UNC’s Joel Berry begins recovering from another ankle injury

This was Joel Berry, the North Carolina junior point guard, sitting in front of his locker on Sunday after the Tar Heels’ 75-73 victory against Kentucky – an epic win after an epic shot from Luke Maye, one that will live on.

Berry sounded tired. He sounded exhausted. He sounded a little bit dazed, too.

Maybe it was everything he’d just seen and been a part of. Maybe it was that and the pain of another ankle injury, his second of the NCAA tournament.

“It’s giving me a lot of pain right now,” Berry said. “But it’s all worth it, and I get a whole week to do rehab where last week I only had a short amount of time.”

A lot of pain. All worth it.

Berry finished with 11 points. He played 33 minutes, all but five of them after he left the game for about four minutes early in the first half. Berry then endured a left ankle injury – a little more than a week after hurting his right – when he attempted to drive the lane for a layup about five minutes into the game.

“I just tried to go to the hole,” Berry said. “I saw a wide-open lane. And I thought I was about to get a layup and the next thing I know, I just felt my ankle turn, and I was trying to push off of it. And that’s why it’s given me more pain than it did last week.”

Immediately, it looked like something was wrong. Berry rose slowly. He hobbled toward the bench.

He sat on the end of it. He covered his face with a towel, lowered it, and then brought the towel back up over his face again. And again. He wore an expression of anguish. Doug Halverson, the team’s trainer, began walking back to the locker room, and Berry followed him there.

In the locker room, Halverson examined Berry’s ankle. Halverson turned Berry’s foot around, up and down, side to side, and studied how it moved, how Berry felt. Berry grimaced but said he was OK. He did some exercises, some movement, and told Halverson he wanted to go back in.

A few minutes later Berry jogged back onto the court. In his absence the Tar Heels extended their lead from four points to five. Williams didn’t want Berry’s ankle stiffening up and so Berry immediately reentered the game.

He hurt throughout. The ankle never felt good, exactly. His other ankle, which he injured in UNC’s first NCAA tournament victory, also hurt, as it has since then.

Berry said he told himself, “Come on, fight through it.” That’s what he tried to do.

Afterward somebody asked Williams if he thought there was any way Berry wouldn’t have come back. Yes, Williams said: Berry wouldn’t have come back had Halverson said he wasn’t coming back.

“If Doug had said he’s done, he was going to be done,” Williams said. “But I didn’t think that Joel was going to let that happen.”

Berry did not let that happen. Williams described him as a “little tough nut.”

“He’s out there with both feet not feeling really good,” Williams said. “Even when we got on the court, and they were jumping around and then when they were doing the alma mater and everybody was stomping their feet, the two of us were standing beside each other. I said I’m not stomping. He said, I’m not, either.

“He’s got two bad ankles; I’ve got two bad knees.”

Now Berry will try to heal before Saturday, when UNC plays against Oregon in a national semifinal.

Berry has five days without a game. That’s more time than he had before.

“I’m in a lot of pain right now,” he said, “But I’ll be good to go.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2017 at 10:23 AM with the headline "UNC’s Joel Berry begins recovering from another ankle injury."