CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ Tia White rarely saw her youngest brother cry.
But when Coby White fouled out of the state championship game during his senior season _ after it became apparent that his team was about to lose _ he made his way toward the end of the bench, plopped down in his seat, buried his head in his jersey and started to weep.
Tia walked down the set of bleachers toward the Greenfield School's bench and over to Coby. She grabbed him from behind, hugged him and whispered in his ear.
"It's OK," Tia told Coby. "You played your butt off. You did everything you could do. You don't have anything to be upset about."
Coby's jersey shielded the tears streaming down his face.
"This wasn't for me," he told her in between sobs. "This was for Daddy. I wanted to win for Daddy."
After his junior season at Greenfield, Coby White and his father, Donald, came up with two goals they wanted Coby to achieve before the end of his high school career.
His first goal was to be named to the McDonald's All-American game. Check.
His second goal was to win a state championship. Unchecked.
Donald, who died of cancer in August 2017, before Coby's senior year, never saw either.
A year later, Coby White is a key player for North Carolina as a freshman, with a chance at a championship do-over if he can help his team get to the Final Four and win a national title.
The Tar Heels are one of the favorites to do so, and a large part of that is because of White. He is averaging 16.1 points and 4.1 assists per game as a freshman. North Carolina coach Roy Williams called White, who is 6-5, 185 pounds, the "best scoring point guard I've ever coached."
"Ty Lawson got to that stage later when he could score," Williams added. "Coby is a scorer and I have never minded a scoring point guard."
His 3-point shooting, size and speed give him the ability to get to the basket and score in a variety of ways. He splits double-teams with ease, leaving defenders behind with puzzled looks on their faces. And he'll pull up and shoot a 3-pointer before you know it's coming.
He has scored 547 points this season, which is the sixth-most points scored for a North Carolina freshman. He needs just four points to pass Sam Perkins for fifth all-time.
"A lot of stuff he does, you can't be taught," said Kendall Marshall, who played point guard at North Carolina from 2010-12, and is now a member of the basketball staff. "He's that good."
