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Razorbacks, Tar Heels no stranger to NCAA matchups

Arkansas forward Sonny Weems drives past North Carolina guard Marcus Ginyard during an NCAA Tournament game Sunday, March 23, 2008, at PBC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.

— Arkansas is 2-2 against North Carolina in NCAA Tournament games. Here is a look back:

1990 MIDWEST REGIONAL SEMIFINALS: ARKANSAS 96, NORTH CAROLINA 73

Lenzie Howell led Arkansas with 25 points, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller scored 19 each and Todd Day added 18 as the fourth-seeded Razorbacks routed the Tar Heels, who were making their 10th consecutive trip to the Sweet 16, at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Arkansas outscored North Carolina 9-0 in a 90-second span midway through the second half with Mayberry and Day hitting three-pointers to push the Razorbacks’ lead from 57-55 to 66-55, and they kept pouring it on.

“I’ve always said we’re kind of a walking time bomb,” Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson. ”If things blow up and they get going, we’re hard to stop.”

The Razorbacks handed North Carolina its worst NCAA Tournament defeat since a 92-65 loss to Purdue in the 1969 Final Four.

“A lot of teams could have been blown out by Arkansas tonight,” Tar Heels Coach Dean said. ”And this is at Barnhill South, too.”

Arkansas advanced to the Final Four, where the Razorbacks lost to Duke.

1993 EAST REGIONAL SEMIFINALS: NORTH CAROLINA 80, ARKANSAS 74

The Tar Heels were clinging to a one-point lead when North Carolina guard Donald Williams got open on a back-door cut, took a pass from Georgia Lynch and hit a layup with 42 seconds left that proved to be the decisive basket at Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.

Lynch led North Carolina with 23 points and 10 rebounds, but Williams scored the Tar Heels’ last nine points.

North Carolina Coach Dean Smith called timeout with 51.7 seconds to play to set up the back-door play designed to take advantage of Arkansas’ aggressive defense.

“We just spread out and let it happen,” Williams said.

Freshman forward Corliss Williamson led the Razorbacks with 16 points. Senior guard Robert Shepherd added 13 points and freshman forward Scotty Thurman and sophomore guard Clint McDaniel scored 12 points each.

North Carolina went on to win Smith’s second national championship.

1995 FINAL FOUR: ARKANSAS 75, NORTH CAROLINA 68

The defending national champion Razorbacks earned a return trip to the title game as junior forward Corliss Williamson scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half at the Kingdome in Seattle.

“I had to assert myself more in the second half,” Williamson said. “I was a non-factor in the first half.”

photo

North Carolina's Jerry Stackhouse races Arkansas's Dwight Stewart, right, to the ball as Tar Heel teammates Donald Williams (21) and Jeff McInnis (5) follow the midcourt play Saturday, April 1, 1995, during second-half, NCAA Final Four semifinal action at the Kingdome in Seattle. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

North Carolina went 12:37 of the second half without a field goal while missing 11 consecutive shots, but the Tar Heels rallied to cut a 69-58 deficit to 69-68 with 47.7 seconds remaining.

Arkansas senior guard Clint McDaniel hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 20.2 seconds to clinch the victory.

“I didn’t even look up at the scoreboard to see what the score was,” McDaniel, who scored 13 points, said of his first two free throws. “I didn’t know it was a one-point game.”

Senior forward Dwight Stewart scored 15 points for the Razorbacks, including a 55-foot basket that barely beat the half-court buzzer.

Donald Williams led North Carolina with 19 points and Jerry Stackhouse added 18.

UCLA beat Arkansas 89-78 in the title game to deny the Razorbacks back-to-back national championships.

2008 EAST REGIONAL (2ND ROUND): NORTH CAROLINA 108, ARKANSAS 77

The top-ranked Tar Heels were playing in North Carolina State’s arena but looked right at home while pounding the Razorbacks at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.

Ty Lawson led North Carolina with 20 points and seven assists.

North Carolina opened with a 9-0 lead and never let Arkansas into the game. The Razorbacks never were closer than 21 points in the second half.

Deon Thompson added 16 points for North Carolina on 8-for-8 shooting.

The Tar Heels shot 67.7 percent from the field.

Senior guard Sonny Weems led the Razorbacks with 19 points.

North Carolina’s 31-point winning margin represented the second-most-lopsided loss for the Razorbacks in NCAA Tournament play, surpassed only by a 97-62 setback to Cincinnati and Oscar Robertson in 1958.

The Tar Heels lost to Kansas — Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams’ old team — in the Final Four.