UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Alabama 89-87 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Blows Opportunity to Put Away Alabama and Ends Their Season Early
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament on Thursday night. Unlike the first two tournament games, the Tar Heels had a great start to this game and jumped out to an early 19-9 lead. With both teams coming into this game with high-powered offenses, no small lead felt safe. Alabama would weather the Heels’ early run to make the game close and it would turn into a back-and-forth game. Early on UNC and Alabama found a rhythm offensively and it made for a very entertaining high-scoring first half. Both teams put on a shooting clinic with North Carolina shooting 53% from the field, 63% from three, and Alabama shooting 49% from the field, 50% from three. Seven different Tar Heels scored in the first half and three scored in double figures including Armando Bacot, Harrison Ingram, and Cormac Ryan. UNC even made a season-high 10 threes and after a late 20-8 run going into halftime, Carolina would lead 54-46.
In the second half, the Tar Heels came out and went completely cold offensively. UNC missed 2 of their first 17 field goals after halftime and didn’t hit a field goal until after the first media timeout. North Carolina just looked completely out of sorts offensively and got away from what was so successful for them in the first half. Carolina relied too heavily on iso ball and RJ Davis shot entirely too many shots even when his shot wasn’t falling. RJ Davis finished the game 4-20 from the field and picked the worst day to have his worst game of the season. Even with all the offensive struggles, the Heels were always in the game and had the opportunity to win late in the game.
Coach Davis made some head-scratching decisions by playing different lineups who haven’t played all season long and it cost the Tar Heels. UNC starting point guard Elliott Cadeau didn’t play very much in the second half and when the Carolina offense got stagnant that was a huge reason why. Not only was the offense for UNC struggling, but they were unable to get timely stops down the stretch of the game and it seemed like Alabama took advantage of every mistake they made defensively whether that meant bad rotations, missed defensive rebounds, bad fouls, or bad help side defense.
However, it was the lack of production on offense that ultimately cost the Heels because they even had a chance to tie the game with under 30 seconds left in the game after a timeout and basically got a shot clock violation after RJ Davis dribbled the ball for basically the whole shot clock. UNC shot 25% from the field in the second half, which was the worst shooting performance all season and it led to their 89-87 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 4 Alabama 24-11 | 46 | 43 | 89 |
| 1 North Carolina 29-8 | 54 | 33 | 87 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| A. Bacot | 19 | 12 | 0 | 8/18 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 3 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| C. Ryan | 17 | 5 | 1 | 5/10 | 5/8 | 2/2 | 2 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| R. Davis | 16 | 3 | 7 | 4/20 | 0/9 | 8/9 | 2 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| H. Ingram | 12 | 9 | 5 | 5/12 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 3 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| E. Cadeau | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3/9 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2/4 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Withers | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| P. Wojcik | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 87 | 38 | 17 | 30/78 | 12/32 | 15/17 | 18 | 200 | 8 | 3 | 7 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| G. Nelson | 24 | 12 | 1 | 6/9 | 2/2 | 10/13 | 2 | 36 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| R. Griffen | 19 | 4 | 1 | 6/12 | 5/8 | 2/4 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| A. Estrada | 19 | 4 | 3 | 9/17 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| M. Sears | 18 | 2 | 2 | 7/14 | 2/7 | 2/2 | 2 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| N. Pringle | 2 | 9 | 3 | 1/5 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Walters | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2/5 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Dioubate | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Wague | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Stevenson | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| M. Scharnowski | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Spears | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| D. Cosby Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| W. Harrell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Parker | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Wrightsell Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 89 | 37 | 13 | 32/67 | 11/26 | 14/20 | 18 | 200 | 4 | 7 | 10 |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 19 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.
Cormac Ryan had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.
Harrison Ingram had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.
Needs Work
Coach Hubert Davis must do a better job with his in-game adjustments. He was outcoached in this game and allowed Alabama’s defensive game plan to sag off Elliott Cadeau and Seth Trimble to dictate his rotation in the second half. Coach Davis hamstrung his team by keeping Elliott Cadeau off the floor, especially when their offense got stagnant in the second half. The Heels got away from what made their offense so potent all season long. The offense was at their best when the ball was moving around, and they had a balanced scoring attack with Elliott Cadeau running the show. RJ Davis had his worst game of the season and shot 4-20 for the game, but the offense for some reason was still being run through him costing the Tar Heels big time.
In addition, the Tar Heels were unable to get stops down the stretch on critical possessions and the weird lineups on the floor didn’t help. Defensively, North Carolina just wasn’t locked in enough defensively and had entirely too many lapses and mistakes that cost them.
Final Observations
North Carolina finishes their 2023-2024 basketball season with a 29-8 record season after their loss to Alabama. It was a great season overall, but it had a disappointing ending. The opportunity was there for this team to win another championship. They had all the pieces to do so but picked the wrong night to play below their usual standards. Coach Davis and his decision-making in the second half didn’t help the team out either. Coach Davis went away from the lineups that had been so successful throughout the course of the season and that’s unacceptable. Paxson Wojcik, who wasn’t seeing the floor for most of the season got more minutes than Elliott Cadeau and Seth Trimble in the biggest game of the year. It was a very strange decision by Coach Hubert Davis and his staff, and it will be questioned over the next couple of weeks. This team had all the talent and the makings of a championship team, and it seems like it was all wasted away. If Coach Davis wants to bring another championship to this historic basketball program, he will have to grow in that area as a coach.