CHARLOTTE — The encore was nothing like the big show.
Playing in a game against each other for the first time since the University of North Carolina beat the University of Illinois in the 2005 NCAA championship game, Deron Williams and Raymond Felton were reduced to mere undercard status Monday night.
Though Williams was drafted No. 3 overall by Utah and Felton No. 5 overall by Charlotte, their first face-to-face NBA meeting paled in comparison to the highly hyped collegiate showdown.
For starters, the NCAA game is history in Williams' mind. Moreover, neither of the two point guards is even starting yet in the NBA.
"I don't really think about the national championship game," Ilinois product Williams said. "That's in the past. This is the NBA now.
"The only thing I thought about tonight," Williams added, "was the Bobcats vs. the Jazz."
Utah got the best of Charlotte, winning 95-91 in overtime.
Williams, who isn't starting but is finishing, came off the bench to score eight points and dish four assists in 29 minutes. Felton played 28 minutes behind starter Brevin Knight, finishing with 10 assists and seven points.
Neither shot particularly well, with Williams going 3-of-9 from the field and Felton 2-of-7.
DO OVER: There was a bit of second-quarter confusion Monday, but eventually the refs got everything right.
Jazz big man Mehmet Okur shot a free throw stemming from a defensive 3-second violation, but shouldn't have because he was not in the game at the time of the foul.
Okur missed the freebie, but was incorrectly credited with making it. When that mistake was noticed minutes later, so was the fact he should not have been shooting anyway. Andrei Kirilenko was allowed to re-take the free throw — and he missed as well.
"They were right," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the refs and their blunders. "That's a correctable error."
OWENS DEBUTS: After dressing but not playing Saturday vs. Phoenix, undrafted Jazz rookie guard Andre Owens made his NBA debut Monday.
Owens came off the bench to play three second-quarter minutes, and hit his first shot, a 19-foot jumper. The University of Houston product finished with two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field.
ICK: Starting Jazz shooting guard Gordan Giricek exited briefly in the first half for the lockerroom, but soon returned.
Official word: Indigestion.
The rest of the story: Giricek threw up lunch.
"I had a steak sandwich," he said. "Too much oil. I think my stomach's not too strong."
CHEAP TIX: Something to ponder while the Jazz are off on a four-game, seven-day road trip:
According to an annual list recently released by Chicago-based Team Marketing Report Inc., average cost for a ticket to a Jazz home game during the 2005-06 season is $39.50.
Team Marketing Report says that is up 4.1 percent from a season ago, but still well below the NBA average of $45.92.
The Jazz's average ticket price, in fact, is more than only five other teams in the league: Orlando, Memphis, Seattle, New Orleans/Oklahoma City and Golden State. The Warriors checked in at a league-low $23.82. The Los Angeles Lakers had the highest average ticket cost, $79.21.
MISC.: One game after exiting in the second minute Saturday due to a strained right knee, Jazz center Greg Ostertag started, played 32 minutes, scored six points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. . . . Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer (strained hamstring) did not play for the fourth straight game. . . . Also inactive for Utah: C.J. Miles, Robert Whaley. . . . The 2-2 Bobcats have gone to overtime in three of four games this season, including both at home. They're now 1-2 in OT.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com