ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995                   TAG: 9501240055
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium


TAR HEELS FIND TECH'S ACHILLES

Virginia Tech played well enough Saturday to beat just about any college basketball team in the country.

But North Carolina isn't just about any college basketball team in the country.

Before the largest crowd to see Hokies hoops in the program's 87-year history, the Tar Heels shot their way to an 87-76 victory at the renovated and expanded Greensboro Coliseum.

The 22,101 in attendance saw a marvelous game, a well-coached game, a two-point game with seven minutes left. Then, third-ranked North Carolina made nine of its last 10 field-goal attempts. That finished a 62 percent day and the Hokies (13-4).

``Sixty-two percent,'' said Bill Foster, Tech's coach. ``That kind of sums it up.''

Only once in a 14-1 season had the Tar Heels demonstrated better marksmanship - 66 percent in a 40-point torching of VMI in December. The Hokies hadn't allowed anyone to hit more than the 47.5 percent by Illinois in the Puerto Rico Shootout championship game in November.

Tech's undoing was that North Carolina went to great lengths to win its last non-conference game of the season and its first appearance in Greensboro in six years.

The Hokies' expected matchup problem was with 6-foot-10 Carolina center Rasheed Wallace. He was 9-for-10, but it was what UNC did from the wings that damaged Tech much more.

Dante Calabria was an inferno-like 5-for-7 from 3-point land, mostly from the weak side when the ball was reversed. Pearce Landry came off the bench in his hometown to go 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. UNC was 10-for-17 on 3s.

``We needed those,'' Wallace said. ``Virginia Tech played very good defense, played us straight-up well enough, but when they dropped a second man back we turned it over too much.''

In a game between two teams with no depth - five players scored in double figures for each club - Wallace emphatically scored UNC's first three baskets. He got only one more before halftime, mostly because Tech pivotman Travis Jackson did more than run the floor.

``It was his best game,'' Foster said. ``He didn't just float around like a butterfly. He really kind of let himself go.''

Jackson, averaging fewer than five points, had a season highs of 12 points and eight rebounds. He gave up 2 inches and a lot of talent to Wallace, but not much else.

``I tried to push him off the post a little bit,'' Jackson said. ``If you let him catch it in there and turn, he's going to put it in the bucket most of the time. We tried to double down from the top some, and that helped.''

Jackson is going to have to keep playing tough as the undersized and undermanned Hokies go deeper into the season. His contribution is particularly crucial if frontcourt teammate Shawn Smith has any more of the 4-for-22 days he sweated through against the Heels.

Tech went to the offensive glass like a Manhattan window washer five minutes before quitting time. UNC's seven offensive rebounds were its season low, and Tech's seven turnovers were the fewest the Heels have forced this season.

Carolina's marksmanship on goals on which the ACC Tournament will be shot belied Tech's defensive effort. The Hokies confused UNC's guards through portions of the first half, when they'd come down and call one play and 816-victory coach Dean Smith would change to another.

``Coach got us straightened out,'' Wallace said. ``We had to shift our plays because their defense kept dropping off, picking up. That's a good club. They're obviously well-coached.''

The Hokies learned you can shoot 34.5 percent on the road and beat Marquette - as they did Tuesday - but you can't make 37 percent and beat one of the nation's best clubs.

``This can only help us,'' Foster said. ``Carolina has good folks. This is a confidence-builder for us, because we knew we could have won the game.''

It was one of those games that was telling about this particular season of college hoops, too. When Duke is at the bottom of the ACC standings and Louisville has the worst overall record in the Metro Conference, it proves anything can happen.

The ACC has five teams in the Associated Press Top 25. The Metro hasn't had anyone in that poll this season. Virginia Tech spent one week in the coaches' poll, the only league team to appear. Is the difference really a gulf?

In a basketball age when few college teams shoot 50 percent, hitting 62 can be huge. It can be even bigger than Rasheed Wallace.



 by CNB