Guthridge went little, not big

BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

It was ironic, too, that Tar Heel coach Bill Guthridge, often maligned for his conservatism, was bold enough to go with the little, but lethal lineup that pulled off a stirring 74-69 South Regional semifinal win over Tennessee at Austin’s Erwin Center. Had his ploy failed, he’d have heard about it for the next decade.

Part of Guthridge’s decision was sheer necessity. Seven-footer Brendan Haywood fouled out with 8:03 remaining.

The other part was just a gut feeling by “Coach Gut,” as his players call him. That part involved benching 6-11 power forward Kris Lang, who had scored 10 points, but had also missed seven shots in the lane, had grabbed only three rebounds in 28 minutes and was struggling defensively.

At 5:26, Lang tossed up an airball against Tennessee’s swatters and followed that up by failing to control a rebound on the other end. That missed carom, in turn, led to Ed Cota’s potentially disastrous fourth foul and two Vol free throws by Vincent Yarbrough. It also led Guthridge to make his down-sizing move. It came with 4:48 showing on the clock and the Tar Heels trailing 64-57 and with their prospects looking dimmer than Bill Bradley’s.

But before his team could sink for keeps, Guthridge made like Bret Maverick. He gambled. He sat Lang and went with a lineup consisting of football player Peppers, small forward Jason Capel and a trio of guards, Cota, Joseph Forte and Max Owens.

“Using that lineup really was a gamble,” confirmed Guthridge. “We gambled that we’d be able to score and we gambled that we’d be able to get rebounds and gambled that we could stop them.”

Guthridge drew an inside straight. The move worked better than his wildest dreams. The Heels outscored Tennessee 13-0 over the next 4:35.

Suddenly, the Heels’ zone defense was more active, with Peppers tackling the challenging chore of playing Haywood’s spot and Capel playing No. 4, where he had filled in early in the season when Lang was injured.

“We played real good for 35 minutes or so, but basketball’s a 40-minute game and we didn’t finish the job,” said Tennessee coach Jerry Green. “We stopped moving and stopped penetrating. For some reason, we made ourselves a lot easier to guard.”

“We rushed our shots, started forcing things,” admitted Vol senior C.J. Black, who had dominated Haywood at times, but was controlled by the powerful Peppers.

And just as suddenly, the Vols had trouble matching up with all those unexpected little people that were running around in blue uniforms on the opposite end. Particularly Forte, who had started hot, but then had been more silent than a Charlie Chaplin film for nearly 30 minutes.

“Forte, all at once, started getting off,” said Green.

The veteran Green had prepared his team for every eventuality against the Tar Heels. Every eventuality that is, except the very one they ran into down the stretch.

“All the film we’d watched on Carolina, we’d never seen them do what they did those last few minutes,” said Green. “We’d never seen that group play together. Not once. Peppers at the 5? Capel at the 4? We just didn’t do as good a job against that bunch.”

Forte made a 3-pointer. Cota scored twice and Capel once, and without warning, the Heels were rolling rather than reeling. Peppers got rebounds. So did Capel. So did Forte. Even Cota.

Carolina completely dominated with its vertically challenged five. Where the trees had failed, the shrubs held Tennessee without a point until there were only 13 seconds left. And by then, it was just a matter of the Heels converting free throws to seal the win.

“It didn’t look good for us with five minutes to go,” said Guthridge. “The small lineup was our last resort, really. We just couldn’t match up otherwise.”

Fittingly, the all-but-forgotten Owens, who had made exactly one shot in Carolina’s previous five games, ended the evening with a dunk.

“Max did well,” said an elated Guthridge. “Well, I guess they all did.”

“Coach Gut,” who made the gutsiest of calls, did best of all.

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Mike London is covering UNC in the NCAA Tournament.