Lucas: A Bad Man

By Adam Lucas

RALEIGH—Before Carolina faced Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Jan. 22, Roy Williams walked out of the Tar Heel locker room before the game bearing gifts. When he walked to the bench during pregame warm-ups, he scanned the seats behind the UNC bench, located who he was looking for, and began to pull a newspaper out of his pocket.

Then he walked over to Mark Maye, who for the last 20 years has been known mostly as "former Tar Heel quarterback" but has slowly seen his name change to "Luke Maye's dad," and handed him the newspaper.

On the front page of the Roanoke sports section that day was a picture of Luke Maye and a very fitting headline:

"A Bad Man."

That's how an opponent had described Maye recently. That's how NC State will remember him after Saturday's incredible performance. Pick a way to quantify it:

The simple way: Maye had 33 points and 17 rebounds.

The "good game in a half" way: Maye had 25 points and eight rebounds…in the second half alone.

The "Maye against everybody" way: Maye had 17 rebounds. The entire NC State starting lineup had 17 rebounds.

The "put this in context" way: Maye's 33 points and 17 rebounds represent his second 30+/15+ game of the season. According to the Tar Heel Sports Network, only three other players in Carolina history—the entire history of the program—have ever achieved multiple 30/15 games in the same season. Their names are Billy Cunningham, Lennie Rosenbluth and Mitch Kupchak (who was at Saturday's game seated behind the Tar Heel bench).

Cunningham, Rosenbluth, Kupchak—and Maye. Three players whose jerseys hang in the Smith Center rafters and one who…well, we don't have to talk about that just yet. But we both know we're thinking it, don't we?

Maye's second half clinic was one of the most complete offensive performances of the Roy Williams era. It wasn't just that he scored. It was that he scored in every possible way. He made three-pointers. He scored in the paint. He chucked in a fall-away, which is fast becoming a trademark (and almost indefensible) shot. He scored on an offensive rebound. He drove and dunked. He tossed in a 24-foot three-pointer, not because the shot clock was winding down—it was still at ten seconds—but because, well, he was within range and the only player defending him was seven-footer Omer Yurtseven, so why not just shoot a jumper over him?

After that last one, which was Danny Green heat-check worthy, Shea Rush simply put both hands on his head on the UNC bench, mouth wide open. It was the perfectly correct reaction.

And yet, still, there is this seeming disbelief that Maye should be mentioned in this Cunningham/Rosenbluth/Kupchak territory, or even really Berry/Johnson/Pinson. After an early Maye three-point play, Theo Pinson overheard some shouting in the NCSU huddle. "You can guard him!" the State defender was imploring his teammate. "He's not that athletic!"

Pinson chuckled.

"I think he heard them," the senior said. "And once I heard that, I said, 'Y'all have talked to the wrong one.' He started cooking after that."

Maye's offensive onslaught was part of an incredible second-half UNC offensive performance that saw the Tar Heels shoot 78.1 percent for the half. The Tar Heels missed seven shots in the final 20 minutes; they rebounded five of those seven misses. Only twice in the entire half did they shoot, miss, and fail to recover the rebound. One of the best offensive boards was when Kenny Williams simply outhustled a flatfooted N.C. State defense to retrieve a rare Maye miss, then turned and fed Maye for what turned into a strong two-handed jam.

It was the kind of effort you might not have expected to see 36 hours after playing an emotional game against Duke in the Smith Center. But the Tar Heels had little trouble summoning the intensity for their visit to Raleigh. Most everyone remembered the boisterous Wolfpack celebration on the Smith Center court two weeks ago. Joel Berry II poked the Pack during the week, but then, after the win, the Tar Heels simply ran off the court, mouths closed, arms raised.

Asked his memory of the State display in Chapel Hill, Kenny Williams' lack of comment said more than any sentence could have.

"Ummmmmm," he replied, "I don't think I want to say the wrong thing."

You don't have to, Kenny. Just keep knocking down those clutch three-pointers—Williams might have made the biggest shot of the game, a three-pointer that took the lead from two to five with a minute to go—and we'll take care of the remembering.

Of course, it's easier when you're the team that has Luke Maye. The irony here is that he is not at all a bad man. He is Academic All-ACC. He says "yes sir" reflexively. He is a frequent visitor to the UNC Children's Hospital.

Two quick personal stories which would completely embarrass him but that you should know:

After his first career Carolina home game, I was riding home with my youngest son, Asher, who serves as a ballboy. "Who was the nicest to you?" I asked.

"Luke Maye," the then-nine-year-old said immediately. "He asked me my name and told me thanks for rebounding for him."

Two seasons later, the Tar Heels were in Portland for the PK80 tournament. It was approximately three hours before the game, and Maye was on the elevator when my wife got on at a different floor. Maye, by now a starter and worldwide Kentucky-beating phenomenon, was in game mode. His headphones were on. The championship game was imminent. He didn't need to talk.

But he did. He took his headphones off, asked my wife how she was doing and how her Thanksgiving had been, and asked about the kids.

Let's just keep these incidents between us, OK? Because all the rest of the league needs to know is what he showed on Saturday afternoon:

Luke Maye is a very bad man.

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Luke Maye

Theo Pinson

Shea Rush

Kenny Williams

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