defensive Player of the Year shotblocking and rebounding, N.C. State could and did attack the basket with much more impunity. UNC finished the game without a single blocked shot but did outrebound N.C. State by one (34-33) without Henson.
Gottfried lobbied again for his team to get an at-large NCAA bid in the postgame. “We’re going to be a tough out if we get in it,” Gottfried said.
Zeller had 23 points and nine rebounds for UNC, while Leslie led the Wolfpack for 22 points and Howell had a game-high 12 rebounds. Marshall had 12 points and 10 assists for UNC.
“He makes the team run,” Zeller said of Marshall. “He’s very valuable.”
“No one has a player who’s indispensable,” Williams said, “but if we do, it’s Kendall.”
We're moving!
9 years ago
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17 comments:
Officials ruined the flow of the game. Two good teams, a lot on the line, and instead of a great contest we got steady flow of bad calls both ways and loss of great players down the stretch. Looks like they are getting even for Hess. Players made it a game despite the officials, but ACC should be embarrassed that this was on National stage. Wolfpack lost it, not officials, but they sure stole the joy of the game from the fans.
Definitely agree with anonymous. Horrible officiating.
I agree also the Officials ruin a good game
UNC owns Nc state... Lol 13 in a row and counting
Karl Hess was at that game in spirit. How can referees where initials on their shoes, "K" and "H" (previous games) and the ACC does nothing about it. The ACC is a joke when it comes to officiating. Good game by both teams, too bad the offials have runined. Hey LoL person on owning, who owns whom in football?
Agree, all those officials supporting Hess should be fired. Karl Hess should be asked to leave, and the ACC should apologize to their fan base. Credibility is at stake.
I'm an official at the high school level for 23 years. Had there been a call on the Marshall basket it would have been in Marshall's favor. It was a block.
Let me know when it's football season idiot...same result. Go heels!!! Lol... NC State is a joke headed to the N.I.T.
Hey Anon @ 6:25: SEC fan here. That's good to know you think it was a block. Then by all means, CJ Leslie's 4th foul due to a charge should've been called a blocking foul too because they were nearly IDENTICAL plays! Again, the ACC and it's favoring Referees are a complete JOKE! But we often forget that the ACC is "lead" by John Swofford, who happen to graduate from UNC AND worked for UNC. Many wonder why the ACC's OVERALL quality has tumbled over the years...go figure.
"I'm an official at the high school level for 23 years. Had there been a call on the Marshall basket it would have been in Marshall's favor. It was a block."
I agree, but it was called a charge when Leslie did the same thing earlier. That's the complaint. They were inconsistent. Even the final foul on Zeller shouldn't have been called. He barely touched the State player's hand. One minute, they would let the guys just play and the next they were calling fouls for almost nothing. It's been like this for most of the season. They need to set a tone and stick with it.
The KH stuff has been completely unprofessional. KH picked those two fans out of the crowd on purpose. There's no way that he didn't. There were plenty of fans yelling worse things at him. And then the 'KH' on the shoes... Really? And then telling coach G. to 'shut your f$!^@*^ a*&. Hmmm. Are those professionals? Are they even adults? They are acting 14 year olds.
Anon 6:25
Your take on that call probably explains why you were still at the HS level after 20+ years. If you worked for Bill Freeman then your ability was probably more on the YMCA youth league level.
Controversy? This was a crime.UNCheat was lucky to win and FSU will win tomorrow as long as HESS and his crooked crew are not officiating.
UNC + Refs = a Win for UNC - always has been always will be ---------
Carolina was missing 3 players and State still couldn't get the job done...
I have watched this kind of trend for 30 years now. Non-blue teams will not get the call. Sure, it appears that fouls are being called on both sides. But, if you look at the calls closely, calls on the non-blue are game changers while the calls on the blues are at non-critical times or at non-factor players. No matter how good the non-blues become, it will be hard to win when you're playing 5 non-blues against 8 on the bb court.
you guys are a bunch of whiners. the game was poorly officiated at times, ok, but equally, in both directions. you think leslie's 4th foul was the same play as marshall's score at the end? try again. go back and watch the video, and/or look at the photos (conveniently, there's a group of photos dedicated solely to those two plays on this very website.) hell, i'll even provide the link http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/03/10/3088595/calls-and-no-calls-at-the-acc.html#storylink=misearch.
you can clearly see watts DIRCECTLY in front of leslie, and leslie leading with his elbow and shoulder to clear room. fast forward to marshall's drive/shot: pretty clear that alex johnson is still sliding sideways, and leaning forward to create contact. it's not the same call, at all. state, you had a chance with henson out, and you ALMOST made the most of it. don't blame the refs, who officiated equally poorly for both sides, for your inability to get it done.
Difference between State and unc in 2012 Tournament - State gave Kansas a game. But don't worry unc fans...you stole Roy from them and I know that is really hurting the KU faithful tonight!
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