GREENSBORO, NC – North Carolina won’t cut down the nets inside the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday night, but to characterize the Tar Heels’ week at the ACC Tournament as anything but a success would be a bit off target.
UNC went 2-1 with a 42-point rout of Notre Dame, an impressive gritty win over Virginia Tech, and despite being taken out of character for much of Friday night’s loss to Florida State, the Tar Heels held the lead with nearly two minutes remaining.
And they did this playing their third game in as many nights versus a fresh FSU club that last played six days earlier, with Garrison Brooks battling an ankle injury, and some of the Tar Heels performing below expectations.
Yet, the Heels (18-10) nearly squeaked into the title game.
“Well, I think we showed some toughness in last night's game in particular when we were down, and they fought back and then they did the same thing in the game tonight,” UNC Coach Roy Williams replied, when asked what jumped out the most about how his team grew during the week. “But we didn't make enough plays the last three minutes to win the game...”
Brooks injured his ankle early last Saturday versus Duke and didn’t play Tuesday against the Fighting Irish. In 49 minutes the last two nights, his limited lift and quickness rendered him largely ineffective on offense, as he totaled just 10 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds.
Freshman point guard Caleb Love was effective with 15 points and six assists Tuesday, but he was 6-for-26 the last two nights with just one assist in the two contests. Kerwin Walton attempted only 19 shots in the three games, nine the first two nights, and converted just seven for the week.
After having a terrific outing versus Notre Dame with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and eight blocked shots, seven-foot freshman Walker Kessler struggled the last two games, totaling only six points on 1-for-6 shooting with 10 rebounds and no blocks in only 20 minutes of action.
Fatigue and Brooks’ limitations weren’t excuses for Williams. Growth isn’t accompanied by excuses. He was pleased with his big men, even though they got just 19 of the team’s 68 shots in Friday’s loss.
“The first two games I was very pleased with all of our big guys and one of them one game, one the next, and those kind of things,” Carolina’s coach said. “It did help -- it would have helped us if Garrison had been 100 percent, but that's the game. That's part of basketball. That's part of college basketball.”
Just last week, Love described the team as “laying an egg” in the games after high-end performances, so the Heels washed that away with four consecutive impressive outings given the competitive nature of Friday’s defeat.
The laying-an-egg talk is in the rearview mirror now, so what did Love take from this week?
“I think we just found out how deep we are, and we really got guys that come in and gives us a lift off the bench,” he said. “We really can play 10, 12 guys. It's just tough for us because we wanted that championship.
“We wanted to get to that championship. But just coming into this tournament, we learned a lot, and we just got to push forward for this next stretch.”
That’s where Bacot went when asked a similar question.
“I would just say confidence mainly and just our approach,” he said. “I feel like we know we can play with any team now. We feel like if we play our best game and just go out there from the jump, we can be good… But I would just say confidence and just knowing that we've got to go out there and be ready to play every day.”
North Carolina got plenty out of this week. Enough that it left Greensboro believing it is a better team than the one that arrived Monday evening.
