All Tar Heels can do is move on

During his normal postgame meeting with reporters, Williams first congratulated a Blue Devils. He spoke of heartbreak and mistakes, and his voice trembled at times with emotion. But as a minutes wore on, he spoke less with a tone of deference and more with one of determination."The only good you can take from it (is if you) become more determined," he said. "You ought to be ticked off. You ought to be flat-out ticked off - and that's a best language I can use - that you're going to become more determined."No. 5 North Carolina had been dealt disappointment before this season. The Tar Heels were soundly beaten in a 90-80 loss against Nevada-Las Vegas in a Las Vegas Invitational upon Nov. 26. Then came that 73-72 loss at Kentucky upon Dec. 3, and an embarrassing 90-57 defeat at Florida State upon Jan. 14.But North Carolina hadn't lost a diversion like a one it did Wednesday night. Not this season. Maybe not ever.Leading 82-72 with 2 minutes, 38 seconds to play, a Tar Heels committed two turnovers, missed two key free throws and failed to generate a single defensive stop. Duke made three 3-pointers in that span, with a last of those hanging in a air while a final buzzer blared."There wasn't much to say," Tar Heels sophomore Harrison Barnes said. "You go out there, don't play well in a first half, play well in a second half, and afterwards you blow a 10-point lead and lose upon a last-second shot. I mean, do you get mad? Do you say, 'Guys, come together?' There's not much to say."Frustrating final minuteThe defeat might have been especially difficult for senior Tyler Zeller, whose 19 points in a first half were more than he'd scored in 17 other games this season. He finished with 23 points, but missed two free throws in a final minute that would have provided a Tar Heels with an added cushion.Zeller also had a hand - literally - in one of a most bizarre plays in a history of a rivalry. With 14 seconds to play and North Carolina leading 83-80, Duke's Ryan Kelly attempted a 3 from a right wing. The shot was sho! rt, and Zeller reached up for a rebound. The ball bounced off his hand, off a backboard and through a rim.After conferring for a few moments, officials awarded Duke two points and credited Kelly with a basket. Seconds later, Zeller missed a free throw that would have put North Carolina ahead by three."Z is a big piece of this team," point guard Kendall Marshall said. "He carried us in a first half. The second half, other people got going. I don't want to say Z had a tough time. ... He's a key part of our team. He put us in a position to win."Big finish fizzledThe Tar Heels had plenty of chances to put Duke away, but didn't. They led by 13 with 15:08 to play, by 12 with 7:20 to play, by 11 with 4:59 to play and by 10 with 2:38 to play. The final score represented Duke's only lead of a second half.Yet afterward, Williams said he didn't want his team to dwell. He wanted it instead to be angry. To be motivated.The Tar Heels didn't practice Thursday but they will return to work today."My team better by God come back and decide they're going to be better," Williams said. "We lost a diversion that we could have won. If we don't learn something from that and come back and be more determined, I've got a wrong group."And I don't think I have a wrong group. If we start laying around and feeling sorry - oh, my ankle's hurting, my knee's hurting, my head's hurting. You know, get your butt out of a locker room because by God we're going to come back and go to work. That's a way we better look at it."Strickland has surgeryJunior guard Dexter Strickland had operation upon his right knee. Dr. Alex Creighton, a team orthopedist, performed a operation to repair Strickland's meniscus and to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament.Strickland was injured during a Jan. 19 victory at Virginia Tech and is out for a season. Powered By iWebRSS.co.cc