The result? A much-deserved victory for North Carolina, a win that was every
bit as convincing as it was shocking. As losing coach Roy Williams noted
afterward, the Tar Heels were simply better in every relevant aspect of the
game. If you compare the talent in North Carolina's starting five to Kansas'
starting five, it would not have been much of a stretch to say that a few
years down the road, with a little seasoning, Carolina's five would be able to
whip Kansas's five.
But now, in the fourth game of this season? How did that happen?
It started with a very solid offensive game plan: Playing essentially without
a low post player -- Sean May spent most of the night in the high post -- Carolina
spread the court, left the lane clear, and looked to exploit individual
one-on-one matchups: in particular Rashad McCants vs. Keith Langford. McCants
set the tone for the night with an early hesitation, stop and go move by
Langford for a dunk. The strategy of taking the ball hard to the goal put
Kansas on its back foot -- and also helped minimize turnovers.
But it wasn't as if the Heels made mad dashes to the basket in a foolish
manner. Indeed, Carolina worked the ball around the court exceptionally well
against the Kansas defense, frequently finding Jawad Williams for open looks
in the corner. North Carolina led by 9 at half, but the margin could have been
even higher had the Heels knocked down a couple more open jumpers.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels were putting forth a great defensive effort: 11
blocked shots, 21 Kansas turnovers, 40% FG shooting, just two made 3s. Kansas
did outrebound UNC 41-28, but it was hardly the inside domination many
expected. Perhaps most impressively, Sean May and Jawad Wiliams did not stop
defending when they did concede offensive boards, and continued to challenge
shots. May finished with 5 blocks to go along with 4 steals and 11
boards -- including, it seemed, every important one in the final few minutes.
Above all, however, this game was about a young team not being afraid to take a
game by the scuff of the throat, and then having the maturity to play
intelligent basketball to close out a W. After the great second half start to
push the lead to 50-33 and force a Kansas timeout with 16 and a half minutes
to play, the neutral observer had to think: Now's the time Carolina will let
up a little bit, make some dumb plays, Roy will get Kansas's attention with a
couple of timeouts, this will be a close game at the end.
Didn't happen. If anything, Carolina became ever more aggressive on the
defensive end in the game's final segments, while calmly using lots of shot
clock on the offensive end. McCants scored 10 of his 12 second half points (25
overall) in the vital six minute stretch between the 14 and 8 minute mark.
Kansas's half court pressure did not cause Carolina major problems in the end
game, and the Heels got enough defensive stops to never allow the Jayhawks to
change the momentum.
All in all, an astonishing performance, and an emotional win. The Carolina
locker contained plenty of scenes to cherish: assistant coaches hugging one
another, basketball operations head David Cason having a few heart-to-heart
words with first half hero Melvin Scott followed by a hand clasp, even Dick
Vitale coming in to personally congratulate Jawad Williams and Raymond Felton.
45 minutes after the game, happy family members and a number of Tar Heel fans
gathered near the exit to Madison Square Garden to high-five players as the
bus gradually filled up with smiling Tar Heels.
But what was most impressive, perhaps, was the absence of shock among the key
performers in the Tar Heel locker room. Twenty minutes after the buzzer of a game
that no doubt left Tar Heels fans nationwide agog with excitement, Rashad
McCants was calmly answering questions in reasoned tones, as if his heartbeat
rate had hardly been raised by the night's events. Overall, the tone was one
of satisfaction with a great accomplishment -- but not the extremely emotional,
teary-eyed response that sometimes takes place when a team does the truly
unexpected. Simply put, this was the response of a team that expects itself to
do well -- no matter the opposition or setting.
Whether Carolina can come close to duplicating its remarkable performance
against the stingy zone defense of Stanford Friday night remains to be seen.
What is already certain is that Wednesday night was a huge, legendary win for
the UNC program -- one of Carolina's biggest regular season wins ever, and one
all Carolina fans will, rightly, feel both ecstatic about and thankful for.
Thad Williamson is author of More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much To So Many. Thad welcomes your emails at thad@uncbasketball.com