University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Cavaliers Write New Script
January 12, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2002
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
There are certain protocols that a visiting team must follow in order to win in the Smith Center.
For example, don't even think about winning unless you've got a guard who gets hot from the perimeter, someone like, oh, Keith Friel. And you're absolutely, definitely, not going to come away with a win unless you dominate the rebounding. Naturally, you've also got to plan to shoot at least fifty percent from the field.
Saturday in the Smith Center, Virginia's sharpshooter, Roger Mason, hit only four of his 13 shots. The Wahoos won the rebounding battle at 35-30, but they shot 42% from the field and no one on their roster hit more than half their shots except for beefy Elton Brown, who must have eaten Travis Watson at halftime, based on the fact that Watson disappeared in the second half.
But the Cavaliers, who have a top-ten ranking that presumably came from the BCS computers, came away with a 71-67 win in a game that proved that there's something worse than a blowout loss--a narrow almost-upset.
Games like Maryland and Wake Forest are almost easier to take, because there's time during the game to process the defeat. In close games, the loss has to be rationalized while trying to drive home among the obstacle course of orange cones and fencing set up by the Chapel Hill police outside the Dean Dome.
After the game, a reporter asked Jawad Williams if the Tar Heels believed in moral victories. The freshman hesitated a moment, looked up, and replied, "No."
That feeling is part of a gradual change that was evident both in the locker room after the defeat and on the court during the game. Matt Doherty was demonstrative from the beginning, leaping and skipping out to the free throw line to meet Williams after a three-pointer by the rookie that led to a Cavalier timeout.
But mistakes also generated a similar amount of emotion. After the loss to College of Charleston in Charlotte before Christmas, Doherty had made it a point to respond positively to every miscue. Melvin Scott fires a pass into the seats--Doherty clapped. Adam Boone dribbled into the corner--Doherty clapped. Jackie Manuel took an ill-advised three-pointer ten seconds into the possession--Doherty clapped.
That came to an end against Virginia. When Brian Morrison threw the ball away on a fast break, Doherty snapped instead of clapped. He immediately pointed to the chair next to him on the bench and demanded that Morrison take a seat for some quick instruction.
His team seemed to respond to the change, as they played some of their best defense of the season while providing the rest of the ACC with a scouting tape on how to defeat Virginia. The Cavs looked, well, they looked like Carolina early in the season against the zone. Two early Roger Mason penetration attempts were thwarted by the defense, and the Smith Center crowd, which seems to be slowly realizing that the little things have to be appreciated more this season than in the past, responded.
"When your zone isn't penetrated quite as much, it leaves them to live off offensive rebounds," Adam Boone said. "We were struggling on the boards early [the Cavs got 11 offensive rebounds in the first half], but we cut down on that later."
Virginia got just two offensive rebounds in the second half. And Boone, who is rapidly becoming the posterboy for this team as fans start to focus on what he is--he played 35 unspectacular but solid minutes--instead of what he isn't--Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, or Ed Cota--and the Tar Heels were in position to pull the upset.
But too many late mistakes piled up to overcome. And for the first time, it sounded like the second-year head coach was ready to demand that those errors stop.
"Part of the problem of the past few weeks is that we have to be held accountable for our mistakes," Doherty said. Those mistakes included fouling the wrong man, Mason, at the end of the game, and trying to thread passes where even a sliver of daylight couldn't fit.
"Those are critical plays that we have to stop making," Doherty said.
Other coaches have the luxury of saying that they merely need to stop making those youthful mistakes. But with three freshmen playing significant minutes, Carolina doesn't need to stop doing it, they have to, as their coach pointed out.
There are only two ways for the games to get back on script in the Smith Center. One is for all the youthful mistakes to permanently stop. The other is for everyone to get a year older. Neither option, unfortunately, can happen immediately.
Adam Lucas is the co-publisher of Basketball America. He is a lifelong observer of UNC sports and can be reached at JAdamLucas@aol.com.
