CORAL GABLES, FL – Timeout? Forget about it.
North Carolina didn’t call a timeout in the waning seconds of Tuesday’s night’s game at Miami not because its coach prefers to horde them as a matter of principle, as the narrative sometimes suggests.
Not even close. The Tar Heels played on as a matter of tactic. It’s how they handle such a situation, and once again it worked.
Andrew Platek’s baseline drive and floater fell through the cylinder with three seconds left giving UNC a 67-65 victory over the Hurricanes, completing a 17-6 run to close the game and backing up Williams’ down-the-stretch philosophy.
“We practice that all the time,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “I mean, we had more time. If I set up a play, and you've heard this before, if I set up a play, I don't know if they're gonna play zone, don't know if we're going to play man.
“Caleb (Love) was hurt, Leaky (Black) was the point guard. And I’m just screaming, ‘Let's go, let's go, let's go.’ But, that's what we do. We've done that from Florida State here when Ty Lawson makes a game winner (in 2009). We did it in the final eight when Luke Maye did it (in 2017) and we do it every day in practice. We push it, if it's less than six, we’ll call a timeout. If it's more than six, we go.”
And there was zero hesitation on the Tar Heels’ part.
They didn’t look to their coach to see what he wanted from them. Isaiah Wong’s falling jumper swished through the net with 14 seconds remaining for Miami tying the score at 65. So, when Black got the inbound pass and began moving up the court, he was patient, saw the entire floor, and when Platek’s man pulled just a tad away, Black got the ball to the senior guard.
Black simply did his job.
“I got it and wanted to go right into fist because we practice it every day, that’s what we’re most comfortable (with),” Black explained. “I looked down in the post and I’m pretty sure they were fronted. I tried to get to the other side to get it to them, and then Andrew’s guy helped off him, so I just kicked it to Andrew, and he made a huge play with the floater.”
For Platek, there was no hesitation. The lane along the right baseline was there enough, so by driving the ball he’d either get to or near the rim, which is what happened, or if the Canes cut him off, it would leave someone open.
Again, no thought of calling a timeout. In football, they call it knowing down-and-distance, in basketball they can call it being who you are and doing what you do.
“With enough time on the clock, we want to go as fast as we can to not let the defense get set, so I knew we were going to push,” Platek said. “If it’s above seven seconds, we push, and below seven we’ll call a timeout and a set a play up, because that’s not enough time for the most part.
“But there was more than seven seconds, so we pushed it and I got a shot.”
Platek finished with seven points on the night and Black had 16, including nine rebounds and three assists. The official scorer didn’t credit him with an assist on that play, but it’s possible, and perhaps even probable, UNC did with how it grades a game.
And when Williams watches that sequence again, it will please him as one of the better run possessions of the night, and it came at crunch time and not needing a timeout.
