Weary and wounded, Brandon Robinson the latest to intervene on UNC’s behalf in Raleigh
It’s not hard to believe the N.C. State fans pulled the plug before Brandon Robinson did, clogging the aisles with two minutes still to go. They’ve seen this before. Too many times. No matter the state of North Carolina’s program, even in a season like this, it’s a rare day when State can claim the state.
Something, someone, always intervenes. Even when N.C. State expects to win. Especially when N.C. State expects to win. On this night, it was Robinson, the broken and battered North Carolina senior guard who came into the game injured, had to make three separate trips to the training room during the game, needed X-rays after the game and still managed to score 11 points, tied for second among the Tar Heels, his contribution less accumulation than inspiration.
It’s always something. Always someone. Luke Maye. Marcus Paige. Brandon Willis Robinson Reed. Roy Williams is 36-4 against the Wolfpack, 15-2 at PNC Arena where the Tar Heels have won seven straight after this 75-65 win. They couldn’t beat Clemson in Chapel Hill for the first time ever, but they still can’t lose in Raleigh.
“Rivalry?” North Carolina freshman Armando Bacot said, having never known anything else.
Robinson, 22 going on 42, came into the game with a sore neck after getting hit by a drunk driver two weeks ago, re-injured the right ankle that’s bothered him all season and was at about half speed in the second half after taking an elbow to the ribs. He had to signal to the bench that he wanted to stay in the game after yet another collision left him dazed with less than 3 minutes to go.
That happened to be the same moment when N.C. State fans decided they no longer wanted to stick around, heading to the parking lots with the Wolfpack down 10. The team might as well have gone with them; the Wolfpack didn’t make a field goal in the final 6:36.
“The thought never settled into my head to give up and quit,” Robinson said. “I just wanted to keep fighting. It was a rough game, but we won.”
His teammates certainly appreciated the effort: “I don’t think people realize how much pain he was in,” said Garrison Brooks, who scored a game-high 25 points.
It was, not to put too fine a point on things, exactly the kind of toughness N.C. State lacked. And continues to lack to the great frustration of Kevin Keatts, whose honeymoon with the Wolfpack faithful may be coming to an abrupt and precipitous end. N.C. State is going to struggle against anyone when Markell Johnson (12 points) and C.J. Bryce (nil, for the second straight game) are playing like this, let alone these circumstances.
It’s bad enough getting swept by Georgia Tech or squandering the momentum of a historic win at Virginia. It’s far, far worse getting manhandled by the worst UNC team in a decade -- although the Wolfpack was 0-2 against the Tar Heels in their NIT season in 2010, so that’s nothing new either.
The Tar Heels, on a winning streak of two (2) games, are certainly improving and may have turned a corner in terms of confidence if nothing else, but with Cole Anthony watching from the bench in a suit and the Wolfpack favored, this should have been a slump-buster for the Wolfpack, not yet another kick in the face from a Jordan Brand boot.
North Carolina’s celebration carried on without Robinson, who had to go to the other side of the arena for X-rays on his ribs. When he tried to get back to the visiting dressing room, security guards detoured him and a trainer away from the hallway that runs past N.C. State’s locker room and out onto the court, the long way around.
It was a long, slow walk, a weary and wounded player recrossing battle lines that had taken an acute physical toll. Robinson had the floor to himself. It was, not for the first time on this night or in this generation, N.C. State’s home court but North Carolina’s turf.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Weary and wounded, Brandon Robinson the latest to intervene on UNC’s behalf in Raleigh."
