By R.L. Bynum
WASHINGTON — Desperation isn’t an emotion you would expect from a No. 4-ranked team that just won the ACC regular-season championship.
But Seth Trimble, Carolina’s indispensable sixth man, says that is exactly the Tar Heels mindset for March.
“We’re desperate,” Trimble said after playing his typical tough defense while collecting 12 points (tying his career-high), five rebounds and two assists in Thursday’s 92–67 victory over Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at Capital One Arena.
“We haven’t done nothing yet,” he said. “We won the regular season; it’s nice to win the regular season. We won one game in the ACC tournament. But we’re desperate. We want to win the tournament. We want to win the national championship and we know that, in every game, it’s going to take everything. We’re hungry for it. We want to go get it.”
The No. 1 seed Tar Heels (26–6), who face No. 4-seed Pittsburgh (22–10) in a 7 p.m. ACC tournament semifinal, know that everything they’ve accomplished so far will mean little if they don’t maintain the same intensity in every game.
“We know if we get complacent now, it won’t end that well for us the rest of the year,” Trimble said. “We’ve got goals and the coaching staff, they know what it takes. And they preach down on us each and every day, that we have to give a hard fight each and every day.”
Trimble, who eschewed the short afro he sported all season for braids on Thursday, had a highlight-reel dunk in the second half to put an exclamation point on his stellar game.
UNC has turned up the level of its defense a few notches in recent games, with the brand of intensity that the Heels showed during their earlier 10-game win streak. A big reason for that is the play of Trimble on defense.
“My defensive presence definitely allows other guys to be more of themselves,” Trimble said. “Even the energy, even when I’m not having my best defensive game, I can still impact the team.”
When he missed two games with a concussion, the first time he’s ever missed games in his basketball career, his rhythm wasn’t quite the same for a few games. That’s unquestionably back.
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“Since a little drought we had when I was out, even the games that we won, our defensive effort just wasn’t there,” Trimble said. “We’re the defensive team right now that we always aspired to be. That first half, after those first six minutes, I think that was one of our best defensive performances of the season.”
UNC coach Hubert Davis said that Trimble’s play in the last four games is back to what he saw before the guard’s concussion.
“He’s attacking the basket and using his athleticism to be able to finish defensively because of his ability to be able to eat up the ball,” Davis said. “I thought that was really impactful and huge for us.”
It’s bound to leave Carolina’s opponents desperate.
ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo courtesy of the ACC
