CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jae’Lyn Withers always wanted to perform on his hometown big stage.
Growing up, that big stage was the Charlotte Bobcat Arena. The NBA facility placed in the heart of Uptown Charlotte was the always the dream — play eye-catching basketball that puts Withers on notice by the rest of the world.
In his first postseason appearance as a Tar Heel, he tied the program and ACC Tournament record for made triples.
Withers scored 21 points, all from behind the arc, in North Carolina’s 76-56 win over Notre Dame in the second round of the ACC Tournament. He led his team to shooting 13-for-28 from the three-point line, and in the process, booking a ticket to the quarterfinals round against No. 4 seed Wake Forest.
“I felt like not just J-Wit’s threes, everyone’s threes,” North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis said. “They were good threes generated by good offense, unselfishness, and as a result I thought we shot a really good percentage.”
The last time a Tar Heel made seven three-pointers in a game was RJ Davis, who made seven against Miami last season.
Withers grew up in the Queen City, but played high school basketball in Huntersville, N.C. — about 20 minutes north of Charlotte. He committed to Louisville as a four star prospect, playing with the Cardinals for four seasons under former head coach Kenny Payne. Once Payne was fired from the program, Withers hit the portal and landed at conference foe North Carolina.
He spent a large majority of the regular season playing sporadic minutes off the bench, playing between three and 15 minutes for the first half of conference play.
Then Davis decided he needed to change up the lineup. He moved Withers into the starting lineup along with Ven-Allen Lubin and Drake Powell to generate more offense with two new forwards and a guard.
It’s helped give the Tar Heels more offense, but Withers hadn’t played a game with that much success all season.
“When I see him hit at least three more, you start looking for him at that point,” Elliot Cadeau. “After every screen coming off I knew where he was, and I was trying to get him the ball.”
Withers said there were “tons” of family members at North Carolina’s game against Notre Dame. His mom and dad, grandparents and a few others all came to the Spectrum Center to watch their Tar Heel.
And as the game went on, Withers got more and more amped with each made three-pointer. It started off simple, just letting the crowd celebrate, then it grew to a simple hush gesture.
Withers said he’s not one to get overly cocky with his in-game celebrations, mostly because he tries to remain focused on the game.
“I think I’m about to stick with this one,” Withers said, repeating the hush gesture. “I got to keep it simple, stay composed.”
The Tar Heels are in the middle of a final push to make the NCAA Tournament. They’ve struggled against Quad 1 teams all season, the win over the Fighting Irish helps set North Carolina up for an in-state bout against Wake Forest — where the winner will likely make the case for a play-in game.
Davis said that even though his team took a while to reach the level of defensive and offensive prowess, the Tar Heels have been on an end-of-season run that has shown the team’s improvement.
“The pitch is we are focused,” Davis said. “Our eyes and our preparation is on what is real, and what is real is our preparation in regards to our play tomorrow against a very good Wake Forest team.”
A 21-point performance isn’t enough to satisfy Withers — even if the performance is in front of family and friends on the court he dreamed of playing on. Withers is following he’s coach’s orders and fixating his gaze on the next matchup.
“I definitely think we have to enjoy it,” Withers said. “But at the same thing, it’s business. We have to take it game-by-game and handle what we need to handle.”