While NC State won ten of the seventeen games that Whittenburg was sidelined with his injury, including a win against rival and defending national champion North Carolina, the seven losses they incurred left them with a 17–10 record entering the ACC Tournament.
The Wolfpack knocked off Wake Forest in the first game and North Carolina in the semifinals[1] before recording their first victory over then-#2 Virginia in the finals.
At the time, the NCAA did not employ the “pod system” they use today to determine what teams play where to minimize travel costs and concerns for the first two rounds of the tournament.
This set up the Wolfpack’s fourth meeting of the year with Virginia, who toppled #4 seeded Boston College, led by future national championship winner Gary Williams, in the other regional semifinal.
[6] At the Final Four in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Wolfpack finished off their run to the championship game by defeating Georgia in the semifinals on Saturday,[7] which set up a matchup with top-ranked and heavily-favored Houston on Monday night at The Pit.
During this run, N.C. State earned the nickname "Cardiac Pack" based in part on their "Wolfpack" mascot and the series of close games that took them to the title.
Drexler begged to remain in the game, but was forced to come out after Wolfpack sophomore guard Terry Gannon drew a charging foul on him.
With Cougars coach Guy Lewis shifting his focus to getting center Hakeem Olajuwon the basketball on offense, using the advantage he had over NC State's big men Lorenzo Charles and Cozell McQueen, Houston outscored the Wolfpack 17–2 in the first ten minutes of the half to give themselves a 42–35 lead.
On what would be Houston's last possession, Valvano called for his defenders to sit back and let Cougars point guard Alvin Franklin advance the ball and begin passing it around.
The idea, as later stated by Whittenburg and fellow senior Thurl Bailey years later, was to not only put a poor foul shooter on the line but force Franklin, as the youngest starter on the squad, to face the enormousness of the moment with a sellout crowd at The Pit and millions of viewers watching at home.
NC State took the rebound and with 44 seconds on the clock, Valvano called a time out and drew up a final play for his point guard Whittenburg to take the last shot.
With a pair of defenders on him, Bailey threw what his teammate later called a "poor fundamental" overhand pass that Anders could easily have stolen.
Since the rules of the day dictated that the entire game be played with a running clock, the Wolfpack would most likely not have been able to get the ball up the court in time for a potential tying shot.
When Whittenburg regained control, five seconds were showing on the clock and he turned to try to get some sort of shot off from his position thirty-five feet from the goal.
With two seconds left on the clock Charles took the ball and drove it through the hoop with two hands for the decisive score and gave the Wolfpack its first national championship since 1974.
Dereck Whittenburg produced the documentary and was one of several players who appeared in it, alongside his teammates Thurl Bailey, Sidney Lowe, Terry Gannon, Cozell McQueen, and Ernie Myers.
In addition to Valvano's famous speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards, special attention is paid to his appearance at the ceremony honoring the 1982–83 team held several weeks earlier.
Valvano had not been expected to attend, partly due to his illness but also to lingering bad feelings present from his forced resignation three years earlier.
However, in what would prove to be the last time many of his players would see him, Valvano made his appearance toward the end of the ceremony and spoke to the crowd about how the team never gave up and how it inspired him to continue his fight against cancer.