The Replay: UNC on the board with an NCAA win; Canes hit a rough patch; Yow remembered
The fun never stops this time of year here in the Triangle, given the long and proud tradition of NCAA basketball in the area.
This past week was ripe with food to feed that beast. Here’s a look at some of the top story lines from the past week.
UNC opens with a BIG win
Coach Hubert Davis accomplished in his first NCAA tournament game something North Carolina didn’t do in three previous tries — beat a Shaka Smart-coached team.
The No. 8 seed Tar Heels defeated No. 9 seed Marquette 95-63 in Thursday’s first round, which was the largest margin of victory in an 8-9 seed game in NCAA tournament history. The Heels advanced to face Baylor, the East Region’s No. 1 seed on Saturday.
Marquette wanted to make the game about toughness and, despite failing in that area earlier this season, Carolina was up to the challenge.
“There’s been a number of times where teams have tried to push us around,” Davis said after the game. “And the only way that you can change that narrative of people thinking that they can do it, is if you swing back and be the first ones to swing.”
Carolina used a 20-2 haymaker midway through the first half to take a 27-10 lead and it only ballooned from there. The Heels’ 53-25 halftime lead was their biggest in the NCAA tournament since leading Marquette 40-15 in the 2011 Sweet 16.
Bruised and battered
The Hurricanes played three games this past week, and lost the first two before a home date with the Washington Capitals on Friday.
Some of the key Canes returned to the lineup, but likely not at 100 percent as Carolina fell to the Maple Leafs after a particularly tough loss in Pittsburgh earlier in the week.
The Canes again played without injured defenseman Tony DeAngelo, who has practiced. Defenseman Brendan Smith was back in the lineup Thursday after missing 10 games when he suffered a fractured skull blocking a shot on Feb. 20 at Pittsburgh.
But, Canes forward Jordan Martinook left the game in pain Thursday after an injury. Brind’Amour did not have an update after the game but said, “It didn’t look good.”
The Canes had last played Sunday, losing at Pittsburgh. Another scheduling quirk had a three-day gap between games — the Canes hosted the Capitals on Friday and will see the New York Rangers at PNC on Sunday.
Remembering a legend
This past week we passed an important local anniversary: Monday would have been Kay Yow’s 80th birthday.
Yow’s legacy, 13 years after her death, is multi-faceted. She was a championship basketball coach, winning four ACC tournament titles at N.C. State and taking her team to the Final Four in 1998. She guided Team USA to a gold medal in Seoul in 1988 as head coach after being an assistant on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team that also won gold.
Yow also earned her share of acclaim. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, then as the fifth women’s coach to go into the hall. “Kay Yow Court” at Reynolds Coliseum was dedicated in her honor in 2007.
Chip Alexander and C.L. Brown contributed to this report.
