ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cancellation of the 2020 ACC and NCAA Tournaments last March, and nine months later, it’s also the reason the Maui Invitational is being held in the North Carolina mountains this week and not at its eponymous island.
North Carolina’s 2019-20 basketball season came to an end as the reality of the situation took hold, offering a rare reprieve for a program unaccustomed to losing seasons in having to watch March Madness play out.
Last year’s Tar Heels struggled to hold leads much like they struggled to rally to victories. UNC lost five games in which it held double-digit second-half leads and yet claimed just one win after trailing by double digits. That victory came against N.C. State – the perennial gift of a program that keeps on giving for Roy Williams – and the Wolfpack’s largest lead was 11 points early in the first half.
It’s a new season for the Tar Heels, one equipped with the ACC Preseason Player of the Year and the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class, and the potential for scrubbing away last year’s undesirable tendencies was on display at Harrah’s Cherokee Center on Monday. UNLV made its first five shots to build a 13-0 lead and it was unclear which was more troubling: UNC’s inability to make shots or its lethargy on the defensive end.
It was human nature for flashbacks to pop into the minds of everyone watching, as memories of 20-point halftime deficits against Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh are still relatively fresh. While those sudden pangs may have been alarming, Roy Williams quickly dismissed any concerns with a full lineup change – a strategic move that lacked effectiveness last season due to limited depth – that sparked a defensive surge and unhinged the lid on the basket.
“When we went down, [Williams] wasn’t concerned about the score,” senior guard Andrew Platek said after the 78-51 victory. “I think we were worried for a second, but then we just knew if we played our principles and played our game plan we were going to be fine.”
UNC needed less than 10 minutes to flip a 16-3 deficit into a 29-27 lead and then put the game away with a 17-1 run overlapping halftime. The Rebels, who needed three minutes and some change to score their first five baskets, went nearly 18 minutes with only five baskets as the Tar Heels turned their tournament opener into a makeshift exhibition game.
“After the first six minutes or so, I thought we did some good things and got better,” Williams said, “and I hope and think we learned a lot from tonight.”
The Tar Heels are clearly a work in progress. There’s a lot of talent on hand, although a lot of it can be found in a freshman class still trying to adjust to the speed of the college game and the demands of a Hall of Fame head coach.
Platek delivered veteran minutes after UNC fell behind by double digits, triggering some defensive fire while scoring eight of his team’s first 19 points. While he may lack the prestige of his highly-touted teammates, his intangibles in such a moment provided a critical example for players wearing the UNC uniform for one of their first times.
The team’s ability to not only bounce back from its early deficit, but to do so emphatically, should serve as a confidence builder, according to Williams.
“I hope so and I think it should,” the 18th-year UNC head coach said. “I congratulated them during the timeout. I congratulated them at halftime. And I congratulated them after the game, so I’m hoping that that will be something that will help them, there’s no question.
“But we have got to play better. I mean, you can’t spot a lot of people 13 and think you’re going to come back and win, so we’ve got to play better during that time period.”
There are plenty of lessons left to learn, but the Tar Heels cleared their first test surrounded by surfboards in the freezing temperatures of Asheville on Monday night.
