Lucas: The Testimony

By Adam Lucas

CLEMSON, S.C.--What else can he do?

That's what we asked all summer. When Joel Berry made the decision to return to Carolina for his senior season, it was reasonable to wonder what else he could accomplish. He's the ACC Tournament MVP. He's the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. He's a national champion. His jersey is in the rafters.

What else can he do?

Turns out, we're getting our answer. He can do…well…this.

When we're telling the Joel Berry stories 20 years from now when he returns for a game, we won't start with the 2018 season. But hopefully we'll get to it, eventually.

Berry wasn't able to win Tuesday night's game for his team, even after scoring 27 points while playing 39 minutes and combining with Cameron Johnson to score his team's last 29 points of the game. Berry and Johnson were the only Tar Heels to make a field goal over the final 13:30 of the 82-78 loss to Clemson, an almost unbelievable statistic.

Joel Berry has seen the glory days, and right now, having lost three in a row and sitting at 5-5 in the ACC, these aren't them. But we might be learning as much about him right now as we ever did when he was swishing three-pointers against Gonzaga or making big baskets against Virginia in the ACC Tournament final.

Over the last two years, he has won and won. Now he's doing something equally difficult: learning to lead.

Roy Williams gave a paint-peeling halftime speech with Clemson holding a sizable 44-28 advantage at the break. He's used other methods during this trying stretch, both on the court and off, and Tuesday's option was to make it pretty simple for the Tar Heels: do what he says. Give effort. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get out there and play. (This might not sound very inspiring, but imagine it at a much higher decibel level and add in a colorful adjective or two.)

Berry listened to his coach, and once Williams was finished, delivered an extra message, player to player, senior captain to team, leader to struggling squad.

"We have a challenge in front of us," Berry said. "We either take it or we back down from it."

They took it. Some of you are thinking, "Yeah, but they lost," and you're exactly right. But pay attention to those final 20 minutes.

Once Pinson went down 90 seconds into the game, the Tar Heels spent most of the next 18:30 looking overwhelmed. Clemson hit a torrent of three-pointers, Carolina was tentative offensively, and that's how you dig a 16-point deficit.

But the second half was different.

"Tonight, I saw something in some of the guys' eyes," Berry said. "They looked at me and they were giving me their full attention. When I looked at them and asked them to do something, they responded. That means something to me. It's also a reminder to me, because I have to realize that even if I'm having a bad day or I don't feel like I can cheer someone up, I have to put that aside and lead these guys. That's my job and it's my job every day."

And he did. Look, let's just be honest. Joel Berry has played on much bigger stages and in much bigger games than a Tuesday night game at Clemson. That's just the reality of his career. But this year--this is part of his Tar Heel story, too. When he comes back 20 years from now, he's going to talk about the championship, and the awards, but he'll talk about this year, too, and what he learned and how he's used it throughout the rest of his life. What's he going to say? We don't know yet, because as many people who have already given up or will give up this week, it's obvious that he hasn't. He's still trying to get something, to learn something, from this year.

That's why in the second half, he got that exact same look we've seen against Virginia or Villanova or Gonzaga. From courtside, there is a very distinct look Berry gets when he leaves the realm of the normal college basketball player and goes to the area only occupied by the very best. It makes you a little nervous and a little in awe all at the same time, and it makes you completely understand why teammates say sometimes you have to treat Berry like a bear and not look directly into his eyes when he's angry.

There have been times it's been difficult for him to understand why teammates don't run quite as hot as he does. Talking recently about current players who would be good future coaches, Roy Williams named a couple of Tar Heels, got to Berry, and said, "I'm not sure he could do it." Berry is simply too unwilling to accept anything less than excellence even from those who may not have excellence in them. Losses burn. After Saturday's defeat to NC State, Berry—who often has words for his teammates after both wins and losses—dressed in complete silence and then left the building on his own, without saying a word.

The quiet, in some ways, was more terrifying than the rage.

But that's what gives him his edge. That's how, after Pinson went down and Clemson made ten three-pointers in a half after two days of practice in which Carolina practiced defense almost exclusively, Berry was able to bring his team back. Trust me: that Tuesday night game had the potential to be a blowout. Down 16 at halftime, with a hurt key starter and some off-court drama, there was the very real chance that the Tar Heels might decide it was time to go home.

But they didn't, because Berry and Johnson wouldn't let them. "Everybody on the outside is going to say what they have to say," Berry said. "What's happened with Jalek not being here and Theo going down, it's all part of the testimony."

What a testimony he is going to have. Out here in the normal world, there are a lot more down-to-Clemson days than there are national title days. And learning to handle those is every bit as much a skill as finishing with your left hand or defending the dribble drive.

Two hours before practice on Monday afternoon, Berry was on the court of the Smith Center, alone, working on two-ball dribbling drills. His head coach wandered down to the court, and the two sat on the pushed-back risers for nearly 20 minutes, just talking, coach and player.

Berry said he had one key question for his coach during the course of that conversation: "What do you want me to do as the leader of this team to help the team win?" That's it. Not, "Do you think there's a place for me in the NBA?" Not, "Am I still going to get my shots?" Not, "Could you draw up some specific plays for me?"

The answer to his one question was simultaneously simple and complicated: just be Joel Berry. If it was that easy, Williams could tell everyone on the roster to be Joel Berry. But there's only one of them, and if you want a terrifying thought, imagine this year's team without him.

But he came back to do…this. Not the losing. The leading, because, as he said, it's all part of the testimony. After the four-point loss, Berry looked at his teammates in a much quieter locker room than the halftime version.

"If we play every game and every practice like we did in the second half, and run the stuff Coach tells us to run, it works," he told them. "Take pride in what you do. If your job is to set a screen, you headhunt and set the best screen you can. If you go to the basket, go as hard as you can."

Berry sat in his locker, tie knotted, and considered the job of a leader. Perhaps, it was suggested to him, it's tougher than people realize. Maybe it is, he acknowledged. But that doesn't make it any less of a privilege.

"I accept the challenge," he said. "I wouldn't want to be a leader of any other team in the country than this team and with these coaches. And for that reason, I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Players Mentioned

Cameron Johnson

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