UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC VS Duke 87-70 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Doesn’t Show Up in the First Half and It Leads to An Embarrassing Loss
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Duke in Saturday night’s 263rd matchup of the historic rivalry. In the game’s opening minutes, the score was 7-6, and then Duke went on a 16-0 run to break the game wide open. It was a total collapse for the Tar Heels during this run. UNC was turning the ball, settling for bad shots, and their defense was non-existent. Meanwhile, Duke was getting whatever shot they wanted offensively with no resistance. Carolina never made Duke uncomfortable, and the Heels looked completely lost on both sides of the floor. Duke shot 55% from the field, 45% from three, made 12 free throws, 18 points in the paint, 11 assists and led by as much as 27 in the first half. North Carolina played their worst half of basketball of the season, shooting only 29% from the field and looking like they didn’t belong on the floor.
In the second half, the Tar Heels continued to play with a lack of urgency, intensity, effort, and energy, which is surprising for a rivalry game. North Carolina’s offense was stagnant and inept. There was no ball movement, a lack of player movement, and too much overdribbling from the Tar Heels. Duke’s size and length bothered the Heels all night long and the Blue Devils took advantage of Carolina’s lack of size on both ends of the floor. Instead of running their offense and using their defense to spark their offense, UNC settled for contested shots and had several turnovers that led to easy baskets for the Blue Devils. Carolina found themselves down by as much as 30 after halftime, which is their largest deficit this season. North Carolina had no answers for Duke inside or on the perimeter, allowing Duke to shoot 52% from the field and 50% from three. Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel both had over 20 points, leading the way for the Blue Devils. No Tar Heel player scored over 12 points and Ian Jackson, RJ Davis, and Elliott Cadeau all shot under 40% from the field. UNC was just outplayed and outclassed on both ends of the floor by Duke from the start and it led to their embarrassing loss on Saturday night.
UNC Game Stats
Final
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| UNC | 25 | 45 | 70 |
| DUKE | 47 | 40 | 87 |
UNC Bright Spots
Drake Powell had 12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
RJ Davis had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Seth Trimble had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to start games with more energy, effort, and intensity on both ends of the floor and be more consistent in those areas. Their slow starts allow teams to get confidence early in games and put them at a disadvantage against their opponents. Every play and possession matters.
The Tar Heels must be better defensively. They must be more disruptive on that side of the floor. It starts with ball pressure using their speed and athleticism to their advantage. They cannot afford to get lazy defensively and not give their all on that end of the floor. They must be better at navigating screens, contesting shots, and defending the paint. It all starts with communication. The better they communicate, the better they will be able to defend and stay connected defensively
Offensively, the Tar Heels must be better as well. They must limit their turnovers and have better-shot selection. They are overdribbling and playing too much one-on-one basketball on offensive possessions, getting away from sharing the ball and moving the ball to open. Their pace also has to improve because it gives them a chance to get the defense off balance and score before the defense is set. They cannot continue to play half-court basketball against teams with more size and length. When you combine that with the offense being stagnant, it is a recipe for disaster offensively.
Coach Hubert Davis and his staff must do a better job of making in-game adjustments. They need to be better at making adjustments on the fly. They must be more involved in the game, holding players accountable. There are just too many defensive lapses. Even if it takes implementing zone defenses, full-court or half-court traps, they must do something to help their players be better defensively. Against most teams the Heels are too small, so they must become more of a ball-pressure-centric team causing as much disruption up and down the court.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels fall to 13-10 on the season, 6-5 in ACC play. They have lost four of their last five games. This team continues to be disappointing, and they just put together their most embarrassing performance of the season from the coaching staff to the players. This team doesn’t have a leader, and it shows in their inconsistent play from game to game. RJ Davis’s return for his 5th season has been a failure. Davis has not been the player this North Carolina team needs. This is a young, inexperienced, flawed team, and they needed someone to take them by the reigns to show them how to win. Instead, over the course of this season, every player has regressed and is now playing with little to no confidence. It is up to the coaches to get their players’ confidence back and help them play to their potential. The players are thinking entirely too much on the court and oftentimes on offense and defense look confused.
The coaching staff’s message hasn’t resonated with this team, and they are struggling to make the proper adjustments to make this team successful. All year we have said that this team needs to play to their strengths, and they have never consistently done it. The coaches haven’t done a good enough job to put themselves in a better position by changing up the defense to cover up their weaknesses, running consistent actions that will make the offense more efficient, or putting the right combination of players on the floor to be the most successful. We’ve seen glimpses and stretches where they play well, but that style of play hasn’t been sustained enough this season. The Tar Heels’ goal for the remainder of the season should be to play free fun loose basketball like you have nothing to lose and play the hardest you can every time you touch that floor. They know they are one of the best transition teams in the nation and when they get stops, force turnovers, play at a fast pace, and share the basketball they are a hard team to stop. Next up is Pittsburgh on February 8 at 4:00 on ESPN 2.