Was Jae’Lyn Withers To Blamed As He Apologies For His Missed Last minutes 3 Pointers.
North Carolina forward Jae’Lyn Withers apologized to his senior teammates for his “crucial” missed 3-pointer with 1:02 left in the Tar Heels’ 89-87 loss to Alabama in the Sweet 16.
UNC mounted a 6-2 run to take an 85-84 over the Crimson Tide in the moments before Withers’ 3-point attempt, which came with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. The transfer forward entered the game as a 21.1% shooter from deep on the season.
Outside of sadness, I feel like I am sorry for my efforts to, not only the seniors, but the coaches and the fans that were tuned in and showed up to the game,” Withers said after the game. “The shot that I took was a crucial shot. I work on it day in an day out, but with the time and score, I could’ve gotten to the free throw line or got to the basket.”
Withers fouled Alabama forward Grant Nelson on the next possession. Nelson made the basket and the free throw to put the Crimson Tide up 87-85 with 38 seconds left.
“I was thinking about the fact that I didn’t foul him hard enough to where he didn’t get the and-one and the missed shot on the possession before that,” Withers said regarding what he was thinking while Nelson was at the free throw line.
Withers said his teammates never got down on him after the two late miscues and tried to uplift him on the court.
“After I took the shot, they came to the other end and got the and-one and a couple of my teammates were telling me, ‘You’re good, we still got time. All we need is a stop and a bucket,'” Withers said. “That’s what they told me going back to the huddle. It gave me a next-play mentality. I was thinking about getting another stop and securing a rebound.”
Teammate Harrison Ingram was a few feet away from Withers on the left wing when he took the late 3-point attempt. Ingram supported his teammate when reporters asked him about the shot after the game.
“He’s wide open,” Ingram said. “You have to shoot the shot. They were helping off certain guys, and he was wide open. We would have preferred him to drive it, but at the end of the day, he shot the shot.
We want people to be confident. If you shoot the shot, you’ve got to be confident in it. If it had gone in, it would have been a different story, but he missed it. I don’t think that’s the reason we lost. It’s one shot at the end of the day.
We all missed shots the whole game. I don’t think that’s the reason we lost at all. He has another year, too. Use that shot as fuel. Use this game as fuel and use the hurt that we’re feeling.
Withers finished with four points, four rebounds and four fouls in 10 minutes of action. UNC shot 25% in the second half, its worst performance in a half in an NCAA Tournament game since shooting 22.6% in the second half against Kansas in the 2012 Elite Eight.