1992–93 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

1992–93 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
National Champions ACC Regular Season Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, National Champions
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#2
AP	#4
1992–93 record	34–4 (14–2, 1st ACC)
Head coach	Dean Smith
Assistant coach	Bill Guthridge
Assistant coach	Phil Ford
Assistant coach	Dave Hanners
Home arena	Dean Smith Center

The 1992–93 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina in the 1992-93 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 34-4 overall, won the ACC regular season title with a 14-2 record and won the 1993 national championship. They were coached by Dean Smith, who won his second national championship in his thirty-second season as head coach of the Tar Heels. They played their home games at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Season Summary

The 1992-93 team was led by George Lynch, Eric Montross, Brian Reese, Donald Williams and Derrick Phelps. The Tar Heels started out with an 8-0 record and were ranked #5 in the country when they met #6 Michigan in the semi-finals of the Rainbow Classic. The Wolverines, led by the Fab Five in their sophomore season, won 79-78 to on a last-second shot. North Carolina bounced back with nine straight wins before losing back-to-back road games against unranked Wake Forest and #5 Duke. After seven more straight wins, the Tar Heels were ranked #1 heading into the last week of the regular season (their first #1 ranking since the start of the 1987-88 season). North Carolina beat #14 Wake Forest and #6 Duke to close out the regular season and clinch the top seed in the ACC tournament. North Carolina reached the tournament final, but they lost 77-75 to Georgia Tech without Derrick Phelps who was injured. Nonetheless, North Carolina was awarded the top seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament, defeating #16-seed East Carolina (85-65), #8-seed Rhode Island (112-67), #4-seed Arkansas (80-74) and #2-seed Cincinnati (75-68) to reach the final four in New Orleans.

In the national semi-finals, Smith's Tar Heels defeated his alma mater Kansas (coached by future North Carolina coach Roy Williams) 78-68, setting up a rematch with #3-ranked Michigan in the finals.

The national title game was a see-saw battle throughout, but is remembered best for Chris Webber's time out call with seconds left when Michigan didn't have any. Michigan was assessed a technical foul and North Carolina ended up winning 77-71, giving Smith his second national championship.^[1]

Roster

Name	#	Position	Height	Year	Home Town	Major[2]
Eric Montross	00	Center	7–0	Junior	Indianapolis, IN	Communications
Pat Sullivan	3	Forward	6–8	Junior	Bogota, NJ
Larry Davis	4	Guard	6–3	Freshman	Denmark, SC
Henrik Rödl	5	Forward	6–8	Senior	Heusenstamm, Germany
Scott Cherry	11	Guard/Forward	6–5	Senior	Ballston Spa, NY
Derrick Phelps	14	Guard	6–3	Junior	Pleasantville, NY	African American Studies
Donald Williams	21	Guard	6–3	Sophomore	Garner, NC	African American Studies
Dante Calabria	24	Guard	6–4	Freshman	Beaver Falls, PA
Brian Reese	31	Forward	6–6	Junior	Bronx, NY	Communications
Kevin Salvadori	33	Center/Forward	7–0	Junior	Pittsburgh, PA
George Lynch	34	Forward	6–8	Senior	Roanoke, VA	African American Studies
Travis Stephenson	35	Forward	6–7	Senior	Angier, NC
Ed Geth	40	Forward	6–9	Freshman	Norfolk, VA
Matt Wenstrom	50	Center	7–1	Senior	Katy, TX

