North Carolina Tar Heels: Starting to Defy Description
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” – Isaac Newton, letter to Robert Hooke (1675)
Declaring a particular player as the hero of this game misses the point of the game as a whole. Pinson’s rebound and dribbling out of the clock were only made possible by the performances of two Tar Heels, on which the entirety of the game rested.
The first was Justin Jackson. The steady hand all season, Jackson scored twenty-two points. They were perhaps his most important points of the season. The Oregon matchup zone paid particular attention to Jackson and he was unable to find space early on.
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However, Oregon had to adjust to the rising threat of Kennedy Meeks. Jackson found some holes to work in and also used space created in transition to hit big shots. Jackson made all six of his free throws (which turned out to be an anomaly).
Even Jackson wasn’t flawless. Against the press late, Jackson threw a ball over Berry’s head and out of bounds to put the game into a one possession hectic affair.
The second player was Meeks. Meeks found himself in a paint where he had no match on the other side. Once he learned to look off the high flying Jordan Bell, he collected short shot after short shot. The Oregon defense depended on shot blocking, so Meeks was often there to clean up rebounds into easy points.
Meeks had begun to establish himself in the first half, but was pulled off the court for jawing with one of the Oregon players. That brief time allowed Oregon to take control of the game until he returned. He did continue his good play inside until he had twenty-five points. His biggest play came at the end, but more on that later.