Lucas: On The Road Again

WILMINGTON—As Carolina disembarked the team bus outside sold-out Trask Coliseum, a throng of Seahawk students who had begun gathering at 7 a.m. Friday morning greeted the Tar Heels with some lusty boos.

Roy Williams grinned.

This is exactly why the Hall of Fame head coach brings his team—no matter how inexperienced, no matter how many injuries—on the road in November and December every season. We've grown so accustomed to these types of games that sometimes we forget that virtually no other coach in the country makes these types of contests part of his regular season preparation. Friday marked the first of two true road games Carolina will play this season; the other three Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the AP top 25 play a combined one non-ACC road game that isn't part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Going on the road is every bit as much a part of how Williams builds a team as the preseason conditioning program or installing the secondary break. Friday night was another example of how it's not always pretty—a 78-62 victory—but it's almost always productive.

For example, Dec. 7 or 8 (the date is still uncertain pending some ACC football/basketball details) in Charlottesville won't be the first time Cole Anthony walks onto a court and is greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos. He received that reception on Friday, the rare freshman who in just his second college game is already receiving an instant reaction simply by setting foot on the court for warmups.

"It was an awesome environment here tonight," said Justin Pierce, who should know, since he's a Trask Coliseum veteran after playing here with William & Mary. He clearly likes the surroundings, as he contributed his first Carolina double-double and almost singlehandedly kept Carolina in the game during a sloppy first half. Pierce favors the Wilson game ball they use in Wilmington (shades of Marcus Paige in Raleigh, who had the same affinity) and liked it even more after it went in the basket seven times on the way to an 18-point performance.

It's hard to know exactly how seriously to take this type of game. Carolina essentially played without two of its projected five starters, as Brandon Robinson remains out with an ankle injury and Armando Bacot played just three minutes after taking a blow to the face. Combine those absences with the fact that Sterling Manley, Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis haven't even put on a jersey yet, and you're reminded of how unexpected the rotations Williams is using right now would have been a couple of months ago.

"We're going to be a deep team," said Andrew Platek, who again provided some nice plays in his 27 minutes. "Going to be" is the key part of that statement; right now the Tar Heels are much more thin than they ever thought they would be.

But still, there are moments. Sure, Anthony shot it 24 times. But one of those shots came when he grabbed the ball in the backcourt, dribbled past all five Seahawk defenders, and slammed through a one-handed dunk. Through two games, it appears that as long as Anthony is one of the available Tar Heels, anything is possible. He might score 34 points in his debut, he might dribble past the entire defense, but he's almost certain to do something you've never seen before.

Pierce looked much more like the player the Tar Heels need him to be, and Garrison Brooks had his first career double-double and continued to do everything that was asked of him. There are pieces. And even without a full roster, it's only November 9 and Carolina already has a conference win and a true road win. Those are two qualities that matter on Selection Sunday.

Friday night, with Sean May and Jackie Manuel embracing at midcourt and "Jackie Manuel has a posse" t-shirts in the stands and C.B. McGrath coaching furiously from the opposing sideline, wasn't as hostile an environment as some others the Tar Heels will see this year. But it was a worthy introduction in what's supposed to be an introductory part of the year.

"We're resilient," Pierce said. "We're thin right now, and we're not playing great, but we're 2-0. We have a lot of room to improve."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Garrison Brooks

Jeremiah Francis

Anthony Harris

Sterling Manley

Justin Pierce

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

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