TAR HEELS' PHELPS DOUBTFUL/ INJURED TAILBONE LIKELY TO KEEP GUARD SIDELINED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 18, 1993                   TAG: 9303180222
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium
TAR HEELS' PHELPS DOUBTFUL/ INJURED TAILBONE LIKELY TO KEEP GUARD SIDELINED<
The opening rounds of the NCAA East Regional might not be the easy time initially predicted for top-seeded North Carolina's basketball team.
The Tar Heels are not expecting point guard Derrick Phelps, who bruised his tailbone in the ACC Tournament last Saturday, to be ready to play against 16th-seeded East Carolina tonight in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
If the Tar Heels get by the Pirates, forward Brian Reese, averaging 16.3 points the past nine games, may be absent for Saturday's second round against the winner of tonight's Purdue-Rhode Island game.
Reese returned to his home in New York on Wednesday to attend the wake of his grandmother, who died earlier this week. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
Carolina coach Dean Smith said Reese planned to rejoin the team for tonight's 10 o'clock game, but he is not sure about Saturday's game.
"I'll leave that entirely up to Brian and his family," Smith said. "I just hope we are playing Saturday."
Smith did not rule out the possibility that Phelps, who sat out the loss to Georgia Tech in the ACC title game on Sunday, might see some action against the Pirates. However, he was not optimistic.
"Derrick jogged a little today, but was unable to sprint," Smith said. "It is looking more and more as if he will not play."
Smith said if Phelps is not ready, senior Henrik Rodl will start at the point, with little-used senior Scott Cherry and freshman Dante Calabria the backups.
North Carolina was the only one of the eight teams in the tournament that did not practice Wednesday at the coliseum.
Smith explained he did not want to take his players out of class. They were scheduled for a 10 p.m. practice on their home court in Chapel Hill, about 70 miles away.
Even without Phelps, and with Reese getting limited practice time, the Tar Heels remained strong favorites against an ECU team that slipped into the 64-team field with a 13-16 record by winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.
It is the first time a team with a losing record has been in the field since 1986, but Smith and two of his players strongly maintained they are not expecting an easy game.
"I am very much impressed by East Carolina's quickness, and we are taking the game very seriously," Smith said.
Junior center Eric Montross predicted Carolina would have "to play our best game to come out on top."
Sophomore guard Donald Williams added: "East Carolina is very capable. I'm sure its players are coming into the game thinking they are going to win."
The two schools have played only once, in 1953, with North Carolina winning 79-66.
North Carolina's Smith has refused to schedule non-ACC schools within his state during the 32 years as Tar Heels coach. He said that was a policy he might consider changing in the future.
"It would be difficult for us to schedule all of those teams every year, but maybe we could play three of them each season," Smith suggested.
\ NOTES: The Tar Heels are in the playoffs for a record 19th straight year. It is only the second appearance for the Pirates, a first-round loser to Villanova in 1972. . . . ECU is 1-48 against ACC teams. The win was over Georgia Tech. . . . UNC has advanced beyond the opening two rounds for 12 straight years. . . . The Tar Heels will be playing on the court where they suffered their worst loss of the season (88-62 to Wake Forest); overall, they are 3-1 in the coliseum.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB