North Carolina suffered its first loss of the season against Kansas, the No. 1 team in the nation, yesterday. Though the game ended 92-89, the halftime deficit that UNC faced was a much larger gap.
The first half was all Kansas, as it took a 15-point lead into the halftime break. Right before the half, James Brown made a put-back layup at the buzzer that gave UNC 38 points.
Brown immediately sprinted to the locker room upon making the basket. He didn’t even stick around to see if it counted.
What happened next was inspiring to multiple players. The energy that Brown brought to the halftime locker room was echoed among several players as the drive that sparked the second half fight.
According to Inside Carolina, Seth Trimble put it this way.
He came into the game and made a really big play at the end of the (half). So his emotions were fired up, and he was ready to go. I don’t think we were at the level of his emotions, and he realized that. And he snapped, he snapped. And we absolutely needed that, so I loved that he did that. Everything that he covered, he was absolutely right.
Trimble wasn’t the only player that thought Brown led the intensity that was seen among players like RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, and Ven-Allen Lubin.
Jae’Lyn Withers had this to say about the freshman.
We decided that we weren’t going to keep taking punches. We were going to punch back. I would say it initially started with one of our freshmen, James Brown. He came in with a lot of intensity (at halftime), saying that they hadn’t worked as hard as us. Just trying to get us going, saying different things. And when Hubert Davis came in, he matched his energy and we fed off of that.
Ultimately, North Carolina didn’t come home with a win. But what they did come home with is proof that they with fight no matter the deficit and that they can play with any team in the country in any venue in the country.
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