Lucas: McKoy In The Right Place

By Adam Lucas

These two seemingly contradictory characteristics of Justin McKoy's personality can both be true:

Justin McKoy is, by nearly universal agreement of multiple people around the Carolina basketball program, one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Not one of the nicest basketball players. But one of the nicest people.

Justin McKoy also can be kind of a pain on the basketball court.

That's "pain" in the very best way, in almost a Joel Berry-type way. McKoy competes at everything. In the same way that he's developed his basketball skills, he's had to learn how to make his competitiveness work for him rather than against him.

"I've always been super competitive," he says. "I remember losing the spelling bee in third grade and I was mad. In the rock/paper/scissors Olympics in gym class, I wanted to be in the gold bracket. And in basketball, every game, doesn't matter if it's pickup, rec league, high school, or AAU, I want to win everything.

"I had to learn in high school through my coach, Shawan Robinson (who played at Clemson), how to make sure I'm competitive but not losing myself in the process of being competitive."

McKoy's competitiveness has been on display almost daily since he arrived at Carolina as the first transfer of the Hubert Davis era. After all, there's no better way to gauge someone's willingness to battle than daily pickup games with Tyler Hansbrough (highly recommend listening to McKoy's appearance on the Carolina Insider this summer to get an even better sense of those battles and his personality). .

McKoy, who says Hansbrough is one of the first Carolina players he remembers (sigh), never backed down even when put on the same court with Hansbrough. And teammates have learned to expect the same aggressiveness as the Tar Heels get ready for practice number three this afternoon.

A Cary native, McKoy hasn't wasted any time wondering about what might have been if he'd committed to Carolina out of high school rather than starting his college career at Virginia. Instead, he believes his time in Charlottesville helped him work on elements of his game that will benefit him in Chapel Hill.

"I'm confident in myself," he says. "Carolina fans are going to get a great defender, a hard worker, and someone who can put the ball in the basket. I've always been able to do that. Defense was the biggest thing I couldn't do coming out of high school. The last two years I've spent honing in on defense and trying to master it."

No one needs to remind anyone at Carolina about Virginia's defensive pedigree. During McKoy's tenure there, the Tar Heels scored 48 points while shooting 34.5 percent, 47 points while shooting 37 percent, and a whopping 62 points while shooting 44 percent.

In addition to his scoring ability, which he's shown in practice all the way from the three-point line to the rim, the hope is that McKoy will import some of that defensive mentality. It's been a relationship with plenty of give-and-take this summer, as McKoy energizes the Tar Heels with his competitiveness while also learning more about his new home.

"The past players coming back has been amazing, and a good opportunity to learn," he says. "Coach always tells them to come in and give us some advice, tell us part of their story or tell us something they wish they could tell themselves when they were our age. We get a lot of insight from a lot of different players. It's important to learn from them, because they've been places and may still be in places you want to go."

Right now, though, McKoy doesn't want to go anywhere. He's finally home.

"I got here May 17 and from then on, I've had a continuous feeling of this is where I want to be," he says. "It's a good feeling. I can't really describe it but you're more comfortable and happier."

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Justin McKoy

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