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University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
Lucas: A Win
December 7, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Saturday's game didn't have a lot of redeeming qualities other than the most important one: it was a win.
By Adam Lucas
It wasn't pretty. It wasn't very efficient. It certainly wasn't artistic.
All it was, was a win.
That's all we'll ever recall about Saturday's 68-65 decision over Georgia Tech. Carolina absolutely had to have a victory over the Yellow Jackets—and they got it, although without earning any style points.
Remember how the game after the exam break used to be a little sleepy and unpredictable? Well, thanks to the new conference schedule, this one was actually played in the heart of exams—if you're wondering about lackluster student attendance, it's because many of them had exams that directly conflicted with the game, and yes those are supposed to be students who are playing in the actual game—and it was also somewhat sleepy and unpredictable.
But it was still a win.
That's the message Hubert Davis conveyed to his team as soon as he walked into the locker room. It has been an intense 48 hours for the Tar Heels. They were beaten soundly by Alabama on Wednesday night, had a very long day of film, academics and practice on Thursday, and had a hard practice Friday.
After shooting 39 percent from the field, 5-for-24 from the three-point line and turning it over a season-high 18 times, there were definitely some players in the locker room who wondered if the head coach might be displeased with the win.
And Davis wasn't satisfied. He knows that performance wasn't good enough to beat the upper-tier Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. But he also knows something else: it's hard to win.
"I walked in the locker room after the game and they had long faces," Davis told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "They probably wondered what my mood would be coming into the locker room. I told them I was really proud of them. You have to find joy and enjoyment in how hard it is to be successful as an individual and as a team. Winning at this level and winning in the league is difficult."
Granted, the Tar Heels didn't make it easy. Post players scored just nine points against the Jackets, meaning the vast majority of the scoring burden fell on the guards. Seth Trimble responded with a very efficient 19 points on just six field goal attempts (he also went 8-for-9 at the free throw line, scored key baskets late and also had a big defensive stop in the closing minutes) and Ian Jackson continued to demonstrate progress.
The freshman, who scored 15 points, now has double figures in three straight games. He was part of the prettiest play of the game, a Jackson-to-Jae'Lyn Withers-to-Trimble layup with seven minutes left that cut the deficit to one.
"That play was a glimpse of what we can be," Jackson said. "We have to understand what we can be and why that happened, so we can do that even more."
Like everyone else on the roster, Jackson is well aware the Tar Heels aren't playing as well now as they were earlier in the season. They aren't flying down the court quite as fearlessly and the baskets aren't coming quite as fluidly.
But he also knows it's a very long season, with peaks and valleys. And it's not as if the current problems haven't been identified.
"We need to be a little more unselfish," Jackson said. "Defensively, at the beginning of the year we were more sound. And we took care of the ball at a way better rate."
See? So easy, even a freshman (albeit a very advanced freshman) can recognize it.
It feels like the Tar Heels are about to get what they need the most: a break. A season can get out of hand in November and December. I will forever believe that the 2022-23 team suffered a couple of setbacks in Portland, then took a beating at Indiana, then fumbled through a loss at Virginia Tech, and was never the same again.
This team--a group that is still looking for an identity and some confidence at multiple key positions--could have been in a similar situation. Drop a couple in Maui, get outplayed by a very good Alabama team, make a couple of mistakes and lose to Georgia Tech, and then suddenly everyone starts thinking about themselves individually instead of remaining focused on the team.
Instead, they got the victory and now have a week to get ready for LaSalle. Hubert Davis is well aware that improvements in multiple areas are needed; he said it's "not sustainable" to continue to rely solely on the guards for Carolina's offense. But he also knows that Saturday's win will help facilitate those improvements in a way that only winning can do.
"Sometimes you want to win so badly that you don't play fast and free," he said on the THSN. "For a lot of the game we didn't play that way. Something to celebrate is even when you don't feel as confident, can you still execute and find a way to win? This group did."
It wasn't pretty. It wasn't very efficient. It certainly wasn't artistic.
All it was, was a win.
That's all we'll ever recall about Saturday's 68-65 decision over Georgia Tech. Carolina absolutely had to have a victory over the Yellow Jackets—and they got it, although without earning any style points.
Remember how the game after the exam break used to be a little sleepy and unpredictable? Well, thanks to the new conference schedule, this one was actually played in the heart of exams—if you're wondering about lackluster student attendance, it's because many of them had exams that directly conflicted with the game, and yes those are supposed to be students who are playing in the actual game—and it was also somewhat sleepy and unpredictable.
But it was still a win.
That's the message Hubert Davis conveyed to his team as soon as he walked into the locker room. It has been an intense 48 hours for the Tar Heels. They were beaten soundly by Alabama on Wednesday night, had a very long day of film, academics and practice on Thursday, and had a hard practice Friday.
After shooting 39 percent from the field, 5-for-24 from the three-point line and turning it over a season-high 18 times, there were definitely some players in the locker room who wondered if the head coach might be displeased with the win.
And Davis wasn't satisfied. He knows that performance wasn't good enough to beat the upper-tier Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. But he also knows something else: it's hard to win.
"I walked in the locker room after the game and they had long faces," Davis told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "They probably wondered what my mood would be coming into the locker room. I told them I was really proud of them. You have to find joy and enjoyment in how hard it is to be successful as an individual and as a team. Winning at this level and winning in the league is difficult."
Granted, the Tar Heels didn't make it easy. Post players scored just nine points against the Jackets, meaning the vast majority of the scoring burden fell on the guards. Seth Trimble responded with a very efficient 19 points on just six field goal attempts (he also went 8-for-9 at the free throw line, scored key baskets late and also had a big defensive stop in the closing minutes) and Ian Jackson continued to demonstrate progress.
The freshman, who scored 15 points, now has double figures in three straight games. He was part of the prettiest play of the game, a Jackson-to-Jae'Lyn Withers-to-Trimble layup with seven minutes left that cut the deficit to one.
"That play was a glimpse of what we can be," Jackson said. "We have to understand what we can be and why that happened, so we can do that even more."
Like everyone else on the roster, Jackson is well aware the Tar Heels aren't playing as well now as they were earlier in the season. They aren't flying down the court quite as fearlessly and the baskets aren't coming quite as fluidly.
But he also knows it's a very long season, with peaks and valleys. And it's not as if the current problems haven't been identified.
"We need to be a little more unselfish," Jackson said. "Defensively, at the beginning of the year we were more sound. And we took care of the ball at a way better rate."
See? So easy, even a freshman (albeit a very advanced freshman) can recognize it.
It feels like the Tar Heels are about to get what they need the most: a break. A season can get out of hand in November and December. I will forever believe that the 2022-23 team suffered a couple of setbacks in Portland, then took a beating at Indiana, then fumbled through a loss at Virginia Tech, and was never the same again.
This team--a group that is still looking for an identity and some confidence at multiple key positions--could have been in a similar situation. Drop a couple in Maui, get outplayed by a very good Alabama team, make a couple of mistakes and lose to Georgia Tech, and then suddenly everyone starts thinking about themselves individually instead of remaining focused on the team.
Instead, they got the victory and now have a week to get ready for LaSalle. Hubert Davis is well aware that improvements in multiple areas are needed; he said it's "not sustainable" to continue to rely solely on the guards for Carolina's offense. But he also knows that Saturday's win will help facilitate those improvements in a way that only winning can do.
"Sometimes you want to win so badly that you don't play fast and free," he said on the THSN. "For a lot of the game we didn't play that way. Something to celebrate is even when you don't feel as confident, can you still execute and find a way to win? This group did."
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