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College basketball: March Madness 2005
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Following the script: Only the finale remains
UNC 87, MICH. ST. 71: Jawad Williams comes to life and sparks the Tar Heels in the second half.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published April 3, 2005
ST. LOUIS - North Carolina senior forward Jawad Williams, hobbled by an assortment of nagging injuries, struggled the past few weeks but insisted he felt fine.
He sure looked fine Saturday night.
He scored 20 to help the Tar Heels rally from a five-point halftime deficit and overwhelm Michigan State 87-71 before an announced crowd of 47,754 at the Edward Jones Dome.
"The only thing I went through was having people trying to make excuses for me," said Williams, who had a total of 18 points in his previous four NCAA Tournament games. "I never made excuses, and I never will. Tonight was a great win for us, and that's all I really care about."
The Tar Heels (32-4) are in the championship game for the eighth time, their first trip since 1993 when they won their third title, and face Illinois in a much-anticipated showdown.
The Fighting Illini have been the nation's top-ranked team since Dec. 7, and UNC has been No. 2 for most of February and March, including in the final regular-season poll.
The last time the top two teams in the Associated Press poll met in the NCAA final was 1975, when No. 1 UCLA beat Kentucky to give John Wooden his 10th title in a dozen years.
"I saw the T-shirts (the Illini) were wearing today at their shoot-around, "Finish the Job.' They're a big-time team," said UNC coach Roy Williams, who looks for the crowning achievement on his glistening resume. He reached the Final Four in 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003 while coaching Kansas and failed to win a title.
This matchup might not have happened if not for Jawad Williams. He hit nine of 13 shots (he was 8-of-22 in the tournament before this game) to go with eight rebounds (his high since Jan. 19).
"When he's healthy, he can really play," coach Williams said. "If all I have to do is motivate Jawad, I have a pretty easy job."
Defense and intensity had been the knock on UNC much of the season, but offense has a way of masking that, and it was the nation's highest-scoring team. Not that it showed it early.
"The first half, I thought we executed our game plan as well as any half this year," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "We went in wanting to corral or wall Raymond Felton, not let him get to the hoop. We thought we could cheat with our four-man because Jawad Williams had not had a very good four or five games shooting the ball."
Even with Williams hitting from the field, again, the Tar Heels made just three of 12 from 3-point range, attempted just one free throw (a sign of not aggressively taking the ball to the rim) and fell behind the underdog Spartans 38-33.
"I didn't think it was North Carolina out there," coach Williams said. "We didn't play like we had all year long. We didn't rebound the ball, we didn't dive on the floor, we did take charges, we didn't do all the little things." So, he challenged them at the break to play as they had most of the tournament. How animated was he?
"He got the point across, let me put it it like that," Felton said.
UNC scored the first six after intermission and, with the game tied at 49-49, Williams, junior center Sean May and Felton hit three consecutive field goals that ignited an 18-3 run over the next 4:58 to take control.
May finished with a team-high 22 points, 18 in the second half, and Felton had 14 of his 16 after the break to go with eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Spartans (26-7) never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way. "I went up to Jawad and told him, "The reason why we won this game was because of your heart,' " May said. "He was a totally different player than what I'd seen the last four games."
[Last modified April 3, 2005, 00:35:03]
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