The UNC basketball program came out of Tuesday night’s game against Boston College with a win but it wasn’t a pretty or super efficient night. But, when it was needed most, the Tar Heels’ stars took over.
After missing four games, UNC forward Pete Nance returned to the lineup, giving the Tar Heels more firepower on both sides of the ball. But, it was still a sometimes sluggish performance in spurts.
Then, it was Caleb Love who stepped up and made big plays when it counted. Not necessarily with his shot, but on the defensive end of the floor… that eventually translated into offense.
“I thought what gave us life was his defensive charge. That’s what I thought gave us life,” Head coach Hubert Davis said postgame. “One of the things that I’ve said a number of times is Caleb is a basketball player and all of our guys are. You can make an impact in many different areas. It’s not just scoring and shooting. It’s distributing. It’s playing defense. It’s rebounding. It’s team chemistry, energy and effort, enthusiasm.”
Love had just four points on 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-4 from three in 18 first half minutes. That was coming off of a 3-of-14 performance against Louisville in which he went 0-of-7 from three, a 4-of-13 shooting night against Virginia and 3-of-15 night a few games ago against Wake Forest.
While Love’s best attribute is shooting the ball and the streakiness that comes with him, his ability to impact the game in other areas has been the message to the All-ACC guard.
“When I struggled to shoot the ball, I thought more about let me get some extra rebounds. Let me make some more hustle plays to take my mind off of ‘I’ve got the ball, I’ve got to make this shot.’,” Davis added. “It just puts you in a position to get out of whatever lack of rhythm that you have on the shooting. I just told him that I’m proud of him and just continue to play and so we had that discussion yesterday.”
“I am trusting my work,” Love said postgame. “I have made a lot of shots over my career. Not only here but over my whole life. I have been doing this my whole life. Me missing shots is not a thing where I can put my head down and give up. There is a lot of season left and I am a basketball player. I let the game come to me. Doing other things on the floor to spark my energy, that’s what I try and do.”
Letting the game come to him and ‘trusting’ his work resulting in a significant step up in production…
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