Home-court what?

UNC to battle on lower seed's floor for fourth straight year

Ivory Latta didn't notice where the shot clocks were in Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium.

Erlana Larkins did.

"I'm so used to looking up at the big scoreboard or the board to the side, but we have to look under the basket," she said. "I'm surprised we haven't gotten a shot clock violation yet."

The shot clocks -- placed underneath and to the side of the baskets -- are one of Memorial Gymnasium's quirks. Top-ranked North Carolina (30-1) will face No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (21-10) there tonight at 7.

This is the fourth straight year that the Tar Heels have been assigned a site where they could face a lower-seeded team on its home court.

UNC lost to Colorado in Boulder, Colo., in the second round in 2003. The next year, the Heels were stunned by Middle Tennessee in South Bend, Ind., preventing them from meeting Notre Dame.

Last year, UNC beat Arizona State on its home floor in Tempe, Ariz., in the regional semifinals.

With Vandy's unique home court, there could be a distinct advantage for the Commodores.

Memorial looks like an opera house or a theater. The court is raised, so some fans are eye-level with the players' feet. The benches are on the baselines, so the opponents' benches face one another.

With the bench on the baseline, the court appears long.

"It feels longer, but obviously all courts are the same," Larkins said. "I just think it has a different look because the seats are pushed back and there's so much more space on the court. I haven't figured it out yet."

Although UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell criticized the NCAA women's basketball committee earlier this week for forcing her team to play a road game in the second round, the players aren't all that concerned.

With big road wins at Connecticut and Duke, it's unlikely the Commodores fans can show the Heels something new.

"This is no [different] than playing at Cameron, playing at Connecticut," Latta said. "We've been in a some hostile environments. This is really nothing new to us.

"People are trying to make a big deal about it, but we just go out and play."

Still, Vanderbilt is trying to make it as unfriendly to the Tar Heels as possible. In the Commodores' 76-64 victory on Saturday over Louisville, they used the energy of the crowd of 4,047 to rally from a six-point deficit in the second half.

"We need our people here. It's a sixth man," said Vanderbilt guard Caroline Williams, who sank six 3-pointers in the win. "Yesterday, when we were hitting big shots, it's such an energy booster when you hear the whole crowd get up. It changes the game."

The Commodores are hoping to help boost the crowd. Williams said the players would be heating up their cell phones to ask friends to come to the game. She also jokingly asked the Nashville newspapers to ask fans to help cheer for them.

"I told them today that they had 24 hours to make as many friends as they could," Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb said. "Make more friends and hurry up and get 'em to come. We just really need the students to come out."