Lucas: Winning Here

By Adam Lucas

There was the snow game against Maryland. There was the snow game against NC State. And on Tuesday, there was the snow game without any actual snow.

It happened, of course, against Clemson. The Tigers have been beaten here by almost everything. They've been beaten while having just four players on the court for the final minutes of the game, they've been beaten in double overtime by a Tar Heel team led largely by a great performance from Quentin Thomas, they've lost as a ranked team and as an unranked team…and now they've lost to a crowd energized by simply the prospect of inclement weather.

That's how we're going to remember this one. "Oh yeah, 2018, that was the 'Classes are canceled game." But it was so much more, because it was a night that was a nice reminder of just how hard it is for opponents to win here.

It was a night when Roy Williams walked off the floor after pregame warmups and encountered Marcus Ginyard in the home tunnel. Ginyard, home on a quick six-day break from his professional team in Macedonia, embraced his coach.

"Marcus, if we win, I'll be flying you in for every game," Williams said.

Ginyard played it cool, then turned to the Tar Heel standing beside him. "Did you hear that?" he said with a wide grin. "You heard that, right?"

Oh yes, we all heard it, Marcus, and now Williams' frequent flyer account is about to take a big hit. Ginyard wasn't the only former player in attendance. Kenny Smith snuck in relatively quietly during halftime, and former Ginyard teammate Mike Copeland was directly behind the UNC coaches.

And directly means directly. Copeland, whose always upbeat attitude was an essential part of the chemistry of some of those late 2000 UNC teams, was in Williams' ear throughout the game, causing the Hall of Famer to crack a smile on at least one occasion—which was no easy task on a night when Williams was in the trademark double-fist pump crouch begging for a defensive stop for most of the second half.

In the first half, an errant Clemson shot pinned itself between the rim and the backboard.

"Wedgie!" Copeland barked, and even Williams had to grin. That's just Cope, just another part of what makes a night at the Smith Center so fun. You never know which former players might show up, and never know which of them might shout "Wedgie!" in the middle of a potentially historic Atlantic Coast Conference basketball game.

What makes it special, what makes it so darn hard to win a game here as the opposing team, is how much those former players value their experience. Ginyard's face absolutely lit up when he was told Copeland was in the building. Both wrapped Williams in giant hugs when they saw him. "This is just my third game back since I left," Ginyard said as he greeted virtually every person in the home tunnel. The smile on his face made it easily visible just how much it meant to him to be in Chapel Hill.

Have we talked about the snow? We should talk about the snow. Well, there wasn't any. But there might be some, which prompted the University to cancel classes on Wednesday. The decision came down right about the time that Joel Berry hit Cam Johnson for one of Johnson's six three-pointers on the evening.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell called timeout right at that moment, allowing the students to revel in, first, the three-pointer, and second, the news that they don't have to go to class tomorrow. Instead of quelling the momentum, the timeout actually fanned it. This was perhaps the most ill-timed timeout since Wake Forest took one during the 2001 season, allowing the Smith Center video boards to replay a Ronald Curry-to-Julius Peppers alley oop thunder dunk, the "Whoooooommmm" from the crowd growing louder with every replay.

Later in Tuesday's game, the Smith Center video boards carried the news of Wednesday's class cancellation paired with a rousing recording of "Jump Around," once again sending the students into a dance party. But the players didn't need the video reminder. They already knew. "Before it went on the screen, we knew there was no class tomorrow," said Brandon Robinson, who drained a pair of three-pointers. "Someone behind the bench told us, and then it went to KJ (Smith), then from KJ to Shea (Rush), then from Shea to me, and I passed it on up the bench."

You know, sometimes it's fun to remember for just a second that they are just nice, normal, completely average college kids. And then, after that, we can yell at them to make their free throws.

Because, ultimately, the difficulty in winning here for opponents is because of the Carolina players and coaches. You take a player like Robinson, who played just nine minutes, but somehow found a way to squeeze every possible ounce out of those minutes. "I'm not really sure why I'm out here," said Robinson when summoned to the interview room. Usually, that's a space reserved for starters or the high scorer in the game. But I can tell you exactly why Robinson was there: because I would argue to you that Brandon Robinson made the most important play of the game.

Clemson had closed to within 61-59 with 9:30 left, and Johnson missed a three-pointer. Had the Tigers recovered the ball, they were certain to score, because they were in the middle of a stretch of 15 straight baskets. But Robinson leaped high in the air and, contorting between a couple of Clemson defenders, tipped the ball back out, turning it into an offensive rebound. That led to an enormous Berry three-pointer, and the Smith Center could breathe again.

To win here, you have to beat a Hall of Fame coach and the former players and Woody Durham up in the upper deck waving to the crowd on the day it was announced he will be inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame and role players who love their role like Brandon Robinson and stars like Luke Maye (who used to be role players who loved their role).

The latter took an elbow from Kenny Williams, bled on the Smith Center court, got stitches for the first time in his life (five of them), looked a little hesitant when he first returned to the court, then proceeded to make multiple clutch plays in the final minutes, including a big three-pointer, an important defensive rebound, a gorgeous 65-foot pass to Williams for a basket, and—perhaps most impressively—knock down a couple of free throws with 4:21 remaining in a one-and-one situation that pushed the Tar Heel lead to eight points.

Oh, and who are you cheering for when you're rooting for Luke Maye? The kid who had 11 points and four rebounds, sure. The guy who makes regular visits to the Children's Hospital to visit sick kids, yes But also the player who made it a point to apologize to one of Tuesday night's officials. Maye had been called for his fourth foul and in the heat of the moment, showed frustration with the call. Two minutes later, he had his arm around the referee.

"I went over and told him I apologized for the way I acted," Maye said. "I was disrespectful, and that's not me. It was the right call, and I had to move on."

Move on, it turns out, to another victory. Winning here never gets old, but it certainly does get habitual. There's another game at the Smith Center on Saturday, but there's plenty to do before then. After all, someone has to check on those nonstop flights from Macedonia to RDU.

Players Mentioned

Luke Maye

Brandon Robinson

Kenny Williams

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