MEMPHIS — The checklist is lengthy, of everything the North Carolina men’s basketball team brings on its road trips: Kennedy Meeks’ favorite pair of UGG boots, for instance, or Nate Britt’s extra earrings.
They’re frills, sure, but anything to make a hotel room feel more like home. It makes sense, then, that Joel Berry and Theo Pinson would bring their own piece of home whenever the team travels.
A PlayStation 4.
Only, this weekend in Memphis, it hasn’t gotten much use. That isn’t surprising, not with the team so focused on reaching its second Final Four in as many years — there isn’t much time for video games when you think of it that way.
“We’d prefer to sleep instead,” Pinson said after practice Saturday. “Just hang out and watch movies.”
And for good reason. On Sunday, those two will primarily be tasked with stopping Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, who scored a combined 71 points the first time these two teams met in December. Kentucky outlasted UNC, 103-100, in that game, the only time in school history the Tar Heels have scored 100 points and lost.
Now, with another date in the Elite Eight against those two on the horizon? It only makes sense Pinson and Berry would rather rest and relax than toil their nights away with virtual basketball games.
Berry especially needs that rest if he has any hope of slowing down Fox. Never mind the gimpy ankle he’s been dealing with since UNC’s first NCAA Tournament win over Texas Southern — Fox has turned into an almost unstoppable offensive threat in recent weeks. Nothing punctuated that more than his 39-point performance in Kentucky’s last game, a Sweet 16 win over UCLA.
So Joel, what’s your plan for stopping him? Is there one?
