Lucas: Change The Game

By Adam Lucas

With 14:13 remaining on Saturday, Carolina trailed Boston College, 59-55. It would have been a catastrophic home defeat. The Eagles were hot. The Tar Heels were listless.

And then Ty Claude happened.

Claude's performance covered a total of five minutes and 35 seconds of game time. It was not incredibly notable in the box score, as he had two points and a couple of rebounds.

But it was the type of effort that went significantly beyond the statistics.

"Ty Claude changed the game," Hubert Davis told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "He scored, but it was his energy that changed the game completely."

Claude's first shot was blocked. No problem. He stayed after the ball, recovered it, and scored with his left hand to cut the deficit in half.

He set a sturdy screen that freed Ian Jackson for a basket. Then, with 12:45 remaining, he stood firm on the baseline defending the bruising 270-pound Chad Venning, refusing to give any ground, challenging the shot, and then sprawling on the floor to grab the rebound and maintain possession. That effort led to another Jackson layup.

Twenty seconds later, he refused to concede an ostensibly easy pass to Venning near the top of the key, knocking it away and again picking up a floor burn attempting to recover it.

Just before the media timeout, he physically challenged a Donald Hand Jr. shot at the rim, forcing a miss and sending Carolina back down the court, where the Tar Heels eventually picked up some free throws. And in the ensuing huddle, Hubert Davis gave his team a very simple message:

"There is one guy who is playing with the energy and effort you have to have in order to put yourself in position to be successful," the head coach said. "That guy is Ty Claude."

Claude is not the most offensively gifted player on the roster, but he doesn't try to be. He does not have the defensive shot blocking prowess of Jalen Washington (who scored 18 points but suffered a scary injury in overtime. He said afterward on the THSN, "I'm good. My knee gave out a little bit, but I'm all good. Health-wise I will be fine."), but he knows how to use his strength on the block. On Saturday, he had exactly what Carolina needed: the competitiveness to force a couple empty Boston College possessions on a day when the Eagles shot 54.5 percent from the field and any empty possession felt like a victory. For a couple of minutes on a day when things came very easily for the visitors, he made it difficult for them.

"I knew we needed energy," Claude said. "I tried to do all the small things to help the team. I was lost in the game. I was just trying to play as hard as I could." Claude, a Goldsboro native, grew up playing games at the local YMCA with Coby White. There's just something about those North Carolina natives that makes it more fun when they're the ones providing the hustle plays.

And the Tar Heels needed them. Part of the problem is that Boston College made some tough shots. But they weren't all difficult. Davis was frustrated with multiple areas of the defensive performance; before scoring 89 points in regulation in the Smith Center, BC's season high had been 83 points in a loss to (ugh) Dartmouth.

Carolina eventually snapped out of the funk and executed much better in the final minute of regulation and five minutes of overtime. The final 20 seconds of regulation, with Drake Powell completely frustrating the Eagles anywhere they tried to inbound the ball—"Drake is an alien," Washington said with a grin—was a vintage Smith Center performance.

But the day almost certainly never would have been salvaged without those key five minutes from Ty Claude.

The Tar Heels got some pretty play during the course of the game from Seth Trimble (18 points and 12 rebounds) and his backcourt mates RJ Davis (22 points) and Jackson (19 points). Claude's grit enabled those plays to be part of a winning effort instead of the lone highlights from a dismal loss.

"I will do my best going forward to be a spark in practice," Claude said. "And I'll do the same thing when I get my opportunities in the game."

If he continues providing the same lift he did on Saturday, those opportunities are likely to be more frequent. It's pretty simple: Carolina doesn't beat Boston College without Ty Claude.

"Those five minutes he was in the game," Davis said, "completely changed the game for us."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

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