Seth Trimble needed to clear the air.
“I’mma say this now,” the senior guard said with a grin as reporters gathered around him after No. 12 North Carolina’s 71-70 win over Ohio State. “This was a pass. I didn’t just throw the ball down.”
Trimble was talking, of course, about UNC’s final possession, when his drive into the lane ended with a stumble, a loss of balance and, ultimately, the most important assist of the afternoon (although it looked like a turnover in real time). As he spun toward the basket with the Tar Heels trailing by one, Trimble looked to shoot but lost his footing “right away.” Falling forward, he said he saw Henri Veesaar’s feet and shoveled the ball into the lane, where Veesaar slipped past his defender and rose for a two-handed dunk with seven seconds remaining.
“Yeah, I can’t wear them shoes again … but luckily, Henri was right next to me,” Trimble said. “Thank God for Henri right there.”
Trimble could nitpick the footwear — but little else about his performance Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
The senior guard returned to action without missing a beat, immediately restoring elements North Carolina couldn’t replicate during his nine-game absence after breaking a bone in his left forearm. Trimble said he was deliberate in his recovery process, wanting to “really make sure” he was fully ready before returning.
Trimble steady down the stretch
Trimble scored 17 points in a team-high 36 minutes, pushed the tempo, defended Ohio State star Bruce Thornton and — fittingly — had the ball in his hands when the game tilted late in the Buckeyes’ favor.
After leading by as many as 11 midway through the second half, North Carolina watched Ohio State claw back behind free throws and points off turnovers. The Buckeyes, a top-20 team nationally at the line, took a 70-67 lead on a four-point play with 48 seconds remaining.
Ohio State guard John Mobley Jr. drilled a 26-foot 3-pointer on the play and drew a foul on Caleb Wilson. The freshman threw his hands to his head in disbelief. But Trimble stayed cool, answering with a driving layup 14 seconds later to pull North Carolina within one.
Out of a timeout, Hubert Davis went to a full-court trap — aggressive, decisive and entirely in character for a team that trusts its defense with all its pieces in place. Davis rolled out a lineup that included Jonathan Powell and Jarin Stevenson off the bench, putting three of the Tar Heels’ best defenders on the floor — just one example of the flexibility Trimble’s return provides. “Being able to sub different people in and still have good chemistry, still be able to communicate and make plays — there’s a lot of people on this team that can contribute,” said Stevenson, whose athleticism and versatility showed up time and time again Saturday.
Facing the trap, Ohio State inbounded the ball exactly where UNC wanted it, to 7-foot center Christoph Tilly. The possession never looked comfortable.
“They were told to aggressively try to steal in the backcourt,” Davis said, “and if they don’t get it, and [Ohio State] gets it to the frontcourt, we were going to have to foul. … one of the many hard things with Ohio State is they’re a great free-throw shooting team, so it wasn’t a great choice.”
Luckily for the Tar Heels, they didn’t have to choose. Ohio State heaved an awkward pass across midcourt and watched Stevenson step into the lane and steal it cleanly. That steal set up North Carolina’s final timeout with 18 seconds remaining and a chance to win the game outright. Davis put the ball back in Trimble’s hands.
“In that situation, Seth’s ability to be able to create a shot for himself, for others, is the best on the team,” Davis said. “From the perimeter, we put the ball in his hands and kind of cleared out that side. [Ohio State] did a good job defensively, but he was able to find Henri around the basket and be able to score.”
Veesaar finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and added a career-high five assists. Wilson was steady again, shaking off a quiet first half in his hometown to score 16 points after intermission. He finished with 20 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for his eighth double-double in 12 college games.
“I’m glad we got a win, and I’m glad we got Seth back,” Wilson said after the game. “I feel like we’re a much better team.”
Beyond the box score
Trimble’s box score stats were strong — 17 points, three assists, three 3-pointers — but his imprint, as it usually does, went well beyond numbers. His first six points came in transition, a reminder of how much North Carolina’s offense changes with Trimble on the floor. After recording four fast-break points over UNC’s last two games, the Tar Heels earned 10 transition points Saturday.
So what is it about Trimble that speeds up North Carolina’s ability in transition?
“He runs faster,” Davis said. “Just the way that he gets out on the break — he can get a defensive stop, he can get a rebound, and within three or four steps, he’s across half-court, and he’s gone. Having one person pulls everybody along, and then when they see Seth get those pitch-ahead layups, everybody wants to score. So then they start running. It’s contagious, and it’s nice to see that back in our offense today.”
Trimble’s defense also garnered praise from his head coach — and for good reason.
Thornton came into the game hitting over 60% from the field. On Saturday, he finished 7-of-16 shooting and 0 for 4 from three. He never touched the ball on Ohio State’s final possession after inbounding it. “There was really only one guy on our team that had any chance of getting a stop on Bruce Thornton,” Davis said, “and that was Seth.”
Trimble admitted his return came with uncertainty. He described the last month as “stressful” — particularly the uncertainty as he waited on medical clearance from multiple fronts. But Trimble also learned “so much” from sitting on the sidelines, giving him ample time to analyze the team in his absence.
“I think that there was a little bit of lack of physicality, intensity on the defensive end,” Trimble said. “And I feel like that’s what I’ve always been able to bring. It was a shock. Guys didn’t expect me to go out how I went out, so that intensity just wasn’t there. Guys didn’t know where it was coming from. So me just being back and being able to bring that intensity and physicality is huge.”
North Carolina nears the holiday break in a far different position than it occupied a year ago at this time. The Tar Heels are now 11-1, riding a five-game winning streak. This one ended with Trimble on the court, in uniform, chest-bumping teammates and pointing emphatically to the hardwood. And for North Carolina, that might be the biggest win of all.
It turns out the missing piece didn’t need much time to remind everyone what the Tar Heels look like when they’re whole.
He just needed to clarify one thing: It was a pass.
