Maye is good omen as Tar Heels make Sweet 16
COLUMBUS, Ohio – As far as omens go, this was a pretty good one.
If you’re inclined to put stock in those types of things, that is. Which North Carolina coach Roy Williams most certainly is.
When the Tar Heels were making their run to the national title two years ago — their sixth for those keeping score — they got one big game after another from Luke Maye. There was his career high against Butler in the Sweet 16. He topped that in the very next game, and it was his 19-footer with less than a second left that carried North Carolina over Kentucky and into the Final Four.
All told, he scored in double figures in half of the Tar Heels’ games during the NCAA tournament — not bad for a guy who’d done it only three times during the regular season.
So if anyone is handicapping favorites to cut down the nets next month in Minneapolis, you would be wise to check out Sunday’s box score.
Maye tied for the team high with 20 points and also had 14 rebounds in North Carolina’s 81-59 victory over ninth-seeded Washington. The victory moves the top-seeded Tar Heels on to the Sweet 16, where they’ll face Auburn on Friday in Kansas City, Missouri.
But even those stats don’t adequately express how critical Maye was to North Carolina. Washington’s 2-3 zone is suffocating, similar to Syracuse’s, and many a good player and offense has gotten swallowed up in it.
It plays right to Maye’s strengths, however. With the Huskies spread out, it left the middle open, and you cannot do that when Maye is around.
“That’s Luke’s game, getting the ball in the middle, shooting that little turnaround, midrange jump shot,” Kenny Williams said.
Added Maye, “The middle was pretty open. I just tried to get there and make some shots.”
Not just make them, though, make them at critical times. When Washington whittled what had been a 14-point North Carolina to seven points with four minutes left in the first half, Maye banked a short jumper in off the glass. Three minutes later, he added another short jumper to extend the lead back to 10 points.
A three by David Crisp a minute into the second half narrowed Carolina’s lead to 5146, the closest Washington had been since early in the first half. Cam Johnson made a three and a jumper, and Maye added a three of his own.
Maye then scored on a layup and a jump shot, and Carolina was back up 53-36. There were still 15 minutes to play, but the game was effectively over. Unlike last year, when the Tar Heels were done by the end of the first weekend, Carolina gets to keep playing.
“It’s huge,” Maye said. “After least year, how we sent Joel (Berry) and Theo (Pinson) out, it’s not the right way. I really prided myself on coming back and making sure that this time was different and finished differently.
“We’re not done yet; we’ve got a lot more to do. But this is a step in the right direction.”
Maye was coming off the bench two years ago, and Roy Williams said the improvement he made from his sophomore to junior years is as big as anyone he’s ever had. Considering the players Williams has coached at both Kansas and North Carolina, that says something.
It’s Maye’s game, of course. But Williams said it’s his brains, too.
“He finds the holes in the zone really well. He knows how important rebounding is and adjusts his game to be a great rebounder. Because you look at him you don’t think he’s going to be a guy that’s going to get 14, 16 rebounds against really good competition,” Williams said.
“So I say it’s his intelligence and his desire more than anything. But he’s just a remarkable young man. And I’m very lucky to coach him.”
Carolina is so stocked that a big game from Maye is often a luxury, not a necessity. Even his performance Sunday could be overlooked what with freshman phenom Coby White finding his groove again and Garrison Brooks continuing to play after getting a tooth knocked out.
But Maye is a steadying force for the Tar Heels, and never is his value more apparent than at tournament time.
“He plays harder than just about anybody,” Cameron Johnson said. “He works harder than just about anybody.”
It’s too early to say whether North Carolina will finish this tournament with another title. There’s far too much basketball to be played and too many good teams still playing.
But sometimes you can get a hint of how things are going to go. And Luke Maye making a big impact is about as good a one as Carolina can get.