Tar Heels stubbed toe on way to Maui

Top-seeded and fourth-ranked North Carolina was upset 77-66 on Friday by Santa Clara during a California stop to break up the long trip.

No. 14 Louisville avoided the upset bug Saturday but was pushed to the wire by Division II BYU-Hawaii, 89-79, in a warm-up game on the island of Oahu.

"We're excited to be here," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Sunday, "but we're not as excited as we would have been if we played better Friday night against Santa Clara.

"There's a little tension in our place, some long meetings."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said his team's close call just illustrates that exotic trips can be dangerous.

"Competition like this brings out the best in everybody," Pitino said. "We were down four at halftime and life and death to win the game."

The Tar Heels played Friday without point guard Raymond Felton, who was serving a one-game suspension. He'll be back for UNC's game today with Brigham Young.

Comedy Central: Williams said this is his 13th trip to Hawaii, adding, "If they fire me, I've got enough points for 14 straight free weeks at the Marriott down the street."

Chaminade coach Aaron Griesse defused Texas coach Rick Barnes' fretting about the youth of the Longhorns.

"He says they're very young," said Griesse. "They're young McDonald's All-Americans is what they are."

Retorted Barnes: "Those guys aren't Big Macs. They're fish filets right now."

Asheville Rocks: Tennessee won't go away from Maui empty-handed. The Vols' Asheville, N.C., connections went two-for-two in tourney festivities before the first tip-off.

Sunday, coach Buzz Peterson beat Louisville's Pitino in a free-throw shooting contest, an event that raises money for a local school. Peterson and Pitino were both perfect (8-for-8), but Peterson's school representative teammate was better than Pitino's.

Pee Wee Gash also was a winner, eliminating fellow Ashevillian Rashad McCants of the Tar Heels to take first place in an EA Sports computer game competition.

Once A Tar Heel: Peterson filled in for UNC's Williams in the free-throw shooting contest, but it was during his turn representing UT that he was a winner.

When North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour greeted Peterson, a Tar Heel captain in the 1980s, at a press conference, Baddour said, "We like you no matter who you're with." Then he added, "We're grooming you."

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.