University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: The Sudoku Solution
January 27, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Jan. 27, 2011
By Adam Lucas
CORAL GABLES--On the advice of his wife, Wanda--who once famously outrebounded Jawad Williams but was outrebounded by seven by John Henson on this night--Roy Williams recently began trying to master those infernally tricky Sudoku puzzles that are seemingly a staple of every Lifestyle section in every newspaper in the country.
"She read a study or something that said they keep your mind sharp as you get older," he says. He keeps a book of the puzzles in his travel bag so he can pull them out when he has a spare 15 minutes. That's what he did earlier this week on a flight as his plane began to descend. He turned to Puzzle #142. "This one looks tough," he said. "Don't know if I can get this one before we land."
Of course you know what happened next. This is a man who will flip you to see who buys the popcorn at the concession stand just to have a way to compete while you're waiting in line. With time to spare, as the plane passed under 2,000 feet, he looked up with a wink.
"Got it," he grinned.
Yes, folks, the head coach of the Tar Heels is on a roll. Last week, he made nine substitutions in the final 3:13 in steering his team to a win over Clemson. Wednesday night, aided by timely shots from Harrison Barnes and a prescient pass from Kendall Marshall, he made 16 substitutions over the final 3:32 on the way to a 74-71 road win at Miami.
So it makes sense that when Larry Drew II--who quietly had a very effective game off the bench, contributing five assists and zero turnovers in 18 minutes--was asked to consider the moves his head coach made to win the game, he would speak in terms that recalled that Wanda-recommended travel hobby.
"It's like a puzzle," Drew said. "Coach has to put the puzzle together. He wants us to play to our strengths and know what guys can do in certain situations."
The moves began relatively early, as the first offense/defense substitution--Reggie Bullock and Leslie McDonald for Barnes and Dexter Strickland--were made with 6:49 left. Then, rather than bringing Barnes back in at the same wing spot, Williams plugged him into the power forward position, where the freshman promptly responded with a steal and a foul on Adrian Thomas. Barnes stepped to the line and swished a pair of free throws (making "twooooooo" in the parlance of the BankUnited Center), part of an 11-for-12 second-half team performance from the line for the Tar Heels, to give Carolina a 63-62 lead.
From that point forward, Williams controlled the game. Players play, as he's fond of saying, and all the substitutions in the world won't help if you don't have the talent to make the shots or grab the rebounds or defend the shooters. But part of being a coach--maybe the biggest part of being a coach--is putting that talent in the right place to make those plays at the right time.
After John Henson made a beautiful hook shot to tie the score at 67 with 3:50 left, Williams called timeout and went with a lineup that included Drew. Presto, the defensive-minded Tar Heels forced a turnover from Malcolm Grant. Given a media timeout at the dead ball, Carolina returned with McDonald, Marshall and Zeller, and the freshman point guard promptly found Zeller in the paint for another hoop.
Timeout, Carolina, this time to put Strickland, Henson and Drew in for defense. They forced the Hurricanes to melt the shot clock down to three seconds before chucking a rushed three-pointer. It was like that all night. When the Tar Heels needed defense, they got it from their defensive specialists. When they needed offense, they got it from the shooters. Being asked to do what they do best--and understanding and accepting what those things are--makes everyone look better.
"Those substitutions are using our strengths to our advantage," Marshall said. "We have a lot of weapons and we're able to come in waves, and eventually the other team gets tired."
He's young but he's smart. On fresh legs in the first half, Miami shot 53.6% from the field and 61.5% from the three-point line. In the second half, as the minutes piled up and they began to visibly wilt--five `Canes played at least 30 minutes--those numbers dropped to 37.9% and 33.3%.
Oh, and about that last offensive play, that big three-pointer from Barnes that brought back at least a whisper of Wayne Ellington's three-pointer at Clemson in 2008. Williams was quick to credit Marshall for the savvy to make the pass. "On most nights, I could make that shot," the coach said. "But I couldn't have made that play Kendall made."
How was it set up? With a substitution, of course. Steady post defense from Zeller had thwarted a Miami attempt to go inside to Reggie Johnson and given Carolina the ball back with 43 seconds left. Williams's first instinct was to let his team play it out. After all, players play. But he watched nearly 30 seconds of halting offense and then signaled for a timeout (this game is likely to be on the all-time highlight tape for "why you save your timeouts") and put Marshall back in the game to record the game-winning assist on a play that likely only he could have made.
The moves continued over the final 6.6 seconds. Once Miami advanced the ball to halfcourt before it was kicked out of bounds (with a three-point lead, the Tar Heels were planning to foul if the Hurricanes brought the ball cleanly into the frontcourt on the dribble), they called timeout. That gave assistant coach C.B. McGrath, who had scouting responsibilities for the game, the opportunity to diagram the exact play the Hurricanes were about to run, with three players coming off screens for three-pointers. Williams put Gumby-armed Henson in to harass the in-bounds pass from Grant, the final play was well-covered, and the Tar Heels somewhat improbably moved to 4-1 in the ACC.
That's another road win, making it two road ACC victories already, matching last year's total for the entire season. Another late-game big shot from Barnes. Another capable performance by Marshall in a starting role and steady backup duty from Drew.
And another puzzle solved for the resident Sudoku expert.
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.
