Lucas: Good To Great

By Adam Lucas

TALLAHASSEE—Good to great, Hubert Davis has said since October.

He's usually talking about shot selection. He's frequently said this year's Tar Heels have the inclination to pass up their own good shot in favor of finding a great shot for a teammate.

But as Carolina sits at 17-3 overall and 9-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it's fair to wonder if maybe that good-to-great description could apply to this team, too.

Elliot Cadeau was terrific for most of the afternoon in Carolina's 75-68 win at Florida State. He controlled the tempo, pushed the pace, and put constant stress on the Seminole defense.

He had a game-high six assists to go with his 16 points, which trailed only RJ Davis's 24. Perhaps this gives you an idea of how instrumental he was to the win: with Cadeau on the court in the first half, Carolina shot seven-for-11 from the field. With him on the bench, the Tar Heels were 4-for-17.

In the second half, he sat down for exactly 52 seconds. That sequence included one Tar Heel turnover, and the coaching staff immediately pointed to Cadeau to send him back in the game.

He was indispensable to the win, a nice testament to how much he's improved in the last two months.

"I have a better understanding of how I need to play," Cadeau said on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "That comes from playing games and sitting down with Coach Marcus."

Coach Marcus, of course, is Paige, who has won a few games on the road like this himself. Part of the education he's tried to provide his pupil is exactly how good the freshman can be.

"He's not trying so hard to fit in that he's not being assertive and being himself," Paige said. "A lot of times early on, he wanted to defer because we are a veteran team. We want him to be assertive and aggressive, and that opens up a lot of things for us. You don't have to take a backseat just because you're a freshman."

So Cadeau was very, very good. He helped drive the Tar Heels to the point that they were ready to seal the game. And then, when it was time to clinch it, this is how the sequence looked:

RJ Davis made a layup.

Harrison Ingram scored.

RJ Davis made a jumper.

Ingram blocked a shot.

Davis made two free throws.

Davis made another free throw.

Let the freshman roll. And then, when it's time to win the game, turn it over to the veterans. That's a winning college basketball formula.

"Elliot did a really good job of getting to the basket," Hubert Davis said. "But what brought us home was RJ and Harrison. I hate leaning on RJ so much, but we've leaned on him for four straight years. And Harrison had 13 points and 17 rebounds, he was a beast on both ends."

That's what takes a team from good to great. If the Tar Heels had to rely solely on Cadeau, they might have lost this game. And even with a loss, they still could've been a good team. Florida State played close to its peak on Saturday. Losing this game wouldn't have been catastrophic.

But the Tar Heels didn't. They have Cormac Ryan sinking a couple of second half three-pointers and Armando Bacot being a wall in the middle and reserves like Seth Trimble, Jalen Washington, Jae'Lyn Withers and Paxson Wojcik making key baskets or big plays. And, of course, they have RJ Davis and Ingram, one a National Player of the Year candidate and the other an All-ACC frontrunner.

They also have a coaching staff that very quietly is engineering a terrific season. Hubert Davis just looks comfortable with this team, seems to understand exactly what plays to call and which substitutions to make. There's Sean May working with Bacot one-on-one before the game and Paige tutoring Cadeau and Brad Frederick and Jeff Lebo and Pat Sullivan with impeccable scouting reports and, well, right now the whole thing just works.

It works partially because the stars don't act like stars. Most of the attention RJ Davis receives will be for his 24 points. But that was also Davis, with under three minutes to play, who refused to concede a loose ball that looked ticketed for FSU and instead created an offensive rebound for the Tar Heels.

When all of that comes together, from coaching to playing to effort, that's how you come back from an eight-point second half deficit on the road in the Atlantic Coast Conference. And that's how you at least start thinking about being, well, you know.

The Tar Heels aren't great. Not yet, not less than halfway through the conference schedule. And not in January. No one is great in January. But they can see it from here. And even more importantly, they're starting to believe they can do it.

"It's the same thing over and over: discipline and details," Hubert Davis said. "Get box outs, defend without fouling, get loose balls, be able to execute plays, make free throws, knock down open shots. Having success in these situations is building confidence. In these situations, in the huddle, all of us are like, 'We've been here before.'"

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

Paxson Wojcik

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