University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: One By One
February 6, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 6, 2011
By Adam Lucas
There is only one way to do this. Kendall Marshall had 16 assists on Sunday afternoon, an absurd figure. How absurd? No Tar Heel had ever reached it in 948 games against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
In the current era of instant analysis, when what happened an hour ago qualifies as history, this needs to be memorialized. Think of all the things that have happened in 948 ACC games. Before the game, if you'd been pressed to name something that hadn't happened in Carolina's ACC history, it would have been a challenge. But Marshall's 16 assists happened. There's only one way to record that: you catalog every assist and see what they tell you about a Carolina team that sits 7-1 halfway through the ACC season.
Assist #1: 16:02 left in first half, to Justin Knox. Marshall uses a high ball screen and then throws a bounce pass to Knox for the score. At first glance, an easy play. But if you get the chance, go back and look at the angle of the pass. It wasn't a simple 45-degree pass. It was more flat than that, so Marshall had to put a little spin on the ball to get it twisting back to Knox on the block. The ball was delivered exactly where the big man wanted it.
Assist #2: 12:55, to John Henson. Around 750 career assists from now, this one still goes on the career highlight reel. In person, it wasn't exactly clear what had happened. Perhaps the ball hit off the rim and caromed back out to Henson? Basketballs just don't make that kind of abrupt turn without some sort of assistance. But no, it was a pass. "I don't know why I threw that one," Marshall said. "I just felt like it was the best way to get it to him. He's starting to learn how I play. Players know where I want to get them the ball and I know where they want the ball."
"I knew he was going to pass that," Henson said. "I saw him look out of the corner of his eye when he drove. There were three guys there, and I knew it was coming."
Assist #3: 11:39, to Tyler Zeller. Pretty easy. Another entry pass, this one to Zeller just a step outside the paint. In other words, perfect operating range for the unblockable Zeller jump hook, which is exactly what happened.
Assist #4: 5:58, to Knox. The big man made this one, as he used a screen from Harrison Barnes, caught the ball and dropped in a baseline jumper all in one motion.
Assist #5: 0:24, to Reggie Bullock. Again, this one looked easier than it was. Marshall got dribble penetration, where he encountered a pair of spindly Seminoles. It's hard to see the whole court in that situation, but Marshall somehow knew Bullock was spotting up in the opposite corner. Marshall elevated and found his classmate for a three-pointer. In his postgame comments, Leonard Hamilton referred to this play as "the dagger." And yet Marshall still had almost a dozen assists to get. All five of his first-half assists, by the way, came in the half-court, a setting where Carolina had struggled earlier this year.
Assist #6: 18:37 left in second half, to Dexter Strickland. Again, the recipient made this play. Strickland--who hasn't gotten enough credit for the unselfish way he's handled this season--lined up a three-pointer on the right wing.
Assist #7: 18:14, to Henson. A screen and roll that looked an awful lot like something Ed Cota might have thrown to Antawn Jamison. Say, Kendall, who is your favorite Carolina point guard? Keep in mind, he was born in 1991. "Ed Cota," he said. "It looked like an All-Star Game every game when those guys played."
Assist #8: 15:24, to Henson. Marshall penetrated into the lane, drew a couple of Florida State defenders to him, and then shoveled the ball to Henson for the basket and a foul. "He sees things even we don't see," Henson said.
Assist #9: 14:52, to Henson. It's starting to become clear that Marshall and Henson would make a pretty good NBA Jam pairing. This time it was Henson with a long left-handed hook from just inside the free throw line.
Assist #10: 14:00, to Zeller. Again, a drive and dish. Marshall had looked off Zeller earlier in the possession, and then managed to wrap the ball around three Seminoles for the basket and a foul. At this point, Marshall has five assists in the first six minutes of the second half and Carolina's lead has bulged to 16 points.
Assist #11: 9:42, to Zeller. Shot fake, then a bounce pass to Zeller on the baseline. Marshall made this play because he saw it developing two passes earlier. The ball was at the top of the key, and the freshman realized Zeller had his defender on his hip. He pointed for Barnes to swing the ball to Strickland. Strickland made an easy pass to Marshall, who by then had an easy entry to Zeller. Here's the thing: Carolina's offense is built off a big man scoring. It makes sense that it would run better when the point guard understands how and when to get the ball to those big men.
"We're starting to knock down shots and we're taking great shots," Marshall said. "We're not settling for contested shots or tough layups. We're making extra passes. We have a very unselfish team."
Assist #12: 8:04, to Zeller. Another bounce pass to Zeller, this one at the foul line extended. Nice move in an unfamiliar spot by Zeller.
Assist #13: 7:06, to Barnes. Against the zone, Barnes gave the ball to Marshall, ran to the spot where he wanted to score, and got the pass in rhythm for a three-pointer.
Assist #14: 6:29, to Zeller. The third drive-and-dish of the day, this time with the lefty wraparound to Zeller for a dunk. "He's so good at drawing over the big men," Zeller said. "He gets the pass there and the pass is so soft that you catch it and still have a little bit of time."
Assist #15: 5:40, to Henson. When we think of big Carolina point guard days, we usually think about them sprinting past the opponent. But this was the first true transition assist of the day for Marshall, as he found Henson from one free throw line to the other for his trademark hit-ahead pass. Footspeed-wise, Marshall can't keep up with Raymond Felton or Ty Lawson. But they're not running track, so he doesn't have to race them. He just has to be able to move the ball as fast as them, and on this play, he did.
Assist #16: 2:13, to Barnes. With the Tar Heels spreading the floor, Marshall drove into the lane and found Barnes set up on the right wing. The pass arrived in rhythm, of course.
What does it all mean? Six different players scored off passes from Marshall, who had more assists in this game than Carolina had as a team in eight of this season's first nine games. Carolina shot 55.7% from the floor against FSU, the first Seminole opponent to shoot better than 50 percent in the last 91 games. The Tar Heels have hit at least 50 percent from the field in the last five ACC games, a stat that not coincidentally dovetails with the fact that Marshall has started the last five ACC games.
"The story in this game was our inability to handle Marshall," said Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton.
And on this Super Bowl Sunday, how was the freshman planning to celebrate his record-setting performance? By looking ahead--with a nod to history, of course.
"I've got game film from when Bobby Frasor was a freshman and played at Duke that I'm going to watch tonight," Marshall said. "I want to see what it was like for him and how he handled it."
He handled it, as history will show, with a wink and a smile. You can look it up, just like some future Tar Heel point guard will with Marshall's record-breaking day.
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.
