Brownlow: An 'old school' North Carolina win in more ways than one

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan columnist/reporter

Durham, N.C. — Roy Williams is often quick to the postgame podium but rarely quick to leave it.

And especially after a Carolina-Duke game, when the media on hand wants to break down everything that went right and wrong. It often goes for 10 minutes, maybe longer.

This time?

His opening statement lasted for about a minute, and the remainder of his press conference barely another two.

"Anybody?" North Carolina's senior associate athletic director for communications Steve Kirschner said, pausing to be sure. "Seriously?"

"That's fine with us, guys," Williams said, smiling as he stood up and walked out.

The postgame coverage is going to be, understandably, about Zion Williamson and his injury. What impact will it have? Should he play? How long will he be out?

But attention should be paid to the Tar Heels, who played a game far from their best, built a big lead and managed to keep it in spite of Duke throwing everything it had at them in the final 13 minutes or so.

The Tar Heels took a 22-point lead on the Zion-less Blue Devils with just over 15 minutes to go.

They knew it wasn't over, and that Duke had a run in it. Maybe even more than one.

"Once they get on a run, it's easy for you to speed up because you want to respond to it so quickly," senior Kenny Williams said. "But our guys played with so much poise. We had some mishaps, but I thought overall we played with a lot of poise and that's how we were able to get the lead and keep it."

Duke was trying everything it could to get out on North Carolina's guards and pressure them, force them into mistakes.

They did that some with freshman point guard Coby White; he finished with nine points on 3 of 14 shooting and six turnovers. Freshman Nassir Little played 11 minutes and had three turnovers.

But it was North Carolina's older players that won the day.

Sophomore Garrison Brooks was fantastic inside, committing just one foul and no turnovers and scoring 14 points.

Beyond that, though? It was senior Luke Maye's 32 points. Williams' defense and his four assists to no turnovers. And graduate transfer Cam Johnson's 26 points on 11 of 17 shooting, all while missing all four 3-pointers that he attempted.

And then when White struggled, it was junior point guard Seventh Woods' comparatively steady hand that righted the ship.

"We've got a bunch of old guys. We've got a bunch of guys that have been there," Williams said. "We've got some big-time players."

Duke's freshmen are still going to get theirs, with or without Zion — R.J. Barrett had 33 points and Cam Reddish had 27 — but they combined for four assists to nine turnovers.

In a way, it had seemed like North Carolina and Duke had flipped traditional roles as of late. Duke was inside-dominated (particularly with Williamson) and North Carolina was the 3-point shooting team.

Williams used to prefer to get the ball inside — particularly when he had players like Tyler Hansbrough and Tyler Zeller on the block — over just jacking up 3-pointers.

That's kind of what he felt like his team was doing in the first half, calling most of their attempts "rushed". At halftime, he told his team as much.

"Coach came in here (at half and said), 'Why are you shooting so many 3s when we're getting everything we want at that basket?' So it was just, get stuff at the basket," Johnson said. "I don't think I shot a 3 in the second half. We didn't shoot many. We just kind of exploited what we were getting in the first half."

This team's strength is its shooting, of course.

But the Tar Heels racked up a whopping 62 points in the paint and hit just 2 of 20 3-point attempts in spite of being a nearly 39 percent shooting team from beyond the arc in ACC play even WITH the 2 of 20 included.

"That's always an emphasis for Coach — always get the ball to the rim," Brooks said. "He doesn't really like 3-point shots, so."

And that's what North Carolina did, getting seemingly anything it wanted around the basket — whether it was getting behind Duke's pressure defense or getting out in transition faster than Duke or getting offensive rebounds.

"At the end of the day, big games like this, we're going to win the way Coach Williams wants to win and that's inside," Williams said.

"We like to beat people up in the paint, get the layups and get them in foul trouble. It definitely was a victory for the old-school win, for the old-school teams," he added.

Johnson's game is an old-school game, too. He's not much of a dunker, although he can. And at 6-9, he's certainly not a post threat per se (he has been the 5-man in UNC's aggressively small lineups). He's known as a 3-point shooter, even though he's more than that.

In this game? He hit a career-high 11 2-point shots, expertly driving and cutting his way to the basket as he read Duke's defense.

At one point, he drew a foul on Jack White and had a rare moment for him — he flexed in celebration.

"The thing that made me do it was I got the layup and then like four Duke fans spewed some ugliness at me," Johnson said. "That's what made me a little ticked off.

"I should've made the free throw. I was a little gassed at that point. I should've made the free throw. I should've took my time and made the free throw."

What did the Duke fans say?

"I don't want to repeat it," Johnson said. "I'll repeat one. They were just like, 'You suck!' And then some curse words."

The way Johnson played would certainly inspire curse words if you are a Duke fan. And if his head coach used them more, he might have a few more times when the Tar Heels were holding on desperately to their double-digit lead.

One of the supposed benefits to having an older team should in theory be that Williams can trust them more. That hasn't always been the case. Williams said after the overtime win over Miami that he was having to call more late-game stuff than he wanted to.

This time, though?

He let the experience take over.

"We can get the ball and we know which plays are good for which guys. He doesn't necessarily have to call it," Williams said. "We can call it."

"There was a couple of plays where (Williams) just wanted to slow things down and get us in a set, but other than that, we were in attack mode," Woods said.

Johnson said assistant coach Hubert Davis had a powerful message to deliver at halftime — ironically, one of Williams' older assistant coaches now after his former ones got other jobs. Davis graduated from North Carolina in 1992 after a successful playing career, but one that ended without a national title.

Players left on the roster have experienced that. But it's bigger than that. Davis wanted to emphasize to his team to cherish the moment. He told them to compete, Johnson said.

"Coach Davis was in here almost in tears talking about how bad he would want to play in this game and how not to take it for granted. That's pretty powerful," Johnson said. "He said he'd do anything to go back out there on the court and play one more time."

Johnson didn't necessarily need the dose of perspective, though. The Pitt transfer has found a home in Chapel Hill, one that suits him nicely, and a newly-healthy body — even if it's a little older than some — is allowing him to have his best season in any uniform.

But he likes the uniform he's in just fine, because he doesn't take moments like playing at Cameron in front of a former president for granted.

And as Duke transitioned between the Croatian national anthem (played to honor senior Antonio Vrankovic) and the US national anthem, Johnson turned to some of his teammates.

"I was like, 'This is the dream right here. We're living the dream, just to be able to play in this game.' It's an honor and it feels great to come out with the win."

So what does an old school win like this inspire an old school player like Johnson — who will turn 23 in a little over a week — to do?

"We'll go home, we'll celebrate this one for a couple hours," Johnson said as the clock neared midnight.

And how might a college student like Johnson celebrate, even if he is on the older side?

"I don't know. I don't know yet," Johnson said, shaking his head. "I'm tired. I'll tell you what — I'm tired. My ankle hurts. I'm tired."