James Michael McAdoo’s 15 points leads UNC to 11th straight win

BLACKSBURG, Va. — James Michael McAdoo sat in the visiting locker room at Virginia Tech, 200 miles away from his Chapel Hill home, the only North Carolina men’s basketball player still fully dressed.

There next to Desmond Hubert and tightly surrounded by a circle of media members eagerly awaiting his thoughts, the 6-foot-9 junior forward calmly sat just moments after his team squeaked out a 60-56 victory against Virginia Tech for its 11th straight win. .

Both of his knees were busted — covered— with bruises and scabs, some from Saturday, some unhealed from previous matchups.

A small cut also sliced through the back of his left arm, the blood already dried up.

But he didn’t realize it.

“Oh God, I didn’t know I had that,” he laughed.

“But it’s part of the game. I’m used to it.”

And after his 15-point, three-rebound performance Saturday, that much was obvious.

Simply put, McAdoo was everywhere.

With 8:02 remaining and his team clinging onto a five-point lead deep into the second half, McAdoo planted his feet and allowed Virginia Tech’s Jarell Eddie to plow over him en route to the rim for the charge call. A minute later he stripped Joey van Zegeren for the steal, and nine seconds after that slammed down a thunderous one-handed jam that nearly silenced a raucous Virginia Tech crowd.

His teammates celebrated wildly on the bench, while UNC fans across the country turned to Twitter.

“Ummm that was ATHLETIC JMM,” former UNC forward and national champion Sean May tweeted.

But for coach Roy Williams, though the dunks were certainly boisterous and his forward’s three steals were demonstrations of his fire, the play that stood out after the game couldn’t be found on a box score.

It didn’t result in any points for the Tar Heels, and in fact didn’t even give UNC possession of the ball.

With 54.9 seconds remaining in the game, McAdoo sprinted the length of the court and dove into the Virginia Tech dancers with the hopes of claiming a loose ball. The call went to the Hokies, but for Williams the effort itself was enough for praise.

“I thought James Michael’s activity in the second half was really huge there,” Williams said.

“It’s something to have two or three or four points at halftime and then come back and be that active defensively.”

Marcus Paige, who was hushed to a quiet nine points after tallying a career-high 35 against N.C. State Wednesday night, said that McAdoo’s prowess alleviates some of the pressure on him and guard Leslie McDonald to score from the perimeter.

And on Saturday especially, Paige was thankful for that.

“He’s our second leading scorer,” Paige said.

“He’s one guy you pretty much know he’s going to bring it with the effort every night.

“He’s struggled offensively the last couple games before this one, but his effort is always there so that’s one thing we can depend on.”

But for McAdoo, as he finally began to unlace his basketball sneakers and peal off the bandage on his scuffed up knee, the mission on Saturday was a simple one.

“The biggest thing is just going out there and playing for 40 minutes,” he said.

“We came here to handle our business.”

And that he did.

sports@dailytarheel.com