UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Sleep Walks through the First Half

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

• 

The Tar Heels basketball team played against Georgia Tech on Saturday night to start the rest of ACC play. North Carolina came out without any energy and effort early in the game and fell behind 27-4. UNC missed their first 15 shots of the game and it wasn’t until 13 minutes into the game that they scored their first field goal.

The first half was a total debacle for North Carolina as Georgia Tech outscored the Tar Heels 32-6 in the paint, shot 56 percent from the field, and led by 20 going into halftime. The Tar Heels showed no effort on the defensive end as Georgia Tech got whatever they wanted on offense.

In the second half, UNC played much better and came out with much more urgency on both ends of the floor. The Heels would make a run to cut the deficit within single digits, but after a couple of bad possessions by the Tar Heels the momentum shifted back in Georgia Tech’s favor. The Yellow Jackets would control the rest of the game as Carolina would make a couple of runs to get back in the game, but it would not be enough to come back and win the game.

UNC Game Stats

1          2          T

North Carolina          27        56        83

Georgia Tech            47        49        96

North Carolina

                             Pts   FG    3FG    FT     REB    A      TO     Min     +/-

1 BLACK           8    4-7    0-0    0-0      4        0         0      28      -10

4 ROBINSON 12 4-11   4-9     0-0      2        6         3      34      -14

5 BACOT         4    1-6     0-0     2-3      3        2          2       16        7

13 FRANCIS  5    1-8      1-2      2-2      2        2          3       27      -13

15 BROOKS  35 9-18   0-0   17-18   11       2          1        36        -9

11 RUSH           0   0-0    0-0     0-0      0       0          1          2          -4

22 MILLER    0  0-1    0-0     0-0    0        0          0          2          0

30 SMITH      2    1-1     0-0     0-0      0          1          1          10        2

32 PIERCE     11   4-6    1-2      2-4       3          3         0        24      -19

34 O’HAN      0    0-0   0-0     0-0      0          0          0          1          -1

42 HUFFMAN 0  0-0   0-0     0-0      0          0          0          2          -4

55 KEELING    6   3-5   0-1      0-0      0          1          4          17        0

TOTALS         83 27-63 6-14 23-27  34        17        15        200

Georgia Tech

                          Pts    FG    3FG   FT    REB    A      TO     Min     +/-

0 DEVOE       4      2-5    0-2   0-0      3       2        3        23        10

1 BANKS III  12    5-8    0-0   2-3      7       0        0        32        20

4 USHER       7     3-7     1-2    0-0     3       2         1          22        2

5 WRIGHT    22 9-13    0-0   4-7      7       1         3          38        9

10 ALVARADO 25  8-12 4-6  5-7    1       8        3          28        9

3 COLE          9     4-7     0-2    1-1       3       2        0          16        5

11 PARHAM  11  2-5     1-2     6-6      3      3         2          26        8

12 MOORE     2    1-1     0-0    0-0      1      0         0          7          0

23 PRICE       4    2-3    0-0    0-0      1       1          1          7          2

TOTALS      96 36-61 6-14 18-24  30        19        13        200

UNC Bright Spots

Garrison Brooks had a career high 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Brandon Robinson had 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Justin Pierce had 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to do a better job of starting the games focused and ready to play. Too many times UNC has come out with no energy and effort and fallen behind in the game.

The Tar Heels need to do a better job of guarding dribble penetration, defending the paint, and guarding the three-point line. They also need to just show more effort on the defensive end. Too often they fall asleep on defense and the other team gets a wide-open layup or three.

UNC also needs to do a better job of getting into their offense quicker and moving without the ball. The players are standing around and not moving to the open spot to help the team get quality shots.

Final Observations

The Tar Heels fall to 8-6 on the season and cannot afford to have any more bad losses like this one. Every player that is healthy and playing needs to look at themselves in the mirror and ask what can I do to contribute, make this team better and then go out there and do it.

This team has dealt with a lot of injuries and adversity, but they cannot feel sorry for themselves. They need to focus on going out and giving their all in every game. There should not be any more games that they come out and play the way they did in the first 13 minutes of this game because that is just not Carolina basketball. Cole Anthony should be coming back in the next couple of weeks, but until then they need to find ways to win games and everybody needs to step up for them to do so.