First off, the refs were horrible and yes, UNC did benefit from it. Not that I think it would have helped Miami much but when you are getting the living daylights beat out of you by the #3 team in the nation, you would at least like to think you could get some calls to go your way. Now, it was not immediately clear why Miami coach Frank Haith received his second technical foul which led to his ejection but looking at in on tape I thought this is what was said(apologies to Gene Hackman):
Haith(to the ref): Kick me out of the game.
Ref: You're putting me on?
Haith: Kick me out of the game or I will start screaming like a mad fool
Ref: I guess you have your reasons(turns to the scorer's table) technical foul on Haith...he's ejected.
Maybe he had a struggling assistant coach who needed a chance to prove himself or maybe he was tired of watching the massacre. It was a notable event, especially considering VT coach Seth Greenberg also got a technical foul in their loss to NC State on the very same night.
Anyway, UNC was impressive on several fronts. The perimeter game showed up huge and I also was impressed with the fact they came out from the start, put their foot on Miami's throat and kept it there for the first half and eight minutes into the second half before pushing down and crush the windpipe altogether. I half expected a letdown game after the spanking of Arizona but none was really evident in this game. In Miami's defense they were missing some personnel from a team that was already pretty bad. Defensively speaking UNC did not defend the perimeter partcularly well then again the Canes' Harris and McClinton looked like they were on fire. Overall it was a good effort ahead of a decent test in Raleigh on Saturday against an NC State team who built confidence with a nice road win in Blacksburg and the possibility UNC could be looking past to Duke. It will be up to Roy to keep them focused on the game at hand.