Heels Fueled By Halftime Speech
CHAPEL HILL – Trailing Syracuse by three points at halftime, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams made it crystal clear in the locker room he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance over the first 20 minutes Tuesday night.
“He was a little mad,” Cameron Johnson said. “He didn’t like the way we competed in the first half, he didn’t like the simple basketball mistakes we made.”
The Heels heeded their coach’s message, opening the second half with a 15-3 run, and while they didn’t entirely pull away from the Orange, but they did secure a 93-85 victory at the Smith Center.
The task would have been greater had Coby White not scored 15 of his game-high 34 points by the intermission, keeping he Heels afloat after an overall 37-percent shooting performance. Led by Elijah Hughes’ 15 points in the first half, Syracuse shot 52.9 percent from the floor and 47.1 from beyond the arc. Hughes came into Tuesday night’s game averaging 13.7 points, showing just how dominant he was.
“Hughes shot the ball really well and made five threes,” Luke Maye said. “We just said we’ve got to get out to them and make sure they’re shooting over a contested hand and I thought we did that more in the second half.”
Now, back to how UNC started the second half, putting their Hall of Fame coach’s words into action.
“As individuals, we all have pride,” White said. “And, I think as individuals, when you question our toughness, I feel like you question our pride.”
The 15-3 run moved UNC to a 58-49 lead with 15:38 remaining. Syracuse led for only 1:02 during the entire second half and never led after the 18:15 mark.
For senior guard Kenny Williams, who finished with eight points, six rebounds and five assists, the team’s change in play was down to two simple things.
“We just played with more effort and more attention to detail,” Williams said. “We came in knowing that they had certain shooters and we let them get hot. Especially in the second half, we kind of turned it around and upped our effort for a little bit.”
Bouncing back from a lackluster first half is crucial for a team contending for an ACC title and building toward a possible long run in the NCAA Tournament that begins in three weeks. The next chapter in this process was being sparked by their coach’s fuel.
“It (the criticism) motivates us more,” White said. “Basically, if you’re not tough, you’re soft, and nobody wants to be called soft on this team.”
Every game is an opportunity to get better and a big part of that is finding ways to win. On Tuesday night, the Tar Heels did just that.