University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tough Guys
February 23, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2005
By Adam Lucas
They looked like twins, standing silently in the corner of the cramped Carolina dressing room.
Sean May had a gaggle of reporters around him. Raymond Felton was rapidly assembling a horde. Jawad Williams was trying to fend off tape recorders long enough to get his left knee wrapped in a bag of ice. Melvin Scott was in the center of the room holding court.
And there were Jackie Manuel and David Noel, dressing quietly, pulling on their suit jackets. One wore brown, the other black. They made their way around the assembling masses without being bothered and were just steps from the door when they were intercepted by a reporter.
Between them they had two points, two rebounds, and two shot attempts in 35 minutes of action.
It was among the best games of each of their careers.
"That's about the best night I could have had," Noel said of his defensive performance that limited Julius Hodge to 7-of-16 shooting and completely frustrated the reigning ACC Player of the Year. "Guarding Hodge is a test and I was really focused on defense."
Two weeks ago, thousands of words were written questioning whether this North Carolina team had the intestinal fortitude to win ACC games on the road. Since then, they've won at Connecticut. They've won at NC State with their leading scorer felled by a mystery virus, with the Wolfpack desperately needing a win to boost their NCAA credentials, and with only the second sellout crowd at the RBC Center all season.
Is that tough enough for you?
"You can't listen to the talk," Manuel said. "We're one of the toughest teams mentally in the country. Everybody has matured and we've shown mental toughness. But then we don't win at Duke and all of a sudden we're not tough mentally. Well, now we've won road games. What else can we do?"
It wasn't just the fact that Carolina won the game 81-71 over NC State. It was the way they did it. Every player who took the bus ride to Raleigh contributed. Sean May turned in--ho-hum--another double-double. Raymond Felton had one of the signature games of his three years in Chapel Hill. Byron Sanders entered the game for just one minute--long enough to throw a pretty high-low pass that drew a foul on Ilian Evtimov. Melvin Scott made four three-pointers and even more importantly, took intelligent shots.
The list is endless. But it wasn't always about the things that showed up in the box score. Reyshawn Terry stepped on the sideline with under four minutes to play, a potentially crucial turnover. The final media timeout was immediately whistled, and before Terry could travel the 40 feet to the bench, Jawad Williams was beside him with a pat on the back and a few quick words of encouragement.
This is, in every sense of the word, a team. Marvin Williams took a hard foul in the second half from Hodge, a play the unflappable Williams barely seemed to notice. Then Noel appeared out of nowhere, not looking to instigate anything but seeking to back up his freshman.
Hodge stood alone.
It was a long night for the versatile senior. At one point, he tried to back down into the lane to create a shot. The 205-pound Hodge met the 224-pound Noel and took a step backward. Noel remained in his defensive stance, knees bent, arms out. He was not budging.
That's the kind of attitude Roy Williams likes to see from his team and might be part of the reason why he seemed so pleased with the victory. He gathered his team around him in the postgame locker room, getting everyone's attention.
"That was a team," he told them. "That was about the name on the front of your jersey. Not the name on the back of your jersey. A team."
That name on the front, North Carolina, now stands 23-3 and 11-2 in the toughest conference in the country. Felton, Scott, May, Jawad and Marvin Williams will all spend the next few days getting pats on the back.
Noel and Manuel? They'll be over in the corner.
"Hey, we don't care," Manuel said.
"We really don't," Noel said. "We go out, we do the dirty work for the team, and we love that. We don't really care who gets the credit."
Manuel reached into a cooler and pulled out a drink. He handed one to Noel and the duo walked into the cool Raleigh night, suits perfectly tailored, shoes shined.
Two players who had played their role perfectly, two upperclassmen doing what upperclassmen do on the best Carolina basketball teams.
Two tough guys.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
