Wayne Ellington has starred for top-seeded North Carolina this season because he prefers to remember.

A year after he failed to make a winning 3-pointer against Georgetown in an NCAA Tournament regional final (and the Tar Heels went on to lose in overtime), the bigger, more versatile sophomore is hoping he'll get another shot at leading the Tar Heels to the Final Four.

Their quest begins tonight against No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary's. Tipoff at the RBC Center is 7:10 p.m.

"It just motivated me, it just made me get better this offseason,'' Ellington said before Thursday's practice. "... Hopefully, a game won't come down to that [last-second shot]. But if it does, I'll be well-prepared for it and ready to knock it down."

Indeed, with the Hoyas still on his mind, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard spent his summer going through daily shooting and weight-room routines in Chapel Hill and in Philadelphia, where he was born. He gained five pounds of extra muscle mass, and he worked to hone his shot off the dribble and to move his feet more consistently on defense.

The result has included key buckets at the end of several games this season, including Davidson (a jumper with 1:18 left gave his team a three-point cushion), Clemson (3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in overtime) and Virginia (a layup with less than two minutes left gave UNC a five-point lead).

He also has done a better job of staying in front of his man on defense. And he now boasts a more well-rounded scoring attack that his dad says he has always possessed but didn't necessarily show as a freshman because there were so many other players playing so many other roles last season.

"You want him to shoot the jumper, he can get it,'' Wayne Ellington Sr. said. "If you want him to go to the rack, he can do that. Mid-range -- he's always had the abilities to do that, he's just now letting it all hang out."

Thus, while people -- media and defenders -- often fixate on All-America forward Tyler Hansbrough, Ellington has been, and will be, just as important to UNC's success.

Consider this: The second-team All-ACC selection is the Tar Heels' second-leading scorer, averaging 16.7 points and making 47.1 percent of his shots. But in UNC's past three losses, dating to last season's Georgetown finale, he shot 2-for-11 against the Hoyas (including the miss at the end of regulation), 6-for-16 against Maryland in January and 3-for-14 against Duke last month.

Coach Roy Williams won't say the Tar Heels' fortunes hinge on any one player (or two or three), but he did once predict that Ellington could end up being the best scorer he has ever recruited. And Ellington appears to be on his way -- which could be a good omen for Carolina, which doesn't have the number of offensive threats that it did last season.

"To be a great scorer, you've got to be able to shoot,'' Williams said recently. "And if you really want to be a great scorer, you've got to work on the other parts of your game, and I think he's done that."

After all of his extra time in the gym this summer (he even attended the Kobe Bryant Skills Camp), Ellington insists he enjoys getting points every way possible, and whenever needed.

"Whatever goes through the net," he said. "Whatever helps the team."

Still, he said there is something special about watching the ball swish through in the final moments, with the game on the line.

Ellington made his first game-winner in a middle school championship game to keep his team's record perfect.

"It was a two-pointer, in the lane, from the corner,'' he said, grinning.

Then there was his 3-pointer with seven seconds left at The Palestra, which gave his Episcopal Academy team a victory.

"A lot of guys feel like they've got the guts to take the shot, but not a lot of guys finish them, and Wayne Ellington's one of those guys [who can],'' junior Marcus Ginyard said. "Coach always talks about: 'If you're going to have the guts to take the shot, you better be able to knock it down,' and Wayne can do that."

Will he get another chance?

Ellington, who said he hasn't made any decision yet on whether he'll jump to the NBA after this season, has watched replays of the Georgetown loss, "and it hurts every time."

"Maybe we'll get a chance to run into them again," he added, "and redeem ourselves."

Making a game-winner during this tournament wouldn't erase the memories of last year's miss; he wouldn't want it to, because it continues to serve as motivation.

But it sure would be sweet, because it would put his team one win closer to a championship -- something he's been dreaming about since he buried his first game-winning shot in the sixth grade.

"I just feel really confident; I always feel like the ball's going to go in," he said of scoring in the clutch. "And I don't really feel the pressure, I just shoot it like it's another shot."