Theo Being Theo
BROOKLYN, NY – Theo being Theo is a good thing for North Carolina.
It usually means the Tar Heels are playing well, they have a skip in their collective steps, and they are winning.
It also means they’re having fun, because when Theo Pinson is doing his thing, letting his exuberance and personality fly, it’s all smiles and laughter for the Tar Heels, which is exactly what happened during UNC’s 78-53 demolition of Miami on Thursday in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals at Barclays Center.
“Just being me,” said Pinson, who was asked what Theo being Theo means.
“You see it, I don’t hide it at all. I’m not a shy guy, I go out there playing around. We were in warmups and (ESPN commentator) Jay Bilas was doing an interview and I’m giving him bunny ears and rubbing his head and stuff. I’m just a fun loving guy playing around all the time.”
Playing around and playing seriously are two things the 6-6 junior from Greensboro, NC, managed to combine Thursday.
The serious part was Pinson’s performance: 9 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and a whale of a game on defense. From a basketball standpoint, that was Theo being Theo for the Tar Heels.
What does Theo being Theo actually mean to the other Heels?
“Doing a little bit of everything: Rebounding, passing the ball, scoring if he needs to, defensively making some plays,” Justin Jackson said about his classmate. “That’s what Theo does and what we need him to do every single game.”
Pinson’s performance came at a very good time for the Tar Heels. He’d gone two consecutive games (at Virginia, home versus Duke) without scoring, though he did hand out 10 total assists in the contests.
With the Heels’ top three scorers struggling to put points on the board in the first half Thursday, they needed production from some others, as Joel Berry, Kennedy Meeks and Jackson had combined to score only 8 points. Pinson complemented Isaiah Hicks’ 13-point half by adding 6 points.
The usual suspects got it going after halftime, so Pinson was stuck on 6 points until, well, Theo was Theo, again.
With UNC pushing the lead out and appearing to take control of the game, Pinson attempted an alley-oop to freshman forward Tony Bradley. But instead of the ball going to Bradley, it managed to go through the cylinder, giving Pinson a 3-pointer because he was outside of the arc when he released the ball.
The bucket put Carolina ahead 62-46 with 8:42 left, sending UNC’s bench into a laughing frenzy. Roy Williams later had fun talking about the pass-turned-shot.
“If you'd have heard what he said when he let it go, ‘ooh, ooh,’ it was comical, but it was Theo,” Williams said. “Nobody else could do it except Theo. Somebody else, I'd try to strangle him, but Theo, you've got to understand that it's him… That was a better shot than the one he shot from across the court that ended up being an air ball.”
Pinson said Williams had a bit of a different reaction as it happened.
“I looked at coach and he was like, ‘Get back (defensively),’” he said. “It was a weird moment but it was a fun one, also.”
It was hard to find a player in the locker room after the game not talking about the shot. It led to more serious questions about Pinson and how he helps the Tar Heels. But the shot also kept coming back, even when a Heel wasn’t asked about it.
Take senior Nate Britt as an example. Britt was asked what Theo being Theo means from a purely basketball perspective.
“That means Theo is bringing high energy and doing all of the intangible stuff that he always does, he’s making shots like he made today when he tried to throw an alley-oop,” Britt said, smiling and transitioning to the shot. “After he threw two alley-oops that weren’t successful he throws it again, and it happens to go in the basket, that’s Theo being Theo.”
There’s a wide range to all things Theo, and each is important in its unique way. The seriousness of Pinson needs to clever, almost silliness. They go hand in hand, and two more goals still to achieve, that’s exactly how the Tar Heels want it to remain for eight more games.