FORT WORTH, Texas — Four Marquette players took to the raised stage during Wednesday’s NCAA tournament media availability when head coach Shaka Smart approached from the floor.
One name card was missing so Smart quickly scribbled on the back side of a pamphlet and placed it in front of Justin Lewis.
The 6-foot-7 forward was first team All-Big East and also named the conference’s most improved player. He leads the Golden Eagles with 17.1 points per game and 7.9 rebounds.
North Carolina knows full well who Lewis is, with or without the impromptu name card. And the Tar Heels know who gets the Lewis assignment on defense.
UNC senior Leaky Black has come to expect the opponent’s top scorer every time he takes the floor. And that’ll be the case when the No. 8 seed Heels face the No. 9 seed Eagles at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the East region.
“My dad just always told me defense is about like pride,” Black said. “It’s not really take one step here, take one step there. It’s just really about pride and not the will and want to. That’s always stuck with me and I just feel like I can always hang my hat on that.”
Smart said when he was first hired to replace outgoing coach Steve Wojciechowski, guard Greg Elliott was the only one of the potential returnees still on campus. In order to introduce himself and build relationships with the players, he had to travel to see them.
The first player Smart hopped on a flight to see was Lewis. And almost immediately, Smart knew Lewis could have an impact that far exceeded the 7.8 points he averaged as a freshman for Marquette.
“He had sustained an ankle injury earlier in the season, so he wasn’t quite 100 percent,” Smart said. “But you could just see certain areas where he had amazing potential.”
One of those areas was 3-point shooting, where Lewis has worked his way into becoming a much better shooter. He made just 21.9 percent from behind the arc last season, but improved to a 35.2 percent 3-point shooter this season.
He also had the ball in his hands more this season and his assists shot up from 0.8 last season to 1.7 this season.
It’s another challenge for the 6-foot-8 Black to slow down Lewis in a season that’s been full of them.
Carolina has used its all-ACC defender on a range of players including: Virginia’s 5-foot-10 Kihei Clark, Georgia Tech’s 6-foot-5 Michael DeVoe, N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron, Syracuse’s 6-foot-6 Buddy Boeheim, Duke’s 6-foot-10 Paola Banchero and 6-foot-6 A.J. Griffin.
“It is a great benefit and a luxury to have somebody that’s a lockdown defender that’s also versatile,” Davis said. “The last week against Virginia he guarded Clark the point guard and he’s guarded Paolo all the way down to the power forward position. So not only is he great defensively, he’s also versatile on that end as well.”
Lewis has started all 31 games for Marquette and reached double figures every game with the exception of its win over Jackson State and loss to Creighton.
Lewis is used to being defended in practice by 6-foot-7 freshman David Joplin, who also has the size and length to make scoring difficult. Lewis credits Joplin for helping to make him better this season.
Smart also pointed to the way Lewis worked his way into shape. Lewis is listed at 245 pounds, but appears to be 10-15 pounds lighter than that.
“He’s really dedicated himself to working on his body and working on his game,” Smart said. “So, really, early on, we felt like he could take a big jump. But he deserves all the credit in the world for being the most improved player in our league.”
UNC forward Armando Bacot said Black doesn’t get all the credit he deserves for the way he can change the game with his defense. Even though Black was named to the all-defensive team, Bacot believed him to be the league’s defensive player of the year.
“I thought Leaky was by far the best defensive player in the ACC,” Bacot said. “I know you look at stats and blocked shots and steals, but just his impact of being able to take the best player out of the game I think is a blessing for us to have. We know coming into every game, whoever Leaky is guarding, he’s going to take out the game.”
