University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Energy Surge
January 26, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Jan. 26, 2012
By Adam Lucas
After Carolina's convincing 74-55 win over NC State, Stilman White followed his normal postgame routine. He showered, changed clothes, and grabbed the postgame meal team managers always have waiting for the players. He was already out of the locker room and into the players' lounge, where the media wait to do postgame interviews, when he realized something very important.
He did a quick 180 and headed back into the locker room. Reporters, of course, had requested to speak with him. There was only one problem.
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked. He'd never been thrown to the postgame wolves, and although we're on our way to February, he wasn't quite sure of the procedure.
That was one of his very few missteps on an evening that felt like it restored some order to the Carolina basketball world. It's been a shaky couple of weeks. There was the abomination in Tallahassee. There was a win in Blacksburg that felt like a loss 24 hours later, when doctors confirmed Dexter Strickland had a torn ACL and is out for the season. Altogether, it had been 16 days since the home win over Miami, the last real that-felt-good win of the season.
That's a long time, and it's OK if a little doubt started to creep in. State was hot. Carolina was, eh, maybe old news?
The bear had been poked.
The Tar Heels responded with a furious effort. Things eventually got so heady midway through the second half that White tossed in one three-pointer, then got the ball even deeper on the right wing and heard this from the energetic sellout crowd: "Shoooooooot!"
To his credit, White had the confidence to gun it. You don't have to admire the result, but you at least have to respect the gumption to take it. The ball was wide left, and Tyler Zeller (of course) collected the offensive rebound, one of his career-best 17 boards. Zeller finished with six offensive rebounds, the same number as the entire NC State team.
When the ball was slapped out of bounds, White looked to the Carolina sideline...where he saw assistant coaches C.B. McGrath and Jerod Haase futilely trying to suppress grins, and director of basketball operations Joe Holladay outright laughing. Somewhere, Danny Green was proud. White was officially the first Tar Heel to perform a "heat check" after making just his second career three-pointer.
Even Roy Williams, who just shook his head incredulously at the shot selection and later described the play as "getting a little wacko," understood what was happening. When he sent his team back onto the floor after the subsequent timeout, Kendall Marshall had gone back into the game for White, and there sat the freshman point guard on the bench next to Steve Robinson and Williams, getting a quick tutorial.
"He told me it wasn't really good to get a shot up that quick," White said. "He said he understood that I had already hit one and I was wide open for the second one."
And why didn't that second one have the same outcome?
"It was a little too much of an energy surge," White said.
That's exactly what Carolina had from the opening tip--an energy surge. It was obvious in the first five minutes that State wasn't prepared for this level of intensity. This was an opening rush designed for every person who has ever pleaded with the Tar Heels to "show a sense of urgency."
New Wolfpack head coach Mark Gottfried burned his first timeout just 4:50 into the game on his way to calling four timeouts in the first 28:39. The Pack tried different players. It tried stopping the game. Nothing worked. By the time Gottfried signaled for his fourth timeout, the Tar Heels were holding a 29-point lead.
It was so refreshing because it was one of the first times this season that Carolina has punched first. It's one thing to respond to another team's surge. It's quite another to be the team providing that burst, and to keep stretching it despite the desperate efforts of the opponent. Up by 29 points with 11 minutes left, Zeller was still throwing himself on the floor in pursuit of a loose ball.
The Tar Heels were so effective defensively that State never got into its offense. "We were taking them out of their plays," said Reggie Bullock, who helped limit the ACC's leading three-pointer shooter, Scott Wood, to just three field goal attempts in the first half and 4-of-12 for the game. "We kept our hands in the passing lane. If they can't swing the ball to the person they want to start the play, that will take any team out of its offense."
The onslaught continued, broken only by the occasional banked-in Wolfpack three-pointer, because everyone who came off the bench contributed. James Michael McAdoo was whistled for three quick fouls, which only opened the door for Desmond Hubert. He came into the game with one rebound in conference play and proceeded to grab five in 13 minutes against the Wolfpack, including three on the offensive glass.
"That's big-time stuff," 11-assist man Kendall Marshall said of Hubert's effort. "He grabbed some rebounds and he battled with their bigs. It's a testament to his mentality and to everyone's mentality who came off the bench tonight."
Assistant coach Robinson is fond of telling the players to "Solve the problem," no matter what the situation might be. Strickland's absence is still a problem. Thursday's performance was the first sign that the Tar Heels at least have some ideas for possible solutions.
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 and Facebook.
