Without Lawson, Heels find their way

ATLANTA—Roy Williams learned a lot of basketball in 10 seasons as assistant to legendary Dean Smith.
One of those lessons has come into play during this week’s ACC Tournament, in which top-seeded North Carolina is playing without its starting point guard and ACC Player of the Year, Ty Lawson.
Smith once told Williams that usually in the first game without a player like Lawson, things will be fine because teammates will rally around the substitute — in this case, Bobby Frasor — and lift him up. It’s in the games that follow a coach must be concerned.
When the Tar Heels checked out the chalkboard in their lockerroom before the game, there were a few messages, all keys to the game.
The one that stood out was third on that list: “Find a way to win.”
That’s exactly what the Tar Heels did in Friday’s
79-76 ACC Tournament quarterfinals win over upset-minded Virginia Tech. They found a way and Frasor was a big part of it all.
A steady substitute
When Lawson sprained his big toe earlier in the week and appeared unable to answer the bell for Friday’s quarterfinals matchup with hungry Virginia Tech, Frasor, a seasoned senior, was ready to step in. For the first time in ACC Tournament history, the league’s player of the year didn’t play.
Frasor, however, isn’t your average understudy.
“This was great,” Frasor said after UNC fought off the Hokies’ upset bid. “It brought back memories of my freshman year when I started the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.”
That was when Frasor started all 31 games for the Tar Heels that season. That was also before Lawson came to town.
A job well done
To his credit, Frasor was intelligent in his approach to the whole thing. Clint Eastwood’s character Harry Callahan once said: “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
That would be Frasor heading into this tournament.
“No one is going to be able to fill Ty’s shoes,” Frasor said. “He’s the ACC Player of the Year,
All-American guard and gets us so many easy plays. No one can duplicate that. I just wanted to come in with a steady hand, not turn the ball over and get guys the ball. I’m surrounded by scorers, so I don’t need to be putting up a lot of shots or doing things like that. I thought I did a decent job of that.”
The backup Carolina point guard nearly went the distance, playing a career-high 37 minutes with three assists and most importantly, only one turnover.
He scored but four points, but anything more would have been outside his role.
“I was proud of Bobby and Larry [Drew III],” Williams said after the win. “It was an ugly game, but I am real proud of the guys for winning ugly.”
The varying degrees of ugly depended upon your perspective. From Virginia Tech’s angle, it was more than ugly. The Hokies were victims of several controversial calls, particularly down the home stretch that left Tech head coach Seth Greenberg frustrated after the game.
Still, if Frasor had come into the game and played outside himself, tried to emulate Lawson’s style or forced shots, or turned the ball over, things could have gone vastly different.
The Hokies were knocking on the upset door and if not for All-American Tyler Hansbrough’s stellar play and a couple of suspect calls, Carolina could be watching today’s semifinals on TV back in Chapel Hill.
Lawson’s a greyhound. Frasor’s not. So, the fastbreak element of Carolina’s offensive attack was shelved for much of the day as the Tar Heels grinded it out over a determined Hokies’ squad.
Williams likes the racehorse tempo, scores in the 80’s, 90’s and higher. On this day, ugly would do just fine.
So, when it came down to white knuckles time, it was no surprise that Hansbrough was the guy who made the difference.
The UNC star scored his team’s final six points, tied up Tech’s J.T. Thompson for a crucial jump ball that gave possession to the Tar Heels, and then came out to challenge A.D. Vassallo’s desperate 3-pointer that missed at the buzzer.
Hansbrough, who finished with a game-high 28 points, was extremely emotional after the tie-up with Thompson, chest-bumping teammates, pumping his fist. He was so excited after the game, that he ran down the wrong tunnel in the cavernous Georgia Dome.
“Everybody was laughing about that,” Hansbrough said in the Carolina locker room after the game. “But I came back out and I saw some of my friends on the front row laughing.”
Hansbrough was proud of what Frasor contributed on a day when they needed him most.
“Bobby does some dirty work for us,” Hansbrough said. “He gets some loose balls, he gets some offensive rebounds. We know that’s his style. He really helps us.”
It’s not like Frasor is chopped liver. As Greenberg said, “[Carolina] took a Player of the Year out and put a McDonald’s All-American in. It’s pretty good to have that luxury.”
Especially when the Tar Heels, who started the season as perhaps the deepest, most talented team in America, have been reduced to what Williams described as the thinnest team he’s ever coached.
Coach Smith’s warning lingers for the remaining Carolina games in this tournament as Lawson is unlikely to suit up. Will Frasor hold up under the pressure and can his teammates continue to rally around him?
It won’t take Florida State long to figure that out this afternoon.