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
December 1*	#7	Old Dominion	W 119–82	1–0	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 4*	#7	vs. South Carolina Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions	W 108–67	2–0	Charlotte, NC  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 5*	#7	vs. Texas Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions	W 104–68	3–0	Charlotte, NC  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 9*	#5	vs. Virginia Tech	W 78–62	4–0	Roanoke, VA  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 13*	#5	Houston	W 84–76	5–0	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 20*	#5	at Butler	W 103–56	6–0	{{{site_cityst}}}
December 22*	#5	at Ohio St	W 84–64	7–0	Columbus, OH  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 28*	#5	vs. SW Louisiana Rainbow Classic	W 80–59	8–0	Honolulu, HI  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 29	#5	vs. #6 Michigan Rainbow Classic	L 78–79	8–1	Honolulu, HI  {{{site_cityst}}}
December 30*	#5	at Hawaii	W 101–84	9–1	{{{site_cityst}}}
January 4*	#5	Cornell	W 98–60	10–1	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 7	#6	at NC State Rivalry	W 100–67	11–1 (1–0)	Reynolds Coliseum  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 9	#6	Maryland	W 101–73	12–1 (2–0)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 13	#5	#8 Georgia Tech	W 80–67	13–1 (3–0)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 16	#5	at Clemson	W 82–72	14–1 (4–0)	Littlejohn Coliseum  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 20	#3	#17 Virginia	W 80–58	15–1 (5–0)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 24*	#3	at #10 Seton Hall	W 70–66	16–1	{{{site_cityst}}}
January 27	#3	#19 Florida St	W 82–77	17–1 (6–0)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
January 30	#3	at Wake Forest	L 62–88	17–2 (6–1)	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 3	#6	at #5 Duke Rivalry	L 67–81	17–3 (6–2)	Cameron Indoor Stadium  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 6	#6	NC State	W 104–58	18–3 (7–2)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 9	#6	Maryland	W 77–63	19–3 (8–2)	Cole Field House  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 14	#6	at Georgia Tech	W 77–66	20–3 (9–2)	{{{site_cityst}}}
February 17	#3	Clemson	W 80–67	21–3 (10–2)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 21	#3	at #23 Virginia	W 78–58	22–3 (11–2)	University Hall  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 23*	#3	Notre Dame	W 85–56	23–3	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
February 27	#3	at #6 Florida St	W 86–76	24–3 (12–2)	{{{site_cityst}}}
March 3	#1	#14 Wake Forest	W 83–65	25–3 (13–2)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 7	#1	#6 Duke	W 83–69	26–3 (14–2)	Dean Smith Center  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 12*	#1	vs. Maryland ACC Tournament	W 102–66	27–3	Charlotte, NC  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 13*	#1	vs. Virginia ACC Tournament	W 74–56	28–3	Charlotte, NC  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 14*	#1	vs. Georgia Tech ACC Tournament	L 75–77	28–4	Charlotte, NC  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 18*	#4(1)	vs. #(16) East Carolina NCAA Tournament	W 85–65	29–4	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 20*	#4(1)	vs. #(8) Rhode Island NCAA Tournament	W 112–67	30–4	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 26*	#4(1)	vs. #12(4) Arkansas NCAA Tournament	W 80–74	31–4	East Rutherford, NJ  {{{site_cityst}}}
March 28*	#4(1)	vs. #7(2) Cincinnati NCAA Tournament	W 75–68 ^OT	32–4	East Rutherford, NJ  {{{site_cityst}}}
April 3*	#4(1)	vs. #9(2) Kansas NCAA Tournament	W 78–68	33–4	Louisiana Superdome  {{{site_cityst}}}
April 5*	#4(1)	vs. #3(1) Michigan NCAA Tournament	W 77–71	34–4	Louisiana Superdome  {{{site_cityst}}}
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

^[3][4]

Awards and honors

• Dean Smith, Naismith College Coach of the Year
• Donald Williams, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[5]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1993	1	12	George Lynch	Los Angeles Lakers[6]
1994	1	9	Eric Montross	Boston Celtics[7]

Kevin Salvadori^[8] and Derrick Phelps^[9] also went on to play in the NBA, but were undrafted.

References

1. Adam Lucas (2003-03-30). "THM: Looking Back At 1993". Tar Heel Monthly. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
2. "Many UNC-AAS questions remain, including: Are Roy Williams and Butch Davis being unfairly targeted?".
3. 2014-15 North Carolina men's basketball record book. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.
4. BB State. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.
5. "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
6. 1993 NBA Draft, Basketball-Reference.com
7. 1994 NBA Draft, Basketball-Reference.com
8. "Kevin Salvadori NBA & ABA Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved {{{date}}}.
9. "Derrick Phelps NBA & ABA Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved {{{date}}}.