LUCAS: BEJEEBIES...
Saturday's 74-58 beatdown of Virginia had finished approximately 20 minutes earlier, and Hubert Davis was just getting his first look at the final box score.
"WHAT?" he exclaimed. "Mando had 29 and 22? 29 points and 22 rebounds?"
Everyone in the room agreed that, indeed, Armando Bacot had posted 29 points and 22 rebounds.
"WHAT?" Davis asked again. "29 and 22?"
And then he described the Bacot performance as only Hubert Davis ever could. This is the Hubert Davis who somehow managed to play for the Charles Oakley-era New York Knicks without cursing, who cursed once in his Carolina assistant coaching career and followed it by apologizing to the entire team, who has pledged not to curse—and has made it, so far, this season—as a head coach because that is what Dean Smith did for him.
So this is what Davis said about Armando Bacot as the head coach looked up from the box score, an expression of disbelief on his face:
"Bejeebies!"
I don't exactly know what that means, but I'm guessing it means Bacot was dominant. Consider that the Tar Heels have played in the Smith Center since 1986 and Bacot is the second Tar Heel ever to get at least 20 rebounds in a game. Current assistant coach Sean May is the other. That means that Brice Johnson didn't do it. Tyler Hansbrough didn't do it. Antawn Jamison didn't do it.
Just May and Bacot, with Bacot's performance being just what the Tar Heels needed to out-tough a Virginia team that has tortured them in recent seasons. The most indicative play of the afternoon came with 13:08 left in the second half, when Bacot was banging with Cavalier forward Kadin Shedrick in the post. The collision ended with Shedrick on the ground and Bacot scoring two more points, running easily back down the court as though he was unaware of any contact.
"We were playing Carolina basketball," Bacot said. "After the game on Wednesday, we were upset. We wanted to give the fans that Carolina feeling, something from the Coach Williams era or the Coach Smith era. That's what we wanted to do, and that's what it was."
Playing Carolina basketball means 19 assists on 28 field goals, the perfect example being Brady Manek's quintessentially unselfish behind-the-head feed to Bacot for a fast break dunk. It also means relentlessly pounding the ball inside, even against a Cavalier squad that has traditionally made life difficult in the paint by doubling the post.
Bacot was too strong for them on Saturday. In one comical exchange midway through the second half, Virginia's Francisco Caffaro bumped with Bacot in the post and then scored over him. Caffaro followed the play by turning and woofing at Bacot.
At that juncture of the game, Caffaro had two points and zero rebounds, the exact stat line with which he would finish. Bacot had 23 and 17. Carolina led by 17 points.
What made the performance so special was that the Tar Heel big man never seemed satisfied. Bacot had said he was "embarrassed" after Wednesday's loss to Notre Dame. He did more than just talk about it. He went out and forced the Tar Heels to play better through sheer force of will. He had 12 points and eight rebounds at halftime, very close to his typical double-double production. He then proceeded to get even better in the second half.
"You know how Coach May is," Bacot said. "He's very competitive. So he kept telling me during the game that I needed to keep going."
And indeed, there was Sean May, he of the heroic 26 points and 24 rebounds in the regular season finale against Duke in 2005, exhorting Bacot in every timeout.
"You've got a chance to do something special!" May told his pupil. "Go grab every rebound!"
And he very nearly did. Carolina recovered 21 rebounds in the second half; Bacot had 14 of them. Of the Tar Heels' seven offensive rebounds in the second half, Bacot grabbed six. If you take only the statistics Bacot created for himself, he still very nearly had a double-double—he finished with nine offensive rebounds and ten points solely off those offensive boards. That means even if no Tar Heel had ever passed Bacot the ball in his 38 minutes, he'd still have recorded a near-double double.
Bacot has shown an interest in Carolina basketball history during his career. Before Christmas, he did some research on the single-game Tar Heel scoring record (it's Bob Lewis with 49 in 1965). After Saturday's game, he asked about the single-game rebound record. Told that it's Rusty Clark with 30 in 1968, Bacot raised an eyebrow.
"Thirty?" he said with an impressed raise of his eyebrows. "That's going to be pretty hard. I'll try to get it, but I can't guarantee it."
And if he does?
Well, there would only be one way to describe that:
Bejeebies.
