Lucas: Find The Joy

By Adam Lucas

Maybe we need to start broadcasting Hubert Davis' timeout messages to the Smith Center crowd.

With under four minutes to play on Monday night and Carolina locked in a tough game with Louisville, the head coach had the following message for his team.

"Find the joy in how hard it is to be successful, both individually and as a team," he told them. "It's going to be hard, there's no way around it. Find joy and enjoyment in the process, and play the best you can."

That's the kind of mantra that would have been helpful while watching at the six minute mark, as the Tar Heels turned it over in a 60-60 game. Mason Faulkner and the Cardinals were setting up a play to give them the lead on the road. The Tar Heels were coming off a frustrating turnover. The situation seemed a little dicey.

Until RJ Davis had other ideas. The smallest player on the court recognized that Faulkner was going to make the short pass to Malik Williams, stepped in the way, and took the steal the length of the court for a game-changing layup.

"I saw a chance to change the momentum of the game," Davis said. "They had a little dribble handoff and I anticipated the play. I was able to get the steal and layup, change the momentum for our team, and get the crowd into it."

That wasn't the easy play. The easy play was to sit back and allow Louisville to dictate the possession, to react to whatever moves the Cardinals made. Instead, Davis made his own move, and it changed the entire game.

The steal set the stage for the most beautiful play of the game, and maybe of the season. If I had to watch one play from the 2021-22 Carolina basketball season on repeat, it might be this one.

Up 64-63 with two minutes to play, Carolina got the ball after a Louisville miss. One-point lead in a must-win game. This is when Hubert Davis would tell you to find the joy in the challenge.

And that's exactly what his team did. On the ensuing possession, all of the following happened:

All five players touched the ball.

The ball changed sides of the court.

Carolina didn't simply dribble out the clock, but ran some time while looking for legitimate scoring opportunities (Raise your hand if you remember Dean Smith saying, "It's not a stall. We're trying to get a layup."), including not settling for anything until they first took a glance inside.

RJ Davis drew the defense to him with dribble penetration.

Brady Manek slipped from the corner down the baseline to get into position for either an offensive rebound or a pass.

Davis dropped it to Manek, who very easily could have gone for the headlines himself and tried to score.

But instead, Manek found Armando Bacot with a no-look pass for a dunk and a three-point lead.

Bacot thanked the passer.

It was gorgeous, and it was very much Carolina Basketball. Even Bacot's subtle side eye to Malik Williams going off the court into the ensuing Louisville timeout was perfect. You make a play like that, you deserve to check and make sure the other team saw it while the rocking Monday night Smith Center crowd—yes, you heard me—explodes.

So maybe Hubert Davis was right and maybe that play was a little more fun because of how difficult it was to achieve. And maybe 20 wins is a little more enjoyable because of this year's struggles.

"It wasn't a perfect game," the head coach said. "But we made plays when plays needed to be made. When we needed to get stops, we got stops. And when we needed to get a basket, we got a basket."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Brady Manek

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