Luke Maye is more than just a folk hero for surging Tar Heels

With 5:03 to go in the North Carolina men’s basketball team’s Elite Eight win over Kentucky on Sunday, head coach Roy Williams made a decision that bore a legend.

The Wildcats had just taken a five-point lead thanks to a 10-2 run, and the Kentucky faithful were jumping out of their seats. Uncharacteristically, Williams called a timeout. And perhaps even more so, he subbed out Isaiah Hicks — a senior — for the hot hand of sophomore Luke Maye.

Five minutes and two seconds later, he found himself open from 18 feet, the game on the line and the Tar Heels’ season up in the air.

And, as they say, the rest is history.

Back in November, if you were to tell anyone close to the team that Maye would be a go-to player in the NCAA Tournament — much less the Elite Eight — you would have been laughed out of the room. But now the hotshot from Huntersville has penetrated the collective conscience of America. He’s trending on Twitter. His trademark eyebrows grace several different T-shirts. Luke Maye hysteria is sweeping the nation.

So how did we get here?

It’s easy to attribute Maye’s meteoric rise to the struggles of Hicks. The senior really hasn’t been the same since injuring his hamstring during the regular season — sans some inspired performances against Duke and in the ACC Tournament — and has averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 fouls over his last three games.

But to point the finger squarely at Hicks would be a discredit to his teammate. Sunday’s game wasn’t a fluke. Two days before, Maye scored a then-career high 16 points and added 12 rebounds in The Tar Heels’ win over Butler in the Sweet 16. Over his last two games, the man has hit more 3s than UNC single-season record holder Justin Jackson.

Maye’s recent resume is a far cry from his season averages — 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game — but the jump isn’t a surprise to the people around him.

It’s the type of production his high school coaches expected. It’s the type Kennedy Meeks saw firsthand as a senior at West Charlotte High School in 2013, when Maye put up 19 points and 14 rebounds for Hough High School and bounced his team out of the state playoffs.

Maye likely won’t put up those numbers the rest of the way, but his impact cannot be understated as the Tar Heels prepare for the Final Four. He’ll have the opportunity to carve up the Oregon zone Saturday the way he did against the Bulldogs in the Sweet 16, when he went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, whether it come on the pick-and-pop or after catching the ball in the high post.

But perhaps it’s the confidence, not the technique, that will mean the most as the Tar Heels search for their sixth NCAA title. The look in his eyes that Williams must have seen when he called his number against Kentucky. The poise that allowed him to go through his regular release — even with the clock winding down and the weight of the program on his shoulders — and helped turn a folk hero into a Tar Heel legend.

@jbo_vernon

sports@dailytarheel.com