Book Excerpt: Luke Maye's Shot

Redemption, the book on Carolina's 2017 national title by Adam Lucas, Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers, is available through UNC Press. The following excerpt covers Luke Maye's shot to beat Kentucky on March 26, 2017, to send the Tar Heels to the Final Four.

Championships are often best remembered for a winning shot or iconic moment in the title game. One needs to look no further than Michael Jordan's jumper 'from out on the left wing' to beat Georgetown in 1982. That is, undoubtedly, the most famous shot in Carolina Basketball history and one of the truly indelible images in sports, a shot that launched the career of the transformative player ESPN called the Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century.

Joel Berry II's three-pointer to reclaim the lead over Gonzaga and Isaiah Hicks's bucket with 26 seconds to play are two of the most important baskets in the 2017 NCAA title game, but the shot that defined the season was Luke Maye's 19-footer with 0.3 seconds left to beat Kentucky in the South Region final.

Maye, a sophomore from Huntersville, N.C., came into the Sweet 16 averaging 5.8 points in less than 14 minutes per game, but had 16 points and a dozen rebounds against Butler and netted a career-high 17 against Kentucky. He forever cemented his place in Carolina Basketball history with that winning shot against the Wildcats, the No. 2 seed loaded with NBA lottery picks.

"Being a kid from a small town outside Charlotte and always dreaming of playing at this university and having a role on a national championship team, to be put in that group with some of the best shots in Carolina history is really a spectacular feeling," said the soft-spoken Maye.

His shot didn't win the championship like Jordan's but it joined Charlie Scott's buzzer-beater against Davidson in 1969 as the only times Carolina has advanced to the Final Four on a last-second field goal. The Tar Heels have now won the NCAA Tournament six times. In some years there are signature shots like Jordan's or Maye's, but in others a more collective body of work stood out the most.

Pete Brennan's jump shot late in the first overtime in the 1957 semifinals against Michigan State and Joe Quigg's go-ahead free throws with six seconds to play in the third overtime the following night against Kansas are readily identified as the key plays in UNC winning its first NCAA title.

Jordan's jumper against Georgetown and James Worthy's spectacular dunk over fellow Gastonia-native Sleepy Floyd in '82 are images as fresh today as they were 35 years ago, but in 1993, the championship game is best remembered for a series of three-pointers by Donald Williams and the infamous timeout/technical foul by Michigan's Chris Webber. The most famous basket that season arguably came in January when George Lynch stole a crosscourt pass and raced in for a dunk to erase Florida State's 21-point lead in one of Carolina's greatest comeback wins.

Like wise in 2005, Sean May's six games of brilliance, Raymond Felton's three-pointer and Marvin Williams' go-ahead tip-in against Illinois stand out, but Williams' three-point play to beat Duke was the play of the year. Many observers say they've never heard the Smith Center louder than when Williams capped an 11-0 run to give UNC the lead with seconds to play.

Four years later, the Tar Heels won by 20.2 points per game in the NCAA Tournament and led every minute in the second half in the last four contests. Carolina put on a clinic in the first half of the championship game vs. the Spartans, including a three-point bomb by Wayne Ellington that was part of his 17-point first half and helped him win Final Four MVP honors.

Maye's shot makes any list of greatest Tar Heel moments, not only because it sent UNC to Phoenix where the Tar Heels cut down the nets, but because it had a 'you've got to be kidding me' Hollywood storyline.

Maye came to Carolina as a walk-on, earned a scholarship as a freshman, and is the son of a former Tar Heel quarterback. He scored in double figures as many times in the 2017 NCAA Tournament (3) as he did in his first 64 games as a Tar Heel. When Theo Pinson raced up court with the game tied at 73, most thought he would drive to the basket or dish the ball to ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson, who was open on the wing in front of Carolina's bench.

Instead, Pinson slid the ball to Maye and not one Tar Heel coach or player doubted the outcome.

"Theo had the ball top of the key center line and in my mind, I'm saying 'Make a play, make a play,' says Roy Williams. "He penetrated and threw it to Luke. Before he let it go I thought it was going in. Everything felt right, the tempo felt right, Kentucky wasn't picked up. Luke drills our starters in practice five days out of six, so Theo making that pass was as good a play as he could possibly do."

Indeed, from Kennedy Meeks getting the ball in play before Kentucky could call timeout, to Pinson's aggressive but heady play, to Maye sprinting down court and sinking a shot he's practiced thousands of times but never with as much on the line as a trip to the Final Four, it is a play that will certainly stand the test of time and will for all time be remembered as the play of the year for the 2017 national champions.

Players Mentioned

Luke Maye

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