University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tough Like Jersey
December 4, 2010 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Dec. 4, 2010
By Adam Lucas
As Dexter Strickland prepared to step to the free throw line for the biggest free throws of his Carolina career, Roy Williams grabbed him.
"Knock them in," the head coach said. He says this every time. It's part of his routine with Strickland. But then he added something else.
"Play tough," Williams said to Strickland. "Play tough like Jersey."
Yes, it's true that New Jersey may not have the most positive connotation around Carolina Basketball, given that another school located nearby seems to have the market cornered on that particular state. But Strickland is from Rahway, New Jersey, and with six seconds left and his team ahead by just one point, he knew what Williams meant.
It was exactly the same kind of sentiment that had been central to the scouting report the Tar Heels received on the Wildcats. Listed as one of the three keys to the game was a simple word: "Attack." Assistant coach Jerod Haase had the scouting responsibilities for Kentucky, and he added this description for the Tar Heels to read: "The more aggressive team for 40 minutes will have a distinct advantage in this game."
Toughness. Attack. Aggressive. These are not words that have been used to describe Carolina Basketball in recent months. Saturday afternoon in a pulsating Smith Center, the Tar Heels were all of those things.
They were not particularly good shooters, other than from the free throw line, where Tyler Zeller, Larry Drew, Strickland and yes, even John Henson combined to make 12-of-14 attempts in the final 3:38. They made some careless turnovers. Maybe they forced a shot or two.
But dadgum, as their coach would say, those rascals were tough.
Zeller went to the free throw line with 4:19 remaining and the Tar Heels trailing, 65-61. As the big man toed the line ("I wasn't really thinking about anything," Zeller said of his free throw routine, which produced 11-of-12 results), Drew stepped next to Strickland.
"It starts with us," Drew told the sophomore. "We have to strap up. Play defense."
That's what they did. Drew picked up Brandon Knight in the backcourt, making him work just to get the ball across midcourt. Knight handed the ball to DeAndre Liggins in the frontcourt, and Liggins passed it to Darius Miller just outside the top of the key.
Here, the Tar Heels strapped up.
Miller did not appear to want the ball. He took a couple cautious dribbles away from the basket, the first sign of uncertainty. Reggie Bullock pressed him, closing the open space in front of Miller. Alertly, Strickland and Drew tightened on their men on the wings. The next pass should have been an easy pass. It has been, at times against Carolina, an easy pass.
But now it was not, and now Miller had picked up his dribble. Liggins tried to circle around and take a handoff just in front of the midcourt stripe, but Strickland stayed glued to him and thwarted it. Drew still had a hand in the passing lane in front of Knight. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, for Miller to do other than call a timeout.
As they returned to the bench for the timeout, Drew approached Strickland with his arms raised, triumphant. "That's what we have to do," he shouted, trying to be heard over the crowd. "That's what we have to do every time!"
You think the Wildcats might have liked to have that timeout on their final possession, when they could have stopped the clock and set up a play to tie or win the game? But they were out of timeouts, and one of the primary reasons was because the Tar Heels had strapped up. They'd been doing it all game, really, forcing Kentucky into 30 percent shooting in the second half. It wasn't just a one-possession instance. It had been happening, every time down the floor, for at least the final 20 minutes. The Tar Heel guards changed the storyline--from the way they were outscored by Kentucky's backcourt, to the way they controlled the final minutes defensively against those same guards.
"You have to work on off-the-ball defense through conditioning," Strickland said. "You can't get tired. The goal is to limit your man's touches to the ball. Because if I limit my man's touches, he can't score. And if Larry does the same thing to Brandon Knight, he can't score. It's about playing both individual and team defense."
About that conditioning: it is tough. One of the least enjoyed parts of any Carolina practice is the post-practice running, when the team managers tally the day's results and report to Williams how many sprints are needed. Almost every practice period involves some sort of competition that results in running for the losers.
On Thursday, Harrison Barnes's White squad had lost the box-out drill. That meant Williams put 55 seconds on the clock, and the White team had to complete 10 lengths of the court in 55 seconds. Putting it down on paper like this, it doesn't seem that tough. But 55 seconds of running is painful, especially after a 90-minute Williams practice.
Four members of the White team were nursing injuries, which meant they rode the stationary bike for 55 seconds rather than running on the court. That left Barnes running, alone, for 55 seconds.
He didn't make it.
Williams let the clock run for 55 seconds to let the freshman rest. Then he put 57 seconds on the clock and Barnes toed the endline again.
He didn't make it.
Williams let the clock run for 55 seconds to let the freshman rest. Then he put 57 seconds on the clock and Barnes toed the endline again. This time, however, he wasn't alone. Strickland had dismounted his bike, removed his white practice jersey, and stood next to Barnes. "I'm running," Strickland said. Around that same time, Kendall Marshall--a member of the victorious Blue team, which meant he didn't have to run--also moved next to Barnes.
And when the whistle blew, all three players took off. On the previous two runs, there had been only the sound of Barnes's teammates clapping to encourage him. Now, there were Marshall and Strickland barking at him the entire run, pacing him.
By now, you probably know what happened. He made it, maybe even with a second to spare.
If you're Marshall or Strickland, why do that? Why subject yourself to the discomfort? You earned the right to sit out (or in Strickland's case, had an injury).
"We're a team," Strickland said. "I wasn't so hurt that I couldn't run. He was the only one running and it was big that Kendall ran also. He didn't have to. Actions like that, things like that, you see the team coming together. And when we come together, you see some of that toughness in games like today."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
