INDIANAPOLIS — North Carolina point guard Ed Cota can accept losing. What was hard for the Brooklyn native to handle was not being able to play his game for most of the second half of the Tar Heels’ 71-59 loss to Florida in last night’s national semifinal game in the RCA Dome.
Cota was disecting the Florida press, using the skills and smarts he learned on the city playgrounds to help the Tar Heels take a 48-42 lead with 15:49 left. But in the next two minutes and 30 seconds, Cota would pick up his third and fourth fouls, the last one coming with 13:18 remaining.
Suddenly Cota and the Tar Heels grew hesitant. Instead of attacking the press they became tentative and the Gators quickly turned a 50-46 deficit into a 60-54 lead.
“I just didn’t know how to perform under those circumstances,” said Cota. “There was too much time left in the game and I was trying to be conservative and then the game kind of got out of hand.”
Cota finished with nine points, eight assists, eight rebounds, and two steals. He took everything the Gators threw at him and kept coming.
“There’s not another Ed Cota,” said North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge.
With the game decided, Guthridge extended to Cota the final courtesy, removing him from the game with 15 seconds left for one final ovation from the Carolina faithful.
“I think I had a good career,” said Cota, who is Carolina’s career assist leader with 1,030 and the NCAA’s third all time. “A lot of people can’t say they’ve been to three Final Fours. I feel fortunate that I’ve been a part of this Carolina family.”
Cota was whistled for his fourth foul on Brett Nelson, Florida’s freshman point guard who did an excellent job of not backing down from the Carolina senior.
“I was nowhere near the guy,” said Cota. “I was nowhere near him. I heard No. 5; I didn’t think the foul was on me.”
It was. And Carolina had no choice but to follow the lead of its floor leader and stop attacking.
“It’s a sad feeling,” said Cota. “I can’t change it. I have to get over it. It’s not the way I wanted to go out.”
