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Taking Over: Teague puts Deacons on his back
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
L.D. Williams celebrates with the Wake Forest fans.
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Published: January 12, 2009
As Jeff Teague greeted lingering fans in the bowels of Joel Coliseum late last night, he tentatively extended the right hand that burned North Carolina for 34 points.
Nobody noticed any smoke, which was a bigger upset than Wake Forest's 92-89 victory.
The long line of back slappers might have taken Teague aback, but the Tar Heels seldom impeded his star-of-stars processional. He hit 9 of 17 shots, 3 of 4 3-pointers and 13 of 15 free throws. He wiped out a succession of step-slow Carolina defenders, snagged six rebounds and delivered four assists.
The season lasts from October to April, of course, but if the voting deadline for player of the year had fallen last night, Teague would have trounced defending champ Tyler Hansbrough (11 rebounds, 17 points on 3-for-12 shooting).
In frenzied celebration, the record Joel Coliseum crowd of 14,714 knew it. Perhaps Danny Ferry and all those other visiting NBA scouts knew it. Roy Williams resisted an urge to avoid singling out Teague, then relented.
"I told Jeff Teague that was about as good a performance as I've seen in a long time against a team that I've coached," Williams said. "I thought he was sensational."
So did senior teammate Harvey Hale.
"He grabs the game in his hand and says, ‘I'm going to take over,'" Hale said. "Whenever we need a big bucket, we go to Teague and he produces. Whenever we want Teague to come through, he comes through. He's an amazing player. I feel like he knows that NBA scouts and nobody ever talks about him. He knows, and he feels like he doesn't get any notoriety. He's our go-to player. When we need a bucket, we go to Jeff Teague."
Hale sensed that Teague would explode the moment he hit his first 3-pointer barely two minutes into the game. Hale's reasoning: If defenders feel compelled to defend the long jumper, there's no way they can stop Teague's drives.
Ty Lawson tried. Danny Green tried. Larry Drew tried. They all failed, along with the reachers and grabbers and air swatters who formed Carolina's second wave.
Coach Dino Gaudio, the architect, concluded weeks ago that Ish Smith's foot injury accelerated sophomore Teague's leadership spurt and pulled him out of a naturally quiet corner. As the dominant point guard during Smith's rehab, Teague had the ball and the role.
"He has a bigger responsibility to our team with his voice and his pronouncements," Gaudio said.
Wake Forest's compelling win will change quite a few pronouncements about ACC basketball. The Deacons (14-0) remain one of America's three undefeated teams, along with Pitt and Clemson. They deserve contender status nationally and in the league.
Carolina, the ACC's unanimous preseason pick, the team deemed capable of perfection only 10 days ago, sank to the bottom after two consecutive conference losses. The Tar Heels will recover most of those steps on the ladder, but they will not regain that unearned aura of invincibility. They aren't invincible, nor do they show many signs of heading in that general direction.
Chas McFarland, the 7-0 Wake Forest junior, outscored Hansbrough 20-17 and nearly matched him on the boards (9-11). McFarland even flashed a faster 360-degree spin.
Hansbrough averages 22.4 points, about the same as last year, but he isn't the same player during this stage of recovery from a stress reaction in his right shin. Hansbrough isn't in top condition yet. He isn't jumping as high, and he certainly isn't jamming home tough baskets after contact.
Carolina's defense isn't the same, either. One reason: Marcus Ginyard wore a gray suit on the bench last night rather than draping himself on a Wake Forest scorer.
But it goes beyond that. Deon Thompson (8 points on 3-for-13 shooting) came up small again last night, strengthening his campaign for the Brendan Haywood Award as overrated insider. The Tar Heels aren't doing what Williams tells them on defense or in other ways.
He was visibly distressed when Lawson couldn't make inbounds passes and wasted two timeouts that might have improved the desperate comeback at game's end. Williams complained loudly about his guys blowing a two-on-one break because they opted for a showtime lob that failed.
"I'm still trying to look at the big picture and trying to get better," Williams said.
Gaudio takes the same approach. As he left the locker room last night, Gaudio asked an assistant about the Boston College stats, getting ready for the Wednesday night game.
The preparation can never start too soon. Hale recalled a 28-point loss at Carolina, after which the late Skip Prosser told his players to remember what happened and make amends.
They did so last night, with Gaudio calling the shots and appreciating the vast defensive growth.
"I loved Skip Prosser," Williams said. "I loved him to death. He was one of the nicest guys I've ever been around. This is Dino's club right now, and he needs to be congratulated for the way he handled one of the most tragic situations I've ever seen in my life. He also needs to be congratulated because he's coached his rear end off here the last couple of years."
Gaudio accepted the congratulations and headed home for a pizza party, followed by Boston College videotape. The road goes on.
■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.
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