University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: What Happens In Vegas
November 25, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2007
By Adam Lucas
LAS VEGAS--Alex Stepheson doesn't much seem like the Vegas type.
Vegas is loud, Vegas is flashy, and Vegas absolutely requires you to notice. This is Vegas: before Saturday night's championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator sang the national anthem. And this is Vegas: after the game, a pink stretch Hummer with zebra-print seats pulled up outside offering rides--"Anywhere in Vegas, anywhere you want to go!"--for $10 apiece. And this is Vegas: on the Orleans marquee, Carolina shared space with comedian George Carlin, who contrary to Dean Smith's belief did not have "selfishness," "turnover," or "outrebounded" among his legendary Seven Dirty Words.
But it is here that Stepheson chose to establish himself. Only the soft-spoken sophomore would figure out that he could go to Las Vegas to get away from the bright lights. After all, none of the Triangle newspapers sent a writer to cover these games. They both ended well after midnight, and even the heartiest of Carolina fans might have resorted to DVR'ing part of the games rather than watching them live.
It will go mostly unnoticed, then, that Stepheson quietly put together two of his best back-to-back games in his young career. He didn't do it by being flashy; he scored just six points against Old Dominion and three points against BYU. But he did the little things--play defense and rebound, mostly--that will continue to earn him key minutes.
"My confidence is getting higher with each game and practice," Stepheson said. "I feel more comfortable right now. I'm more relaxed."
Roy Williams told us this was coming. All summer, while everyone was handing Brandan Wright's starting spot to Deon Thompson, the Carolina head coach kept mentioning Stepheson. Thompson had just four rebounds in 45 minutes in Las Vegas, a statistic that must improve. But Stepheson's rapid growth means the Tar Heels are one of the few teams in the country with three quality big men.
What's even more valuable is that Stepheson doesn't seem to care about scoring. Sure, he'll dunk anything within four feet of the basket, but he's content to pass the ball back out to an open guard--he posted two assists and zero turnovers in his 29 Vegas minutes--for an uncontested look and then turn and battle for the offensive rebound.
Doesn't he remind you a little bit of someone? This isn't an obvious comparison, but consider this: in the first half, Jonathan Tavernari was lighting up the Tar Heels, firing in four three-pointers in the first 8 minutes of the game.
Then Carolina made a switch, moving Marcus Ginyard over to guard Tavernari. The BYU sharpshooter did not score again until the final play of the half, when he heaved in a long-distance three.
What was your goal in guarding him, Marcus?
"I had to get him out of his comfort zone," he said. "I had to make him uncomfortable."
In the second half, it was Trent Plaisted's turn to catch fire. He scored eight of the Cougars' first 10 points as they erased Carolina's seven-point halftime lead. After a Tar Heel timeout at the 16:05 mark, Williams inserted Stepheson--who in the first half swatted a Plaisted dunk attempt--to guard the hottest Cougar.
And what was your goal in guarding him, Alex?
"I wanted to wall him off a little better," he said. "I wanted to front him more and prevent him from getting the ball. I tried to stop him from catching it, and if he did catch it I wanted to push him farther off the block. Basically, I wanted to make him uncomfortable."
That sounds familiar, doesn't it?
It's too early to call Stepheson a Ginyard-type player, which is one of the highest compliments in the current Carolina vernacular. Plaisted still scored 10 more points in the half, although Stepheson successfully bodied him away from the low block and made him operate farther from the basket.
You never know when young players will realize that the days of having to be everything--scorer, rebounder, passer, superstar--mostly ended in high school, that college teams are most successful when everyone fills their designated role. There were signs here in Las Vegas that Stepheson is fitting his niche very nicely.
As the PA announcer reminded the sparse crowd, what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas.
But the Tar Heels--and Stepheson--might like to carry it with them for a few more months.
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven is available now. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
