Meeks Gets Smart, Ignites Decisive Runs

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – To hear Roy Williams say it, the difference between losing and winning for North Carolina on Wednesday night was thinking Kennedy Meeks outweighing non-thinking Kennedy Meeks.

Thus, the Tar Heels won, escaping Wake Forest, 93-87, at Joel Coliseum on a night the Heels nearly blew a 19-point, second-half lead. But, it was the senior center raising his game at two junctures of the contest that proved crucial in the Tar Heels improving to 15-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC.

Now, Williams didn’t say those exact words, but he did highlight Meeks and his 18-point, 11-rebound performance as integral in the Tar Heels’ victory, pinpointing the time in the game when Meeks’ fortunes changed.

In peeling away a few layers, Meeks’ numbers were even more impressive in that they mostly came during a pair of runs the Heels needed to escape the Demon Deacons with the victory.

Otherwise, Meeks struggled. In fact, he had three shots blocked and another altered over the first 13 minutes of the contest and was only a factor in favor of Wake Forest. But with a bit more than 7 minutes left in the half, a light went on and Meeks was outstanding afterward.

“His brain,” UNC coach Roy Williams responded, when asked what the difference was for Meeks after the poor start. “I’m serious, why should you take a fade away jump shot when (Wake’s) John Collins, who is really, really good, and gets in foul trouble. Part of our deal is to take it at him, so why should you do that? When he got his brain in gear he really started playing better.”

Meeks triggered Carolina’s two most important runs of the night, and without either Carolina would have lost.

First, he converted a jumper breaking a 22-22 tied with 7:02 left in the first half, and by the time the halftime horn sounded, Carolina had 49 points. That’s 27 points in 7 minutes, with Meeks scoring 8 of the points.

Then, in the second half, after Carolina had nearly blown all of a 19-point lead, and with the scored 66-65 UNC with 9:22 remaining, Meeks tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Theo Pinson, sparking a 9-2 run that gave the Tar Heels some needed separation.

The Heels also scored 27 more points those close out that half, a surge again fueled by Meeks.

“When you get rebounds you get extra possessions and I think that’s what we need,” Meeks said. “And I told the guys we were going to need those extra possessions at the end of the game.”

In total, if you combine the final 7 minutes of the first half and the final 9 minutes of the game, Meeks scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, blocked a pair of shots, registered a steal that led to a fast-break layup, and he handed out an assist. On the night: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

“Big time game, big time game,” Pinson said about Meeks’ performance. “For him to maybe not go his way, two years ago he would have been out for the whole game, he just would have been funked out. He came back and was a player, and that was huge for us, and we needed him to be.”