Coach Roy Williams put on his Carolina blue tie last night, and Marcus Ginyard finally took his off.
The sartorial formula eventually worked. The Tar Heels restored a semblance of balance to their basketball operation after halftime and beat Virginia Tech 78-64 in the ACC opener for both teams.
For three long games, Ginyard wore an immaculate suit and looked like yet another assistant coach. His sprained right ankle hurt something awful, and the emptiness in Ginyard's stomach reminded him of last season's agony.
Although Carolina won the national championship, senior Ginyard sometimes felt uncomfortably detached. He rested a fractured foot when he preferred breaking the will of opposing shooters.
He got another chance, another season full of raw Carolina potential ... if only someone could give a young team instant maturity and constant passion. Ginyard fit the profile, but bothersome ankle problems kept getting in the way.
He watched, and sometimes he winced. At Charleston last Monday, for instance, the Tar Heels blew an 11-point lead in the last five minutes and lost to a rather ordinary Southern Conference contender.
Ginyard dwelled on what he saw as the missing basketball elements, not his frustrating shelf life.
"It's not going to do much for me to be thinking about how it feels to be sitting down, so I'm just trying to focus on getting back to help my teammates," he said. "You can only talk so long about being the aggressor out there, playing with more energy and playing with more urgency. It's one of those things that's tough to coach and it's tough to beat yourself over the head with. At some point, you've just got to start doing it."
Williams, finally far enough along after shoulder surgery to take off his sling and put a knot in his necktie, doubted that Ginyard would return for Virginia Tech until Saturday.
Ginyard knew he wouldn't start but wanted to play. He finally got off the bench 6½ minutes into the game, drawing polite, though muted, applause from an audience taken aback by the Hokies' assertiveness and Carolina's passivity.
Right away, Ginyard threw a pass to the left wing, but no one was there other than Seth Greenberg, the restless Virginia Tech coach. Ginyard started breathing heavily within two minutes. Later, positioned in front of the Tech bench, Ginyard launched a 3-pointer late in the shot clock. The ball traveled a few inches before a Hokie swatted it into the seats.
"I was hoping that I could get my legs back under me again and be able to stay out there longer than four minutes without feeling I was going to die," Ginyard said.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney was killing the Tar Heels. He scored 20 first-half points, eight from the foul line, and the Hokies took a four-point lead into the locker room. When the teams returned, Ginyard got a second wind and revived his defensive prowess against Delaney.
Pretty soon, Delaney showed signs of tiring. He had missed the previous two games with a sprained ankle. Delaney made one field goal and scored six points in the second half.
When it ended, Ginyard's line looked quite tame compared to Will Graves, Ed Davis and Larry Drew. Ginyard had two points, two rebounds and three turnovers in 20 minutes, but he made a difference by helping resuscitate a nearly lifeless team.
"I've got to work back into the lineup," Ginyard said. "It's like the beginning of the season. I've just got to start over again."
He smiled. Starting over sounds like more fun that dressing up for nothing.
lrawlings@wsjournal.com
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement