Lucas: Not A Turkey

By Adam Lucas

LAS VEGAS—You come to Las Vegas to see the amazing and the incredible. You know—David Copperfield. Cirque du Soleil.

Coby White.

As usual, Carolina's trip to Las Vegas didn't turn out exactly the way the Tar Heels wanted. The Tar Heels' 92-89 loss to Texas means they've now dropped their last three games here (they also fell in 2016 to Kentucky and in 2011 to UNLV).

But it was still worth coming just to see the best show anywhere on the Strip—or off the Strip, in the case of Orleans Arena—in White's sensational 33-point performance.

The freshman's showing was reminiscent of Justin Jackson's outburst against Malik Monk and the Wildcats in the way it announced a player's presence on the national scene. White had been good but not great through the first five games of his college career. That wasn't fast enough for the 2018 college basketball world.

Thursday, while most of them slept off their turkey and probably didn't notice, White was great. Maybe he won't get an ESPN warmup cam anytime soon. But White had the most jaw-dropping performance of the season so far for the Tar Heels in the way he kept his team in the game against a good opponent.

To be in Las Vegas on Thursday evening was to see what it must have been like to be in a tiny gym in Goldsboro for so many nights over the last four years. White simply did whatever he wanted, possession after possession.

The amazing thing wasn't that the freshman pulled up on a fast break with six minutes left and his team down five. It was that as soon as he pulled up, before he even let the ball go, you knew it was going in. He was that good.

And, folks, he knows it. Not in a cocky way. But in a matter-of-fact, I'm pretty good at this way. When did you know, Coby, that you were hot? What's it like to be on such a streak? How did you get into the groove?

His answer, basically: that wasn't hot. That was just Coby White.

"I've scored the ball enough in my basketball career," he said quietly after the game, "that I always feel like I'm feeling it."

This game will be far more memorable for the debut of the real White than for the loss. Four possessions later, White had hit a couple of free throws to draw his team back within six. Texas answered with one free throw, and then, with the shot clock running down, the Tar Heels essentially asked White to bail them out, tossing him the ball and just hoping for the best. Which is exactly what they received, as he made an advanced, veteran, wily move by using his body to force Kerwin Roach to give him the couple of inches of space he needed, then elevating to convert his seventh three-pointer of the night.

From right there, just a few feet away from the play, take this eyewitness report to heart: Roach did a very good job defending White. There was no room there. And then, there was, because White decided to create it. Carolina didn't run a great play, didn't set great screens. They simply had a great…well, not yet. They simply had a very good player.

And still, he could improve. The Goldsboro native was miffed about what he believed was a bad play he made with a minute remaining and the Tar Heels down two. White forced an errant three-pointer on that possession, with Luke May standing wide open just to his right at the top of the key. You can safely guess that won't be the last time White takes a shot in that one-possession scenario for Carolina this season, and that's exactly how Roy Williams played it immediately after White hoisted the somewhat ill-advised attempt.

As soon as the Tar Heels fouled Texas in the backcourt, Williams put White's face in his hands. The message?

"He told me, 'I know you're trying, but we can get a better shot than that,'" White said. "He said, 'I know you've hit a lot of shots in this game. Stay locked in and move on to the next play.'"

We'll see. But watching White process the way he felt he could have executed better was almost reminiscent of watching Raymond Felton try to sort through his mistakes in the final moments of Carolina's loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2005. White has that same sort of competitiveness and ability. There's no guarantee the result of the season will turn out that way, of course. But White has the same potential to seize the team and pull them with him to better outcomes.

"I drew two defenders," he said, "and I could've easily kicked it back to Luke. I didn't go that way, and that's on me. That's my fault. At this level it's different than high school. I have to make the correct play."

That's the challenge for exceptional players making the transition to another level. They've never played with teammates as talented as they are. There's a learning curve to know exactly when it's time to trust those teammates, and when it's time to trust themselves more than anyone else.

That's a very, very fine line. White learned something about that distinction on Thursday. Now let's see what he does with it. Remember, this has always been about the big picture, more about what makes White better in February and March than the result of a game in November.

It's the head coach who sets the tone for that wider view. And so he did again on Thursday night when his squad reassembled at the team hotel after the loss. It was frustrating and concerning and there is so much to be done. But it was also Thanksgiving.

"We have our health," the head coach told his team before they had their holiday meal together, and before the coaches graded the tape and the gameplan was finalized for UCLA and travel arrangements were confirmed for Friday. "We have our families. And we get to play basketball for Carolina.

"We have a lot to be thankful for."

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Coby White

Related Videos