Lucas: It Takes What It Takes

By Adam Lucas

When Elliot Cadeau stretched near midcourt to leap and steal a pass from Florida State's Jamir Watkins with eight minutes left in Carolina's win over the Seminoles on Saturday, it wasn't quite George Lynch.

But it was close enough.

Cadeau's steal—just a few feet away from where Lynch made his steal in the legendary 1993 comeback against these same 'Noles—came in a 56-56 game. It eventually turned into a Cadeau layup that gave the Tar Heels a lead they never relinquished, just like Lynch's steal gave Dean Smith's team 30 years ago a lead it never relinquished.

This comeback wasn't as good as that one. That FSU team was a known quantity, with Douglas Edwards and Rodney Dobard and Sam Cassell and Charlie Ward. And the Seminole lead in that one was 20 points with 9:30 left in the game. Lynch's steal and dunk was one of the loudest moments in the building's history (Marvin Williams' basket in the 2005 Duke win says hello) and was refreshingly cathartic against an annoying newcomer in a way this one wasn't.

But we also knew that Carolina team was capable of a comeback like that. We'd seen it the year before against Wake Forest. We knew what Eric Montross and Lynch and Derrick Phelps would do when faced with adversity: they'd fight it.

We weren't sure about this year's team. We just don't have enough history yet with Cadeau and Cormac Ryan and Harrison Ingram. Down 14 in the second half, would they crumble (not the cookies, we'll get to that later)?

Who, after all, is the Lynch of this squad?

We might be finding out.

"Cormac has a saying," said RJ Davis. "It takes what it takes."

That's right—the guy who has scored at least 27 points in three straight games, the guy who has done something only nine other Tar Heels had ever done in Carolina basketball history, he's quoting Cormac Ryan. There's a big clue about an important voice in the Carolina locker room.

So what did the Notre Dame transfer mean?

"It takes what it takes to get wins in this league," Ryan said. "There's not always a clear recipe or checklist to get it done. Sometimes you have to dig deep and find that extra ounce of effort to empty the tank and win the game. Make winning plays and give everything for the team."

What that meant on Saturday was that Hubert Davis shortened his bench in the second half while extending Carolina's defensive pressure. The former meant the Tar Heels went largely with six players in the final 20 minutes, with Seth Trimble the primary reserve and a key cog in a 22-0 run.

And the latter completely changed the game. Once Carolina stretched the defense the full 94 feet, Florida State's offense became frenetic and uncertain. Trailing 48-35, the Tar Heels earned their next five points at the free throw line, a sequence that included two FSU turnovers.

In 1993, it was Dean Smith calling timeout with 9:30 left after a Henrik Rodl three-pointer cut the deficit to 17. The idea was simple: make Florida State think the impossible was possible.

That's what it felt like when Carolina started racking up points without the clock moving.

"We have multiple guys who can make plays," Hubert Davis said. "Elliot and RJ and Seth's ability to attack the basket got us in the penalty and got us to the free throw line. The press and making free throws cut that lead to single digits. And then you look up at the scoreboard and you're like, 'OK, now we can go.'"

The crowd felt it, too. Forget for just a second that it was December. This was a good ol' Saturday afternoon ACC game Smith Center crowd. This was a crowd of over 20,000 that wanted to impact the game.

With under eight minutes to play, Cadeau was trying to inbound the ball under the Tar Heel basket. FSU had already deflected one attempt. When the rookie held the ball for just a moment on the second try, the entire building simultaneously seemed to scream and point at Trimble in the backcourt—hey freshman, he's open! The pass was delivered, a crisis was averted, and a crowd that too often doesn't get enough credit again had an impact.

If you can't have fun watching Carolina go on a 22-0 run on a day when you get free cookies because the fans behind the FSU basket went nuts and forced two straight missed second half free throws and you get the best of the new ("Swag Surfin'") and the best of the old (an old-fashioned rocking "Tar"-"Heels" chant) during the 6:22 timeout while Carolina is on a 21-0 run against an ACC opponent, then you just don't like my kind of fun.

"We fed off their energy to help jump start us when we were lacking," Ryan said. "Part of the blessing of playing at Carolina is you get to have such energy and enthusiasm from the fans. We will continue to bring that same energy and set that same tone in this building all season long."

"The fans and the student section were a 50 out of 10," Hubert Davis said. "They give us life."

It was, in so many ways—for the second straight Carolina gameday, a certain other team lost, which combined with a UNC victory is as close to basketball nirvana as exists—a perfect day.

Really, it was only RJ Davis who had to put a damper on it. After the game, he was told the list of players in Tar Heel history who have scored at least 27 points in three straight games. For the sake of posterity, it's George Glamack, Lennie Rosenbluth, Pete Brennan, Billy Cunningham, Bob Lewis, Charles Scott, Phil Ford, Brad Daugherty and Joseph Forte.

Needless to say, elite company. The last was Forte. "What year was that?" Davis asked.

"It was 2001," he was told.

"That," he said with a big grn, "is the year I was born."

You didn't have to say that, RJ. Joseph Forte is yesterday to some of us, not an entire lifetime ago.

But it's OK, RJ. We forgive you and Joseph Forte forgives you. Because sometimes you just need a little dose of history to get a win like this. A little history and a pulsating home crowd and a couple in-game adjustments and a refusal to give in to a hot opponent and free cookies never hurt, either.

After all, it takes what it takes.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

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