Christian Keeling's 'Wheelchair Game'; Dubbed Paul Pierce By Teammates

It's all or nothing for UNC heading into the ACC tourney. It seemed as though the injury guy finally left their side. For once, they felt strong enough to battle, confident in their abilities as a team, and Coach Williams finally has a little rotation going, but it was a moment during the second half when everyone stopped their breath; Grad transfer, Christian Keeling, went down on what seemed to be an ankle injury.

Not again.

Keeling, who only finished with 4 points, is still a presence and bucket for UNC; losing him is the last thing the team needed. Keeling was seen requiring assistance to walk, and with the help of Cole Anthony, Keeling was escorted off. As he was walking back with trainers, in the tunnel, Keeling pushed them off and forced himself to walk alone; the determination to get back on the court was unrelenting.

At the 3:43 mark in the second half, Keeling was subbed back in with the crowd on their feet; giving him a standing ovation. It was clear that Keeling was a little hurt; his running was a little slower, and his movement limited, but the adrenaline of the game was higher than the pain. During his two minutes in, Keeling made a jumper and a steal, helping seal the game for UNC over Virginia Tech.

During the post-game conference, Brandon Robinson spoke about the love the players have for each other and compared Keeling to Paul Pierce.

To give you reference, during Game 1 of the NBA finals, Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers, Paul Pierce suffered what seemed to be leg injury underneath the Lakers basket. Pierce was seen carried out by teammates and being put in a wheelchair. Celtics thought he was done for the game until out of the tunnel, Pierce is seen jogging back towards the court ready for action. Fans stood to their feet. **Its also worth noting Pierce just had to go to the bathroom.

That's Paul Pierce right there. Go look up the Paul Pierce video. (Robinson and Garrison laughs)

No, but we all love each other. This whole year we have all been battling injuries; we all have been going through tough times. So to see him come back out there and push through it, I was proud of him, and it just speaks volumes to this team. We all care about each other. We all have one goal, and that's just to win this tournament, but we got to take it game by game, and we need all hands on deck to be able to do that.

Coach Williams also spoke to Keeling's toughness, but knowing if he sat too long, the injury would be worse.

Well, if he was going to sit over there, if he was able to go back in and play, I wanted to put him in because if he is sitting over there, he gets even more stiff. And then if he goes out and plays and perhaps loosened up and feeling better about it and feel more confident about it, that if we do win, then he's got a chance to a better chance, in my opinion he's got a better chance to play the next day.

It's "do or die" for the Heels, and there's no doubt they need all hands on deck as they face Syracuse tonight.