University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Carolina Basketball Notebook
March 31, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
PHOENIX--The most pressing news from Thursday's media availability was the status of Joel Berry's ankle. The junior point guard only participated in halfcourt defensive drills during Thursday's practice, and said at this point it's his left ankle--the one he injured in the Kentucky game--that is bothering him more than his right ankle (the previous injury).
"My ankle is a little sore from the flight we had," Berry said. "I'm feeling pretty good and I'm getting closer to 100 percent. Tomorrow is a big day for me getting up and down and being full participation (in practice)."
"He was mad that I wouldn't let him do anything today full-court," Roy Williams said.
Friday's activities include a team practice off-site, and then the open practice at University of Phoenix Stadium at 2 p.m. local time.
Thursday's practice: Berry's absence may have impacted the intensity of Thursday's practice. Williams was not pleased with his team's performance in the session, which took place at University of Phoenix Stadium. The head coach gave them a stern lecture to try and get them refocused before Saturday night. The team has various CBS obligations for the rest of Thursday, followed by tonight's Fan Fest Preview. Then they'll be back with the coach for a meeting that will have a very pointed message.
"Practice today wasn't exactly sharp," Williams said. "We weren't very focused. Tonight I'm going to ask them, 'Wouldn't it be more fun if you were successful?'"
The more things change: By now, you've all seen this video of Luke Maye arriving in class on Monday morning:
Terrific video of a standing ovation for Luke Maye in his 8 a.m. Busi 101 class this morning. Team arrived home around midnight. https://t.co/54JEE1ktjv
— Adam Lucas (@jadamlucas) March 27, 2017
Things haven't changed much in Chapel Hill in the last sixty years. In March of 1957, Joe Quigg arrived back at Carolina after making the championship-winning free throws for the Tar Heels. The night he arrived back in Chapel Hill, he had a long-scheduled date. He and the lucky co-ed walked into the Varsity Theater on Franklin Street for an evening show. They arrived—as Quigg had been taught by Frank McGuire—early, well before the lights were dimmed.
“We were walking down the aisle to find a seat, and everybody in the theater got up and started clapping,” Quigg remembers. “I about died. I turned all kinds of shade of red. It was one thing to have fans cheering you, but this was mostly my peers.”
One slight difference between Quigg and Maye: Quigg was already well-known on campus before his famous shots--he was the campus Marlboro representative. For the rate of $50 per month, Quigg went door to door hawking a new menthol cigarette, Spud.
Don't expect to see Maye knocking on any dorm room doors next week.
Briefly: Season-long free throw percentages don't always tell the whole story. Officially, Theo Pinson is a 68.3 percent free throw shooter. But in the final 3:30 of games this year, he's hit 17 of his 18 attempts, with the lone miss coming against Butler. That number includes four of four in the regional final against Kentucky, including a clutch front end of a one-and-one opportunity...No surprise on Oregon coach Dana Altman's keys to Saturday's game. "North Carolina presents a big challenge," Altman said Thursday afternoon. "They are the number-one rebounding team and their offensive production from those rebounds is tremendous...The rebounding battle will probably be the one that decides the game, that and our transition defense."...A look inside the locker room:
We Finally Here!#GetIntoIt#FinalFour pic.twitter.com/PzauGbvHpe
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) March 30, 2017
Altman was straightforward about Oregon's game against Kansas. "We were out of gas," he said. "We were just ran down. We had a good first 25-30 minutes...We just got a little fatigued there."...If you didn't get enough of the Tar Heels on Thursday, they'll be back for more media availability on Friday...A reminder on the details for Saturday's watch party at the Smith Center.
