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Maye Developing Into An Important Component

A healthy Luke Maye gives the Tar Heels variety in their rotation of big men, as displayed in Wednesday's win.
A healthy Luke Maye gives the Tar Heels variety in their rotation of big men, as displayed in Wednesday's win. (Bruce Young, THI)


CHAPEL HILL - As far as Luke Maye is concerned, Wednesday night’s game versus Davidson was really his fourth of the season even though it was the Tar Heels’ 10th.

A sprained ankle in the second game forced the sophomore forward to miss five games, but he only played a partial game versus Chattanooga, which was the home opener, and returned for last week’s loss at Indiana.

Maye said that return may have been a bit premature.

“I talked to coach and a lot of the guys, this was really my fourth true game,” Maye said after UNC’s 83-74 victory over Davidson on Wednesday night. “I got hurt in the second game, and at Indiana I was kind of coming off (an injury) maybe a little bit too early… Last game against Radford, I played 14 minutes and did some good things.

“I’m just trying to build on that and keep getting better every day in practice, and hopefully I stay healthy as well.”

Maye is healthy now and has clearly gotten better, even in his limited time. He was the main scoring cog in an 11-0 run versus the Wildcats that infused the Tar Heels with needed life and mojo in the first half after the starters sluggishly opened the game scoring on just one of their first nine possessions.

Maye entered with the Heels trailing 10-3 with 15:44 left in the first half, and he proceeded to score 7 of Carolina’s next 11 points on a 3 and two shots in the lane.

In this stretch and over the 16 minutes he played, Maye displayed the variety in his game. He attempted a few outside shots, hitting one of the two 3s he attempted, he used the dribble to create some situations, passed well, rebounded in traffic on the offensive end and ripped a few misses away on the defensive side, quickly getting the ball to a guard. He scored in the lane and defended pretty well.

“First half, he made a couple of shots,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “They called him for charging, that I didn’t think was right. But he did some good things to help us.”

Maye said the hot start was because of his teammates, but also gave him a nice personal jolt.

“Guys found me open and I was able to knock a few shots down early and it gave me a little confidence,” he said. “I just continued to build on that throughout the game.”

Two sequences from Maye’s performance stood out: He grabbed an offensive rebound from the right side, bobbled the ball ripping it away from a Davidson player but got enough control to get it to Jackson in the left corner for the 3 and a 29-24 lead.

Then, later in the half, he pulled down a defensive board, quickly got the ball ahead to a guard, ran the floor, got a feed from Tony Bradley and rammed home the ball for a 40-28 lead with 1:41 left in the half.

“It was great seeing Luke play like that,” senior Isaiah Hicks said.

Maye finished with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor, grabbed 6 rebounds, had an assist and registered 3 steals.

This performance was particularly important because Maye struggled a lot a week ago at Indiana in his first game back after missing five straight games with a sprained ankle. He turned in a solid performance in 14 minutes versus Radford on Sunday, but Davidson is a different animal. The Wildcats are contenders in the Atlantic 10 and likely an NCAA Tournament team.

Maye is the fourth big, and his versatility will be useful in certain situations down the road. So having a confidence fourth big who will be called on at times for extended minutes can be an important component to what the Tar Heels eventually become.

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