North Carolina senior F Meeks is peaking at the right time of career

‘Love and hate’ relationship with Tar Heels coach helps senior forward improve

After a tumultuous ‘love and hate’ relationship with coach Roy Williams over the past four seasons, Kennedy Meeks finally is clicking. He scored 25 points and had 14 rebounds in Saturday’s win.

Kennedy Meeks is about to inherit the earth, or at least the college basketball portion.

If the 6-foot-10 senior forward completes his North Carolina career with anything close to the impact he’s had in the past two games and throughout the NCAA Tournament, he will become an immortal in school annals and perhaps beyond.

Ask Sean May, now North Carolina director of player personnel, how being Most Outstanding Player in the 2005 Final Four impacted his life.

“I just remember running over and hugging Coach and the confetti and being on the floor with my guys,” he said. “Those are the moments you remember more than anything. It’s not about the game, it’s about the people.”

The 6-9 May had 26 points and 10 rebounds, including the last, in North Carolina’s 2005 championship game win over Illinois. The same kind of numbers (25 points, 14 boards) that Meeks put up Saturday in a 77-76 Final Four win over Oregon when he also snared the final board after a fourth straight Tar Heel freethrow miss (two of them his).

Before that, in the Elite Eight, Meeks had a career-high 17 rebounds and four blocks in a 75-73 win over Kentucky. Overall in five NCAA games, he is averaging 13.2 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting 64.9 percent. This from someone who did not make ACC first, second or third team (he was honorable mention) and until two months ago was still figuring out how to process criticism from coach Roy Williams.

“It took 3 1/2 years, but I realized he really doesn’t mean bad,” Meeks said. “You can definitely see the transition from me trying to buy in more to helping the team in any way I can instead of just trying to score. It’s a little bit of being selfless. I’m sure he appreciates that because I definitely think I’ve grown as a player. I don’t know if I just woke up one morning and it kind of clicked.”

More likely as Meeks drew closer to the finish line still short of a national title – North Carolina lost on a buzzer beater to Villanova in the 2016 championship game – he became more amenable to the Williams’ way. When he was a freshman in 2013-14, it left him questioning his decision to stay in his home state for college.

But Meeks weighed 317 pounds when he came to North Carolina and now is a much fitter 260, a transformation he largely accomplished before his sophomore season and has built upon since.

“It’s been love and hate,” Williams said of his relationship with Meeks. “I’ve been on him really hard,” even taking him out Saturday against Oregon for several minutes “because I didn’t like one thing he was doing. He keeps coming back, and I keep pushing him. Hopefully at the end, we’ll both look back on it and think it’s been a great partnership.”

That almost certainly will be the final judgment if North Carolina beats Gonzaga in a duel of No. 1 seeds and low post players reminiscent of basketball from a different era.

Meeks vs. the Zags’ 7-1 Przemek Karnowski is the game’s featured matchup. Both have help in 6-9 Isaiah Hicks and 611 Tony Bradley (North Carolina) and 7-0 Zach Collins and 6-9 Jonathan Williams (Gonzaga).

It’s not Lew Alcindor vs. Elvin Hayes or Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, but it will pass for that in a day when posts often are face-up players shooting 3pointers.

“You saw how good of a game he had (against Oregon),” Karnowski said of Meeks. “He’s a great player, kind of like me going back to the basket. I like to play against other big guys. We have a lot of guys that we have to chase around to make sure they don’t any open threes. It’s going to be good to have that oldschool matchup playing against each other in the low block.”

Meeks also welcomes the challenge, comparing it to what the Tar Heels faced last year against Villanova and even Saturday when he went against Oregon’s 6-9 Jordan Bell. Karnowski and Collins are a different story, though, because they are bigger and a duo that can play together.

“When we got here, he realized one way or another he’s got one or two games (left),” May said. “He’s living in the moment and playing like a kid that doesn’t want to go home. There’s some desperation there, so he’s playing well. It’s a joy to see somebody have the best nights of their career on the biggest stage. If he plays like that, we’ll be in good shape.”