Saturday's 74-58 beatdown of Virginia had finished approximately 20 minutes earlier, and Hubert Davis was just getting his first look at the final box score.
"WHAT?" he exclaimed. "Mando had 29 and 22? 29 points and 22 rebounds?"
Everyone in the room agreed that, indeed, Armando Bacot had posted 29 points and 22 rebounds.
"WHAT?" Davis asked again. "29 and 22?"
And then he described the Bacot performance as only Hubert Davis ever could. This is the Hubert Davis who somehow managed to play for the Charles Oakley-era New York Knicks without cursing, who cursed once in his Carolina assistant coaching career and followed it by apologizing to the entire team, who has pledged not to curse—and has made it, so far, this season—as a head coach because that is what Dean Smith did for him.
So this is what Davis said about Armando Bacot as the head coach looked up from the box score, an expression of disbelief on his face:
"Bejeebies!"
I don't exactly know what that means, but I'm guessing it means Bacot was dominant. Consider that the Tar Heels have played in the Smith Center since 1986 and Bacot is the second Tar Heel ever to get at least 20 rebounds in a game. Current assistant coach Sean May is the other. That means that Brice Johnson didn't do it. Tyler Hansbrough didn't do it. Antawn Jamison didn't do it.
Just May and Bacot, with Bacot's performance being just what the Tar Heels needed to out-tough a Virginia team that has tortured them in recent seasons. The most indicative play of the afternoon came with 13:08 left in the second half, when Bacot was banging with Cavalier forward Kadin Shedrick in the post. The collision ended with Shedrick on the ground and Bacot scoring two more points, running easily back down the court as though he was unaware of any contact.
"We were playing Carolina basketball," Bacot said. "After the game on Wednesday, we were upset. We wanted to give the fans that Carolina feeling, something from the Coach Williams era or the Coach Smith era. That's what we wanted to do, and that's what it was."
Playing Carolina basketball means 19 assists on 28 field goals, the perfect example being Brady Manek's quintessentially unselfish behind-the-head feed to Bacot for a fast break dunk. It also means relentlessly pounding the ball inside, even against a Cavalier squad that has traditionally made life difficult in the paint by doubling the post.
Bacot was too strong for them on Saturday. In one comical exchange midway through the second half, Virginia's Francisco Caffaro bumped with Bacot in the post and then scored over him. Caffaro followed the play by turning and woofing at Bacot.
At that juncture of the game, Caffaro had two points and zero rebounds, the exact stat line with which he would finish. Bacot had 23 and 17. Carolina led by 17 points.
What made the performance so special was that the Tar Heel big man never seemed satisfied. Bacot had said he was "embarrassed" after Wednesday's loss to Notre Dame. He did more than just talk about it. He went out and forced the Tar Heels to play better through sheer force of will. He had 12 points and eight rebounds at halftime, very close to his typical double-double production. He then proceeded to get even better in the second half.
"You know how Coach May is," Bacot said. "He's very competitive. So he kept telling me during the game that I needed to keep going."
And indeed, there was Sean May, he of the heroic 26 points and 24 rebounds in the regular season finale against Duke in 2005, exhorting Bacot in every timeout.
"You've got a chance to do something special!" May told his pupil. "Go grab every rebound!"
And he very nearly did. Carolina recovered 21 rebounds in the second half; Bacot had 14 of them. Of the Tar Heels' seven offensive rebounds in the second half, Bacot grabbed six. If you take only the statistics Bacot created for himself, he still very nearly had a double-double—he finished with nine offensive rebounds and ten points solely off those offensive boards. That means even if no Tar Heel had ever passed Bacot the ball in his 38 minutes, he'd still have recorded a near-double double.
Bacot has shown an interest in Carolina basketball history during his career. Before Christmas, he did some research on the single-game Tar Heel scoring record (it's Bob Lewis with 49 in 1965). After Saturday's game, he asked about the single-game rebound record. Told that it's Rusty Clark with 30 in 1968, Bacot raised an eyebrow.
"Thirty?" he said with an impressed raise of his eyebrows. "That's going to be pretty hard. I'll try to get it, but I can't guarantee it."
And if he does?
Well, there would only be one way to describe that:
Bejeebies.
