http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=211171726
By Adam Lucas
A member of the Carolina basketball staff was walking through the Smith Center this summer during the break between the final session of summer school and the start of classes. He heard the bouncing of a basketball in the practice gym and found a single player inside, working on his game.
“Isaiah,” he asked, “what are you doing here?”
It’s not that senior Isaiah Hicks isn’t a hard worker. It’s that for his first three years as a Tar Heel, he took any possible opportunity to make the 35-minute drive to his home in Oxford to see his family. “Everybody used to give me a hard time about going home so much,” he says with a grin. “If there was a chance to go home on a Wednesday for a few hours, I would go home.”
This year, though, he stayed in Chapel Hill throughout the summer. Why the change?
“I knew if I went home, it wouldn’t be as intense working out as it would be here with Jonas (Sahratian), especially in the weight room,” Hicks says. “I wanted to maintain what I had done all summer until the school year started.”
Spoken like someone who realizes this is his last chance at college basketball. Hicks had a breakout junior campaign, averaging 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He appeared to gain confidence as the year progressed, and his numbers (9.2 and 5.1) were even better in conference games. He posted a double-double against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament semifinals, his first such career performance.
There’s very little doubt that when Hicks is on the floor, he can be productive at the highest level. So the question becomes—how much can he stay on the floor?
By Adam Lucas
A member of the Carolina basketball staff was walking through the Smith Center this summer during the break between the final session of summer school and the start of classes. He heard the bouncing of a basketball in the practice gym and found a single player inside, working on his game.
“Isaiah,” he asked, “what are you doing here?”
It’s not that senior Isaiah Hicks isn’t a hard worker. It’s that for his first three years as a Tar Heel, he took any possible opportunity to make the 35-minute drive to his home in Oxford to see his family. “Everybody used to give me a hard time about going home so much,” he says with a grin. “If there was a chance to go home on a Wednesday for a few hours, I would go home.”
This year, though, he stayed in Chapel Hill throughout the summer. Why the change?
“I knew if I went home, it wouldn’t be as intense working out as it would be here with Jonas (Sahratian), especially in the weight room,” Hicks says. “I wanted to maintain what I had done all summer until the school year started.”
Spoken like someone who realizes this is his last chance at college basketball. Hicks had a breakout junior campaign, averaging 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He appeared to gain confidence as the year progressed, and his numbers (9.2 and 5.1) were even better in conference games. He posted a double-double against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament semifinals, his first such career performance.
There’s very little doubt that when Hicks is on the floor, he can be productive at the highest level. So the question becomes—how much can he stay on the floor?
