University of North Carolina Athletics
Droschak: McCants Is Back
March 11, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2005
By DAVID DROSCHAK
TarHeelBlue.com
WASHINGTON - Rashad McCants planned to "load up" at dinner Friday night.
What's better news for North Carolina fans than that?
Maybe a national championship?
"I'm starving," McCants said after his successful return in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament with a 13-point effort in 15 minutes, helping propel the top-seeded Tar Heels past Clemson 88-81.
Never has a player's hunger -- or lack there of -- been scrutinized more than that of McCants, who missed the last four games of the regular season with a stomach disorder.
The biggest ovation of the early afternoon came less than six minutes in when McCants entered the game at the MCI Center.
Every eye watched his every move - as usual -- and it appeared from the start that McCants was back to his old self.
"I was hoping to play the whole game, that's how I feel," said McCants, who lost about six pounds during his illness. "I still got out and played as hard as I could for the minutes I played."
Coach Roy Williams knew a few days ago McCants would likely play, but he didn't hold himself to any set plan for his playing time.
"I told him I was going to go by the seat of my pants," Williams said. "I told him I would give him a couple two- or three-minute runs in the first half and then see how it went."
It went well, for the most part, especially late in the second half when McCants made a pair of 3-pointers 1:12 apart. He also dove on the floor for a loose ball that got the Tar Heels, who trailed by 13 in the second half, another possession and back into the game.
Williams said McCants didn't make a single jump shot in practice Wednesday or Thursday leading up to the ACC Tournament.
"I guess the law of averages was good for us," Williams said of McCants' clutch 3-pointers.
"He was kind of timid at the beginning, but at the end he started shooting and they started running plays for him," Clemson center Sharrod Ford said.
It may have been silly to even think about McCants hurting the second-ranked Tar Heels (27-3) upon his return. But North Carolina was 4-0 and rolling without its leading scorer.
Williams sure was thinking about it Friday when he decided McCants would indeed play.
"I was worried about our team chemistry, there was no question about that," he said. "But I also trust the maturity of our players and I need to continue to trust it," Williams said.
McCants wasn't concerned about "messing things up."
"I'm a basketball player and with me back full strength I feel like I can go out there and do anything - drive, defend and hit big shots," McCants said. "It was a good relief to play, but a better relief to win."
Everybody in the UNC locker room said the return of McCants was a major step toward a national title run.
"He gives us another scoring weapon out there," Jawad Williams said. "The defense has to focus on Rashad when he's on the floor, so that frees other people up. It freed me up."
Melvin Scott called McCants "the missing link" to what can be a title team.
David Noel laughed when I told him McCants was going to be pushing teammates out of the way to get to dinner Friday night.
"He sweated a little bit out there and may some key plays," Noel said. "We're definitely going to feed him now."
