The one thing to love about UNC is Coach Williams’ ability to build up his players and have them shine when it counts. Players like sophomore, Luke Maye, are what makes college basketball great. He isn’t a McDonald’s All American or a player with heavy recruitment, but he was Tar Heel born, and for UNC basketball team and Coach Roy Williams, that weighs a hell of a lot more. Maye was born seeing Carolina Blue. His father and mother both attended the school with his father being a star quarterback in the eighties, so winning at UNC was born into him.
After his stellar performance in the Sweet Sixteen and a 90-82 win against Butler, Luke Maye couldn’t contain his smile. Maye was seen grinning hard all throughout his performance, knowing he’s finally made his staple as a Tar Heel. His teammates embarrassed him with loud cheers as reporters surrounded him post game as he enjoyed a milkshake (with no ketchup, apparently the one thing he doesn’t add that condiment to). Teammate, Kennedy Meeks, screams across the room “16 and 12?! Sheesh” with his blushing coming through harder than before.
His newfound fame is not surprising to his teammates or Coach Williams, it’s the world that’s finally seeing what they see all the time in practice. Maye’s hard work is something to be echoed by all college basketball players. He’s a student athlete that had to work hard for his scholarship despite influential parents; a kid who had to pay for his first year at UNC until Williams could surprise him with a $25k scholarship.
“I called Luke one night and said I want you to go in and ask your mom and dad if you can have just a thousand dollars to go to the beach and blow it this weekend. He said, Coach, I don’t know if I can do that. And I said, well tell them that I just called you and gave you $25,000 scholarship for the next year so at least they ought to be able to give you a thousand to blow. But he had some fun with it.”
Luke Maye’s stats for the night were something even he couldn’t help but by surprised with. The UNC bigs started early with foul trouble allowing room for Maye to succeed. Eight minutes into the game, Maye was already at 14 points. The first half was legendary for the Tar Heel as he surpassed his previous career high in both points (13) and rebounds (12), and its also to be noted, his first career double-double.
While it took hard work to earn his spot on the team, Maye doesn’t take anything for granted and uses every opportunity to work on his craft and become the player this team needs.
“You know, he’s prepared. Last year he sat in my office and told me he was going to work harder than anybody on the team in the off-season.” Williams says, “Well, that’s the way it is with Luke. He works exceptionally hard. He’s a good shooter. He has good savvy.”
Luckily for Coach Williams, Maye is only in his sophomore year and it can only go up from here.
“He’s got a big role with our team, and I think it’ll just get bigger and bigger over his career.”
