Jae’Lyn Withers’ solid late season play was overshadowed by one costly mistake in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
I still think about the ending of Friday night’s UNC-Duke ACC Tournament Semifinal matchup, but most of my focus is now on Selection Sunday.
The North Carolina Tar Heels were in desperate need of another signature win to boost their NCAA Tournament chances, with the top-seeded Blue Devils providing a chance for that scenario. UNC staged a massive comeback from 20+ down, but a missed free throw and unfortunate blunder halted those chances, with a 74-71 loss resulting.
With four seconds remaining in the second half Friday night, Ven-Allen Lubin backed down Duke center Khaman Maluach and drew the foul. Lubin missed his first free throw, then Jae’Lyn Withers committed a lane violation on Lubin’s second attempt.
Withers played some great basketball in helping anchor North Carolina’s late-season turnaround, including seven made 3-pointers in a 76-56 win over Notre Dame earlier in the ACC Tournament, so please don’t go blaming Withers for Friday’s loss.
Legendary Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is one of many who feels for Withers after his costly mistake, but as 247Sports’ Cody Nagel pointed out, Boeheim also highlighted how it was a momentum-buster for the Tar Heels.
“He’s gonna have to live with that — nobody’s gonna wanna live with that,” Boeheim said after UNC’s ACC Tournament Semifinals loss. “It’s an effort mistake. You can say that, but in that situation, it’s just one you can’t make. And it cost Carolina an awful lot. They dominated the last 10 minutes. Duke hung in there. Duke had control of the game until 7-8 minutes to go. Then, Carolina just kept going, kept going, kept going. It was a great effort spoiled by just a mental mistake.”
I hope Withers gets another chance to redeem himself and end his UNC career on a high note. Even if North Carolina doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament, there’s a chance at playing in the NIT, but head coach Hubert Davis could turn down that invitation again.
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