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Peppers powers Tar Heels

BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

No one, Guthridge included, could have anticipated freshman Julius Peppers, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound mound of muscle, to be making the kind of sudden impact that he has.

“I saw him in high school and thought maybe he was a prospect,” said Guthridge. “But I didn’t expect much out of Julius this season.”

But Peppers, while green, is producing. In 24 minutes of action Thursday night in the Tar Heels’ ACC opener against Clemson, he led the Tar Heels in both rebounds (13) and cheers (countless). He was the single biggest factor in an easy 65-45 Tar Heel win that kept intact an astonishing streak. Clemson still hasn’t won in 46 trips to Chapel Hill.

Peppers’ hot night was vital because Clemson’s forte (not to be confused with the Heels’ Joseph Forte, a sweet-shooting freshman guard who scored 15 points) is rebounding. The Tigers can’t shoot — they’re the worst in the ACC by a bunch — but they’re physical and they outrebound most everyone. But they didn’t outrebound the Heels (10-4 overall, 1-0 ACC), who spanked them on the backboards 43-34 thanks to Peppers and immense 7-footer Brendan Haywood, who controlled nine caroms.

When you shoot 32 percent (including a ghastly 3-for-24 on 3-pointers) and get outrebounded on top of it, you’re obviously not going to win. Clemson (6-7, 0-1) didn’t.

“We’d seen tape of Peppers and were pretty impressed,” said Clemson coach Larry Shyatt. “He’s a whole lot more impressive in person, though. He was by far the most ferocious rebounder on the floor. He brings his team some real physicality and lots of spirit.”

Peppers started bringing it early. It was an ugly 2-2 after three minutes of action and the Smith Center crowd was sitting on its hands when Peppers threw aside his warmups and replaced Kris Lang, who’s still working his way back into shape after injury. The crowd screamed as one as soon as it caught sight of Peppers. The new hero took roughly five seconds to score after he was on the floor. It took him roughly another five seconds to power down his first rebound.

Still, even with Peppers pounding away, the Tigers hung around for awhile. They slowed the game to a crawl, executing Shyatt’s gameplan to perfection, and got even after 11 minutes at 11-11 when Will Solomon, the ACC’s leading scorer, made a pull-up jumper.

But 3-pointers by Jason Capel and Max Owens sparked a 12-2 Tar Heel run out to 23-13. That stretch included a five-point possession after a strong offensive rebound by Peppers. By halftime, after back-to-back Ed Cota-to-Lang lobs, the Heels were ahead 33-20.

Still, Shyatt, who has been battling the flu for several days, felt pretty good about what he had witnessed in the first half from his young charges.

“We were combative. We had controlled the pace and played good defense,” he said. “I thought at that point that we had a chance to go deep in the game.”

Nearly eight minutes into the second half, Clemson was still in contention despite Solomon’s 5-for-19 shooting night. But suddenly a 49-37 Tar Heel lead with 10:32 left became a 64-37 rout after 15 unanswered Tar Heel points. A monstrous left-handed jam by Peppers highlighted the run. Forte made some smooth jump shots in the spurt and also applied the defensive effort that caused Solomon to force some unwise shots.

“They used some size (Forte is 6-4, Solomon is 6-1) on Solomon,” said Shyatt. “They usually do that. They used to put Vince Carter on Terrell McIntyre. Carolina’s defense made Will press some and we lost patience. We threw up some misguided missiles and they turned them into fastbreak points and broke the game open. That’s sort of been their history here.”

Speaking of history, Shyatt bristled a bit when reporters reminded him of Clemson’s infamous streak of futility in Chapel Hill.

“We’ve never talked about that streak as a team,” said Shyatt. “Some of our kids may know about it, some do not. I’m sure our four foreign players don’t know the history of this series.”

But the current Tar Heels know all about it. And they had no intention of letting the streak come to an end on their watch.

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NOTES: The Tar Heels lead the series with the Tigers 106-16, although Clemson did win at Littlejohn Coliseum last February. ... Haywood didn’t hurt his historic field goal percentage pace, going 3-for-4. ... Lang finished with 12 points, finally sinking a few of his patented jump hooks. ... The Tar Heels host N.C. State on Saturday night and Guthridge is apprehensive, calling the Wolfpack “aggressive, physical and much improved.” .... Clemson’s most impressive player was 6-8 freshman RayHenderson out of East Mecklenburg. He had nine rebounds and six points in 22 minutes. ... Attendance was announced at 19,566. ... The East Rowan boys tennis team was honored at halftime with a plaque commemorating their GPA as the highest among all the teams in the state. ... Clemson plays host to Wake on Sunday.