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Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: History In The Making
February 20, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Of all the historic notes from Saturday's blowouts, one stood out.
By Adam Lucas
It will be difficult to decide exactly how to chronicle Carolina's 99-54 win over Louisville, which tied for the second-largest ACC win in the Roy Williams era and tied for the program's fourth-largest ACC win in history.
All of those numbers and statistics are nice. But the image that will linger long after those fade from memory is this one: Walker Kessler called one of Roy Williams' timeouts. And the Carolina head coach actually stood and applauded the play.
As you know, Williams cherishes his timeouts. He especially values them in the first half, when even the use-it-or-lose-it stoppage is not to be wasted. And yet…it happened.
Kessler had immunity from the usual laws of Williams' universe because on the possession in question, he first blocked a shot, one of his two rejections in 12 minutes and one of Carolina's eight blocks for the evening, the team's most since blocking nine in the season opener against the College of Charleston.
But Kessler wasn't finished. After Louisville fumbled the recovery of the blocked shot, the ball trickled towards the corner of the Carolina bench. Nine players stood and watched the ball bounce away from them. Kessler threw himself on top of it, signaling for a timeout just before his seven-foot frame touched the sideline.
It was a nice play. But it officially became memorable when you glanced down the Carolina bench at Williams, who wasn't throwing his hands in the air, or shrugging his shoulders, or staring down Kessler. He was clapping.
You can choose to remember this day because Carolina put a historic whipping on Louisville. I will remember it because a player burned one of Roy Williams' timeouts…and the head coach seemed to enjoy it.
I believe the original script from Ghostbusters called for the line to be, "Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. Roy Williams enjoying using first half timeouts."
But that's how well the Carolina freshman big men are playing right now. Kessler was a team-high +28. Day'Ron Sharpe had 21 points, 11 rebounds and blocked two shots. He did all of that in 17 minutes of action.
You want more, courtesy of Tar Heel Sports Network statistician Jody Zeugner? Eight of Sharpe's rebounds were offensive. That's just one shy of the Carolina freshman record for offensive rebounds in a game, which is jointly held by Tyler Hansbrough and Rasheed Wallace, each of whom played approximately 30 minutes to get the record.
"They are understanding what we're asking them to do more, and they're doing a better job of doing that," Williams said of his young players.
And it looks better. The head coach casually mentioned he'd tinkered with the offense this week, adding a wrinkle. There was little dispute the Tar Heels had better spacing on Saturday, and utilized it to hand out 29 assists on 42 field goals. Big men had seven of those assists, and six of those seven were from big man to big man. That's a nice testament to how much more operating room was available offensively.
You should also clip and save the above paragraph the next time someone tries to tell you Williams doesn't make any in-season changes, which is right up there with Jeff Capel's 1995 "halfcourt shot" being a game-winner as one of the biggest myths of Carolina basketball.
This Tar Heel team is not perfect. But it's also true that they have an asset enjoyed by no other team in the country: they have Sharpe and Kessler coming off the bench. If this was the mid-1980s, perhaps it wouldn't be so unusual. But this is 2021, and Louisville was excited about the return of just one big man, Malik Williams. Playing in his first game this season and working his way back into game shape, Williams scored four points and three rebounds. Carolina's post quartet combined for 57 points and 28 rebounds, meaning they singlehandedly outscored the entire Louisville team and nearly outrebounded them.
"I feel like I'm starting to get more used to playing in the ACC," Sharpe said.
It shows. But maybe leave the timeouts to Williams just in case.
It will be difficult to decide exactly how to chronicle Carolina's 99-54 win over Louisville, which tied for the second-largest ACC win in the Roy Williams era and tied for the program's fourth-largest ACC win in history.
All of those numbers and statistics are nice. But the image that will linger long after those fade from memory is this one: Walker Kessler called one of Roy Williams' timeouts. And the Carolina head coach actually stood and applauded the play.
As you know, Williams cherishes his timeouts. He especially values them in the first half, when even the use-it-or-lose-it stoppage is not to be wasted. And yet…it happened.
Kessler had immunity from the usual laws of Williams' universe because on the possession in question, he first blocked a shot, one of his two rejections in 12 minutes and one of Carolina's eight blocks for the evening, the team's most since blocking nine in the season opener against the College of Charleston.
But Kessler wasn't finished. After Louisville fumbled the recovery of the blocked shot, the ball trickled towards the corner of the Carolina bench. Nine players stood and watched the ball bounce away from them. Kessler threw himself on top of it, signaling for a timeout just before his seven-foot frame touched the sideline.
It was a nice play. But it officially became memorable when you glanced down the Carolina bench at Williams, who wasn't throwing his hands in the air, or shrugging his shoulders, or staring down Kessler. He was clapping.
You can choose to remember this day because Carolina put a historic whipping on Louisville. I will remember it because a player burned one of Roy Williams' timeouts…and the head coach seemed to enjoy it.
I believe the original script from Ghostbusters called for the line to be, "Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. Roy Williams enjoying using first half timeouts."
But that's how well the Carolina freshman big men are playing right now. Kessler was a team-high +28. Day'Ron Sharpe had 21 points, 11 rebounds and blocked two shots. He did all of that in 17 minutes of action.
You want more, courtesy of Tar Heel Sports Network statistician Jody Zeugner? Eight of Sharpe's rebounds were offensive. That's just one shy of the Carolina freshman record for offensive rebounds in a game, which is jointly held by Tyler Hansbrough and Rasheed Wallace, each of whom played approximately 30 minutes to get the record.
"They are understanding what we're asking them to do more, and they're doing a better job of doing that," Williams said of his young players.
And it looks better. The head coach casually mentioned he'd tinkered with the offense this week, adding a wrinkle. There was little dispute the Tar Heels had better spacing on Saturday, and utilized it to hand out 29 assists on 42 field goals. Big men had seven of those assists, and six of those seven were from big man to big man. That's a nice testament to how much more operating room was available offensively.
You should also clip and save the above paragraph the next time someone tries to tell you Williams doesn't make any in-season changes, which is right up there with Jeff Capel's 1995 "halfcourt shot" being a game-winner as one of the biggest myths of Carolina basketball.
This Tar Heel team is not perfect. But it's also true that they have an asset enjoyed by no other team in the country: they have Sharpe and Kessler coming off the bench. If this was the mid-1980s, perhaps it wouldn't be so unusual. But this is 2021, and Louisville was excited about the return of just one big man, Malik Williams. Playing in his first game this season and working his way back into game shape, Williams scored four points and three rebounds. Carolina's post quartet combined for 57 points and 28 rebounds, meaning they singlehandedly outscored the entire Louisville team and nearly outrebounded them.
"I feel like I'm starting to get more used to playing in the ACC," Sharpe said.
It shows. But maybe leave the timeouts to Williams just in case.
Players Mentioned
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