University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: On Their Guard
March 11, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2006
By Adam Lucas
GREENSBORO--Eight minutes and 19 seconds remained in the second half when Virginia finally figured out how to shake Sean Singletary free.
He'd torched North Carolina for 17 points in 18 first-half minutes. But through nearly 12 minutes in the second half, while being hawked by the trio of Marcus Ginyard, Quentin Thomas, and Wes Miller, he had just two points.
Until the Cavaliers solved the Tar Heel defensive equation. Not with movement--simple motion wasn't having much success finding an opening. Not with screens--simple picks weren't clearing much room for the 6-foot Singletary to launch one of those deadeye jumpers that landed him on the All-ACC first team.
So here is what they did. Singletary headed down to the baseline. First he headed toward the far corner away from the Virginia bench. Ginyard followed him. Then he curled back around, ran parallel to the baseline, and twirled around the considerably beefier Laurynas Mikalauskas. Ginyard followed him.
Until...
"I didn't even see it coming," the freshman from Alexandria said with a grimace and a shake of his head.
"It" was a spine-tingling shoulder block from Mikalauskas that sent Ginyard sprawling. Suitably freed, Singletary received a pass and nailed his first three-pointer of the half.
It would also be his last three-pointer of the half.
That marked quite a change from the first half. Carolina had walked into the locker room with a 39-34 halftime advantage over the pesky Cavaliers, a team that made it a point to make the game as ugly as possible. At one point in the first 20 minutes, Wahoo point guard T.J. Bannister grabbed a rebound and started to lightly jog up the court with the ball. The entire Virginia coaching staff stood in unison and motioned for him to slow the pace. Dave Leitao stomped his foot, throwing his arms out to his sides, palms down. The message was clear:
Slow down. Anything above a medium walk was discouraged.
Virginia sped up only when they had the opportunity to get the ball to Singletary or J.R. Reynolds, who combined for 28 of the team's 32 first-half points. The diminutive guards also found time to grab over half their team's rebounds.
This did not escape the notice of Roy Williams.
"He put it on the guards to play better defense," Ginyard said. "And he put it on us to keep them off the boards."
The second-half totals for Singletary and Reynolds: 2-for-14 from the field, 2 rebounds, and just the one three-pointer courtesy of the Mikalauskas thunderpick.
Singletary doesn't get the publicity of some of the other high-scoring Atlantic Coast Conference guards. But he's a beast to defend. Not because of his quickness (although that helps). Not because of his pure shot (although that helps). But because he's so involved in every aspect of the Virginia offense. He brings the ball up the court. He penetrates. He moves off the ball and runs around screens.
"You always have to worry about him," Thomas said. "You can't take plays off on defense. You never get a break with him."
Thomas's offensive improvement has been well documented. He turned in another solid floor game Friday night, tallying six assists and two turnovers. Less noticed has been his defense. The Oakland native struggled with on-the-ball defense at times as a rookie. But there he was, on Virginia's most crucial possession of the game, matched up against the all-conference Singletary.
The clock was under two minutes, the Carolina lead was seven points, and Virginia had one last gasp to make the game interesting. Singletary, who had just scored five straight points against Bobby Frasor, went straight at Thomas. But the spidery sophomore forced a jump ball. The arrow favored the Tar Heels, and the game was essentially decided.
Plays like that are what makes Roy Williams rave about this team--"I don't know that I've ever coached a team as much as I love coaching this one," he said after the game. What makes it even better is that it's not just one individual shouldering the defensive load. Coming into the ACC Tournament, four different players had won the coaches' defensive player of the game award over the past four games. It's a contagious way to play the game. In the immediate aftermath of the Duke game just six nights ago, the Carolina locker room was a jubilant place. In one corner, Dewey Burke, Thomas Wilkins, and Byron Sanders were rehashing what they felt was the game's critical theme. Not Frasor's clutch free throws. Not Tyler Hansbrough's star performance. But the defense played on Duke's J.J. Redick.
"Man," Wilkins exclaimed with all the excitement of a SportsCenter anchor describing the latest dunk, "that was great."
Maybe that's why Williams can't help but beam when he talks about his team. Maybe that's why he said his biggest worry was finding 14 plates of milk and cookies for his entire roster at the team hotel.
Ginyard, Thomas, and Miller might even get an extra cookie.
They earned it.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and 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 Going Home Again, click here.
