By Adam Lucas
Over the years, North Carolina basketball has been described in many different ways.
While frequently utilizing a big man in the middle during the Dean Smith era, the Tar Heels were often described as powerful. The Roy Williams era was frequently fast. One of Hubert Davis’ most memorable teams was iron.
Perhaps never before, though, have the Heels been described as “subway rats.”
But at halftime of Carolina’s 79-65 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday, that’s exactly the phrase assistant coach Jeff Lebo used during his halftime interview on the Tar Heel Sports Network.
The Heels were playing without Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar, so everyone understood there were going to be fewer of Wilson’s high-flying acrobatics or Veesaar’s steady post play. But subway rats was a new one.
“We can’t play like church mice,” Lebo said on the THSN. “We have to be subway rats. We have to play aggressive. Our guys have fought and battled.”
And that’s exactly what they did. After getting off to slow starts against Duke and Miami, the Tar Heels blitzed Pitt from the outset, sinking their first seven shots of the game and building a quick 18-8 lead. Four different players scored to create those 18 points.
That was plenty of cushion to beat the Panthers on a day when the Heels rediscovered their transition game (16-4 advantage in fast break points), took care of the ball (only four turnovers) and handed out 18 assists on 28 baskets, the highest assist total since the win at Georgia Tech. The win included a career high in points and rebounds from Zayden High, filling the spot in the starting lineup vacated by Veesaar.
Don’t have the individual stars? That’s OK, Carolina will just do it as a team. Maybe even a team of subway rats.
“I told all the guys that the reason we’re 20-5 is not just because of Caleb and Henri,” Hubert Davis said on the THSN. “The reason is because they are a good basketball team. Those guys are out, but we still have a good basketball team. Show up and fight and compete. The most important thing is are you willing to competitively fight, and these guys did it…Our energy and effort was there for the entire game.”
The energy and effort included 19 points from Jarin Stevenson, his best scoring output in his Carolina career. With former Pittsboro Northwood teammate Drake Powell in attendance during the NBA All-Star break, Stevenson hit three three-pointers and played more minutes than any Tar Heel.
That was partially because his size was invaluable in the absence of Veesaar and Wilson, but it was also because he was making enough winning plays that Davis couldn’t afford to take him off the court.
Stevenson had a solid take on the idea of playing like subway rats. “It means constantly moving around and creating confusion for defenses,” he said. “Even defensively you can play like a subway rat, pressuring and creating confusion and taking them out of their offense and making them uncomfortable.”
Stevenson is sent from central casting to play this exact type of team game. He has the body and talent to be a me-first star who wants to be the focus of everything. But he’s much happier to share some of the spotlight with his teammates and try to shift the focus towards them.
“I was getting good passes from the guards,” he said by way of talking about his 19 points. “I hit 3s, but it’s a team effort. They’re setting me up, whether drawing two defenders or picking and popping or driving and kicking. And they’re hitting me in the shot pocket, which is really helpful for a shooter.”
That’s the kind of team view that makes a head coach very happy.
“I told the team after the game I felt like today was more of an example of what Carolina is than any other day,” Davis said. “It’s a great example for life. You never know when your number will be called. This time last week Zayden (High) had a DNP against Duke and today he’s starting. Look what he did. You don’t know when your number will be called, but when it is called you have to step up.”
