KNOXVILLE – The Carolina Way.
Off the court, its regal reputation shredded by an academic scandal of unfathomable deceit bordering on despicable conceit, the North Carolina basketball program has had its share of self-induced embarrassment and ridicule the past few years.
Yes, $18 million in legal fees saved it in the NCAA’s kangaroo court, protecting its 2005 and 2009 NCAA titles. But in the court of public opinion that damage to image and reputation may not subside for a decade or more.
For proof, merely consider this taunt from a Tennessee fan as UNC senior guard Joel Berry II – who, to be fair, was never a part of the investigation – was calmly swishing two huge free throws late in the visiting Tar Heels’ 78-73, comeback win over the Volunteers inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Sunday:
“Hey, Berry, don’t you want your tutor to shoot those for you?”
Ouch.
Nevertheless, the Carolina Way on the court was as good as ever against the No. 20 Big Orange, all those little things the seventh-ranked Tar Heels do so well on display throughout their 10th win of the year against one loss.
Or as UT sophomore forward Grant Williams, a North Carolina native, said afterward of how UNC won and UT lost: “Their execution in the last four minutes (of both halves). Just how they execute and understand how important the last four minutes of each half are.”
To that end, the last minute of each half was hugely important and the Tar Heels made big plays in both.
Ahead by eight in the final seconds of the first half, UT forced a missed shot on UNC’s final possession of the period only to watch freshman post player Sterling Manley grab an offensive rebound and score just ahead of the horn.
“I thought we were really lucky (first half),” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “The way we’d played, I thought we were down 20 and we were just down six (38-32).”
But that was nothing compared to the strategy Williams turned to with exactly one minute to go in the game and the Vols clinging to a one-point lead (70-69) after leading by as many as nine points on four separate occasions early in the final half.
At that moment, Williams called a timeout and ordered an aggressive full-court press, a Hall of Fame move if ever there was one.
To his credit, Tennessee third-year coach Rick Barnes – having faced Williams a total of 12 times prior to this game – reportedly warned his team such a strategy was possible.
“Coach said they might trap us (coming out of the timeout), and they did,” noted Vols sophomore guard Jordan Bowden.
Warned or not, the Vols turned it over. Within 21 seconds, UNC junior Kenny Williams drilled a 3-pointer off the left wing. The Tar Heels never trailed again, as seniors Theo Pinson and Berry hit all six free throws they attempted in the final 16 seconds to secure the win.
The Tar Heels also forced a second turnover during that stretch. A fairly meaningless Bowden triple with seven seconds to play were the home team’s only points in the game’s final 69 seconds, while the winners were tossing in 11 points in that time.
“Lots of teams hit shots on us early,” said the Tar Heels’ Kenny Williams, whom Coach Williams calls the team’s best defender. “But we get into their legs the last five minutes. Their shots start coming up short.”
For the Vols, such weariness started appearing with almost seven minutes to play. For whatever reason – fatigue, frustration, pressure – UT hit only two of its last 11 shots from the field. UNC was 4-for-10 in that span.
“We tell each other, ‘Let’s keep grinding, keep grinding,'” said Williams the player. “We trust each other and we trust our coach.”
The late, great Dean Smith started the Carolina Way in the 1960s as the Tar Heels began reaching more Final Fours than any team except UCLA, going seven times total from 1967 to 1982.
In those days it was built on a variety of defenses, precision shot selection, rebounding and the four-corners stall game late if UNC held the lead.
Thanks to the shot clock, the four corners ended in the 1980s. Since taking over his alma mater following the 2003 season, Williams – a former Smith assistant – has turned the program into one of the most relentless offensive machines in the land, repeatedly beating defenses down the court after made baskets, dominating the glass on offense and somehow managing not to foul despite aggressive post play.
Though UT certainly performed better on the glass than UNC’s foes overall (Tar Heels own a 44.8-30.9 rebounding average edge this season but out-boarded the Vols just 44-39), the Heels did get 19 offensive boards (UT had 18) and scored 20 points off those rebounds.
“They do what they do,” Barnes said. “They rebound the ball well.”
They do a lot of things better than almost anyone else, which is why they’ve reached the last two NCAA championship games, winning it all last year and returning a veteran nucleus this season – Berry, Pinson and Williams – to lead a legitimate shot at a repeat.
Said Coach Williams after the Tar Heels’ latest win: “Our last possessions, we got something good out of every one of them. We didn’t rebound the ball effectively until late in the game, then we out-rebounded them.”
And as many more than one loser over the last 50 years to UNC will tell you, that’s the Carolina Way, and it’s a long, long way from becoming obsolete.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.