By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer
Even its hall-of-fame head coach referred to Carolina’s 62-56 victory at Virginia on Saturday as an “ugly win.â€
While Roy Williams has probably forgotten more basketball than I’ll ever know, I vehemently disagree with him about that statement.
Of course, if the Tar Heels score fewer than 90 points it takes some of the luster off the game for Williams. He spends a good portion of every game waving his arms in an effort to get his point guard, whoever that may be, to get the ball up the court faster. The sooner UNC can retrieve the ball at the opponent’s basket (for Williams, preferably after a missed shot) and race to the other end to score, all the better, as far as Williams is concerned.
Certainly there is a beauty to watching Williams’ version of Carolina basketball when it is in high gear. Former point guard Ty Lawson could crush a team’s confidence by scoring a couple of seconds after an opponent had worked so hard for its two points.
But there was a beauty about Saturday’s victory that Williams would love to see his team replicate in tonight’s 9 p.m. game against Virginia Tech at the Smith Center. And that aesthetic is all about resolve and toughness, a will to win that simply did not exist with the 2010 team, at least not until it found itself playing in the postseason NIT rather than the NCAA Tournament.
There is nothing unique about having to scratch and claw to win a game at Virginia. No matter how the Cavaliers play against anyone else, Carolina and Duke will have to dig deep to win in Charlottesville. Those two shades of blue inspire the other conference teams to give their finest efforts, if not always their prettiest basketball.
“We fought,†Williams said. “We had some toughness today, more toughness than I’ve seen in a long time. This isn’t a cut against last year’s team, but last year’s team did not show that toughness when we got down.â€
Therein lays the beauty of the win at Virginia. Carolina has entertained its fans and infuriated its opponents for more than the past 50 years with its ability to find some way to win close, physical games. The games have become increasingly physical through the years; but up until last year, with the exception of a brief period at the turn of this century, there has been a remarkable consistency in the Tar Heels’ ability to win, even when defeat appeared certain.
The school’s sports publicity department has a chapter in its annual media guide on many of the dramatic comebacks through the years.
One thread that weaves through all those games is toughness. The toughness is as much, or more, mental than it is physical. Tyler Hansbrough and Sean May epitomized the physical toughness with their consistency against the pounding opponents would dish out every night. But Wayne Ellington’s three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Clemson in Littlejohn Coliseum in overtime in 2009 is an example of the mental toughness.
There are many ingredients that go into being Duke or Carolina. Those traits are quite rare, which is why these two stand out so uniquely among the more than 300 Division I teams playing the game.
In the past two seasons, UNC lost many of those qualities because so many of the players who understood them and displayed them each night left via graduation, early departure for the NBA or transferring to another school. This team has a long way to go, but victories such as the one at Virginia are how the Tar Heels can regain the consistency and confidence needed to be an elite team.
And there was nothing ugly about that.
Wayne’s shot was in 2008 at Littlejohn. My voice still hasn’t recovered.
Roy was on his way down to shake Purnell’s hand before he saw there was o.4 remaining.
Great memory. One of the best
Love your writing Eddy.