Lucas: Rock With It

By Adam Lucas

CHARLOTTE—There it is.

The ACC Tournament had largely been left on the side of Tryon Street, withering in importance as the league struggles to regain national prominence. ESPN sent longtime ACC observer Jay Bilas to cover the SEC Tournament. Tickets were plentiful.

And then along came Thursday afternoon's Carolina-Wake Forest game, which might as well have been played on Raycom, sponsored by Food Lion, and—oh yes—watched on a television wheeled into a classroom on a cart.

Carolina out-toughed Wake Forest, 68-59, in a game that had everything except artistry. The signature stretch—if your signature is an illegible scrawl written across a torn off shard of paper—came between the 8:30 and 7:19 mark of the second half. During that stretch, we had:

Innumerable calls that both benches (rightly) felt were incorrect.

An obviously blown out of bounds call in a one-point game.

A double foul.

Both head coaches coming to the scorer's table and at least one of them appearing to fire off a few choice words at the other.

A flagrant one foul that was essentially called by the UNC bench, because none of the three officials saw it until they watched the replay.

A technical foul on the Tar Heel bench.

By the time that sequence—look for the hotly anticipated ACC Network documentary in future years—was over, we were left with a one-point Wake Forest lead, two very angry sidelines, and…

Without any warning, a really good ACC Tournament game. In a tremendous tribute to the players and coaches involved on both sides, they managed to overcome all the extenuating circumstances and put together a final seven minutes worthy of the history of this event, if not the current version of it.

Hubert Davis and Steve Forbes meeting at midcourt at the Spectrum Center wasn't quite Dean Smith and Rick Barnes, but it wasn't far off, either. And then they threw all the other stuff out of the way and let the basketball take over.

Let us all acknowledge here that the version of the Tar Heels that took the court a couple of months ago would have lost this game. They would have gotten caught up in the theatrics, they would have complained to the officials, they might have even sniped at each other.

This one? This one saw a one-point deficit in a game they absolutely had to win, a heated on-court atmosphere, some difficult foul trouble, brutal contact on both ends of the court, and…

"Hey, if it's physical, we can rock with it," Ven-Allen Lubin said after the game. "It shows how tough we really are."

It's important to understand that everything didn't go Carolina's way even after the circus sequence that took us to seven minutes remaining. Jae'Lyn Withers hit one three-pointer but then saw another one spin all the way around before bouncing out—that's the kind of "what if?" shot you're still talking about weeks after the game if the Heels don't win. Carolina went 1-for-14 during one key stretch late in the second half. The Deacs grabbed three offensive rebounds in a three-minute stretch in the final five minutes of the game.

But that's OK—the Heels decided they could rock with it. Lubin was one of the ringleaders who demonstrated toughness. His blocked shot on Hunter Sallis with three minutes remaining in a one-point game might be the play of the season for the Tar Heels…unless it's RJ Davis' clutch three-pointer with 2:39 remaining or Lubin's follow dunk off a Withers miss or, well, it's a beautiful problem to have this many choices.

And in a game like this, on a day like this, in a situation like this, what what did the Tar Heels do when they really needed a bucket? They did exactly what Carolina always does. Up 61-57, they forced a Wake turnover. The ensuing dead ball allowed an offensive/defensive substitution for Hubert Davis to re-insert Elliot Cadeau for Seth Trimble. And then?

"They ran a play they've been running since Dean Smith," Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said ruefully.

Drake Powell and RJ Davis created some traffic on the left side of the court while Cadeau dribbled on the right. Davis—little ol' RJ Davis, the quintessential tough little nut—set a back screen to clear a path, and Cadeau lofted a perfect lob to Lubin for a dunk and a backbreaking six-point lead.

This, ACC, is why we love this. It's the players and coaches making incredible plays. It's not pyrotechnics during the pregame introductions or a mascot race or importing a PA announcer from combat sports. These exact moments are how we fell in love with this event. And how, just maybe, this Carolina team might still win over a few fans who were disappointed a month ago.

"We're a resilient team," said RJ Davis, the screener—who also managed to score 23 points—during his postgame ESPN interview. His teammates, gathered around him, nodded their agreement. There have been some nights this season that were not this fun. They deserved this one.

"I'm so proud of the way they've stayed connected through the ups and downs," Hubert Davis said after the win. "There is a level of toughness that has been developed over the last seven or eight months that we've been together. We were in these types of situations earlier in the year and weren't able to do it. We did it today. As a coach, to see these guys perform under pressure and do it together is one of the most amazing things you can see as a coach."

Back on the court, RJ Davis was finishing his interview. "Shout out to my son Lub," he said, nodding towards another area where Lubin was finishing another interview, the veteran making sure to single out a teammate. "He was huge."

The rest of the Tar Heels promptly echoed, "Luuuuuuuuub!"

Lubin didn't crack a smile. But you know he can rock with it.

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Ven-Allen Lubin

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Jae'Lyn Withers

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