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Teague provides spark
He scores 34 for Deacs in 92-89 win over Heels
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Jeff Teague of Wake Forest goes up for two of his career-high 34 points.
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Published: January 12, 2009
Fourth-ranked Wake Forest toppled No. 3 North Carolina 92-89 last night, further fulfilling a prophesy Skip Prosser made two summers ago.
"We're going to be good again, Dino," Prosser told his best friend and successor Dino Gaudio the night before he died. "We're going to be good."
Before last night's victory in front of the largest crowd ever at Joel Coliseum (14,714), Gaudio told his players to think of someone who helped them get to where they are.
Both Chas McFarland and Ish Smith said they thought of Prosser.
"I thought about the journey of him recruiting me and all the ups and downs we went through freshman and sophomore year," Smith said. "Now to be here, it feels good.
"But we're not 100 percent back because we want to get to that Final Four. That's our main goal."
Sophomore Jeff Teague poured in a career-high 34 points – hitting five of six free throws in the final frantic minute and six seconds -- and junior Chas McFarland contributed 20 points and nine rebounds. But the Deacons did their best work at the defensive end, holding the Tar Heels to 28 percent from the floor in the second half and 35 percent for the game.
McFarland's defense was instrumental in limiting All-America Tyler Hansbrough to three field goals on 12 attempts, and four points in the second half.
"Tyler is maybe the best player in the country again this year," Gaudio said. "Obviously he was last year.
"I thought Chas really fought him.
"In the five days that we prepared for them, two of the five we worked on doubling the post in case he hurt us. But we didn't have to go to that tonight."
Wake Forest improved to 14-0, matching its 1980-81 team that also won its first 14. North Carolina fell to 14-2 and 0-2 in the ACC with its second loss in three games.
"The best team tonight won the basketball game, that's the bottom line," Coach Roy Williams of North Carolina said. "There's a reason we shoot 35 percent. It's because of their defensive play.
"I never felt like we were going to make a shot."
Only by outrebounding the Deacons 51-37 and drilled three of their final six three-point attempts -- after missing 14 of their first 17 -- where the Tar Heels even able to hang around until the finish.
But McFarland twice answered 3-pointers by Wayne Ellington, once by making two free throws for a 84-77 lead with 2½ minutes left and again by corralling a long rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Hansbrough and driving ahead of the pack for a layup and an 86-80 lead with 1½ minutes remaining.
"I just had a chance for a layup," McFarland said. "I saw Ty (Lawson) coming out of the corner of my eye and I knew he was going to try to steal it, so I just laid it in."
McFarland said he had no notion of passing to a guard.
"There was nobody in front of me so I was taking it," he said.
Lawson's three-point play cut the margin to 91-86 with 46.7 seconds left, but after a timeout the Deacons ran the inbounds play well enough to get the ball to Teague, who made 13 of 15 free throws for the game.
Teague made both for a 91-86 lead with 19.2 seconds left.
"He's fearless," Gaudio said. "That kid is a fearless, tough, hard-nosed kid. He was our lion. He was not going to let us lose.
"They were really big free throws down the stretch. He's really coming into his own."
Will Graves' 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left sliced the lead to two, giving the Tar Heels one last hope. But again Teague broke loose to catch the pass, only this time he made the first and missed the second with 3.3 seconds left.
Graves' long heave from one dribble past midcourt sailed over the backboard and the student section emptied onto the Joel Coliseum floor.
"The crowd was terrific for us," Gaudio said. "It was a real boost."
The game was tied at 44 at halftime, and again at 46, 48, 54 and 58.
Two free throws by Tony Woods, followed by a 3-pointer from Teague -- one of three on four attempts -- put the Deacons ahead to stay at 63-58 with 12½ minutes remaining.
Danny Green drilled three of four 3-point attempts to lead the Tar Heels with 22 points to go with six rebounds. Ellington finished with 17 points and five rebounds and Hansbrough had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Wake Forest's two forwards, James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu, battled foul trouble, but still combined for 18 points and 11 rebounds. Aminu also contributed four assists, and three blocks.
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Green 33 6-9 7-10 5-6 1 5 22
Thompson 21 3-13 2-4 3-8 0 4 8
Hansbrough 35 3-12 11-13 3-11 2 4 17
Lawson 34 4-12 1-1 1-6 5 3 9
Ellington 31 4-13 7-7 3-5 1 3 17
Frasor 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Drew II 6 1-3 2-2 0-2 0 0 4
Graves 12 2-5 1-1 1-2 0 4 6
Davis 20 2-4 0-0 1-6 0 4 4
Totals 200 26-74 31-38 21-51 9 28 89
Percentages: FG .351, FT .816. 3-Point Goals: 6-23, .261 (Green 3-4, Ellington 2-7, Graves 1-3, Drew II 0-1, Hansbrough 0-2, Frasor 0-2, Lawson 0-4). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 8 (Davis 3, Hansbrough, Lawson, Thompson, Green, Graves). Turnovers: 18 (Lawson 4, Drew II 4, Green 3, Ellington 3, Graves 2, Thompson, Hansbrough). Steals: 6 (Green 5, Lawson). Technical Fouls: None.
WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF PT
Aminu 30 3-8 3-6 1-6 4 5 9
Johnson 20 4-8 0-0 1-5 0 5 9
McFarland 33 7-10 6-9 5-9 2 4 20
Teague 39 9-17 13-15 0-6 4 1 34
Williams 25 1-3 2-4 0-1 1 4 4
Clark 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Hale 13 2-6 0-0 0-0 0 1 6
Smith 24 1-5 2-2 0-5 1 2 4
Weaver 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Woods 10 2-3 2-3 1-3 1 3 6
Totals 200 29-61 28-39 8-37 13 27 92
Percentages: FG .475, FT .718. 3-Point Goals: 6-14, .429 (Teague 3-4, Hale 2-5, Johnson 1-2, Aminu 0-1, Williams 0-1, Clark 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 7 (Aminu 3, McFarland 2, Johnson 2). Turnovers: 16 (Johnson 3, Teague 3, Aminu 2, McFarland 2, Smith 2, Hale 2, Woods, Williams). Steals: 8 (Hale 3, McFarland 2, Teague, Aminu, Williams). Technical Fouls: None.
North Carolina 44 45 -- 89
Wake Forest 44 48 -- 92
A--14,714.
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