Isaiah Hicks keeps mind clear in UNC men's basketball's ACC Tournament win over Miami

BROOKLYN — Spin the ball.

Dribble once. Twice. A third time. One more spin for good measure. Then let it go.

There’s not much concern with Isaiah Hicks’ free-throw routine, but it didn’t used to be this way. In his first two seasons with the North Carolina men’s basketball team, he shot a combined 61.3 percent from the charity stripe.

But now those makes and misses don’t matter. Or, rather, it helps to not pay much attention to them. Now it’s about the spins and dribbles. The process.

Against Miami in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday, the senior forward ran through his routine nine times. And nine times the ball swished through the net. He carried the mindset over to the rest of his game, too, scoring a team-high 19 points and leading the Tar Heels to a 78-53 win.

“Tonight he clearly wasn’t thinking,” Nate Britt said. “I think throughout the season he’s had some games where he’s thinking about what he’s doing too much. And we just need him to be aggressive.”

Not long ago, Hicks thought his way into a bad slump. In his first five games back on the court after injuring his hamstring on Feb. 8, he averaged 5.4 points per contest. He was also constantly in foul trouble, twice playing less than 15 minutes in a game.

He started to get back to his old self against Duke on Saturday, when he racked up 21 points and nine rebounds in a 90-83 Tar Heel victory. Before the team departed for Brooklyn on Tuesday, Hicks must have left whatever negative thoughts he had left at the airport gate.

“I had a talk with Coach. ‘Just play the game, lose myself in the game,’” Hicks said. “That’s the biggest thing that’s helped me so far.”

He scored North Carolina’s first 6 points against Miami (21-11, 10-8 ACC), and while he couldn’t maintain that pace for the rest of the game, it was clear Hicks was a man on a mission.

The senior dominated his matchup early on. When the Hurricanes switched to a zone midway through the first half, Hicks helped the Tar Heels (27-6, 14-4 ACC) pick apart a defense they normally struggle with by working in the high post and forcefully attacking the basket.

“He’s a beast,” Theo Pinson said. “He’s a monster. And when he plays like that, I don’t think we can be beat.”

The tenacity allowed Hicks to get easy baskets, and when he couldn’t convert, it was often because a Miami defender hacked him on the way up. His nine attempts at the free throw line — and nine makes — were the most for him in a game since he knocked down 12-of-14 against Florida State on Jan. 14.

But maybe the most important thing from Thursday’s game for Hicks and the Tar Heels is that he played aggressively without taking things too far. He only picked up one foul against the Hurricanes — the fewest he’s had in a game since committing zero against Syracuse on Jan. 16.

As North Carolina advances throughout this weekend and begins the NCAA Tournament, Hicks’ availability will be crucial if the Tar Heels hope to go on a run. Everybody — especially coach Roy Williams — knows that.

“One foul also means that he gets to play 25 minutes,” Williams said. “I like him playing 25 better than I do seven or 11 or nine, and I have seen some of those. So it’s pretty important to me.”

If he continues to play this way, there will be a lot less for Hicks and UNC to worry about.

@jbo_vernon

sports@dailytarheel.com