UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Louisville 83-70 Loss 

UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Squanders the Game Down the Stretch With Bone-Headed Decision-Making Plays

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team brings in the new year with a road game against Louisville in their first ACC conference matchup of the season. The Tar Heels played a very poor first half. North Carolina was completely out of sorts offensively with a lack of ball movement and player movement, bad shot selection, and several bad passes. The Heels shot 32% from the field and looked disinterested with a lack of energy, intensity, and effort for most of the first half. Louisville played with a purpose and controlled the flow of the game. The Cardinals took advantage of UNC’s lack of size inside and had a lot of open shots on the perimeter due to Carolina’s lack of communication, and laziness with their defensive rotations. North Carolina scored their lowest point total in a first half this season with 31 points and was down 6 going into halftime. 

In the second half, North Carolina continued to cost themselves with self-inflicted errors. Offensively, the Heels settled for bad shots and were playing too much one-on-one basketball with not nearly enough ball movement and player movement.  Defensively, UNC struggled to stay in front of Louisville guards, which allowed straight-line drives leading to easy baskets for the Cardinals. Louisville kept a six to 9 point for the first ten minutes of the second half and was outplaying Carolina on both ends of the floor. With just over nine minutes left, Carolina started to pick up their defensive play and disrupt what Louisville was doing offensively with their ball pressure. The Heels’ defensive pressure forced Louisville into tough shots and some turnovers that allowed UNC to get out in transition where they are at their best. At this point in the game, neither team could defend without fouling and were in the bonus for the final 9 minutes. The Tar Heels took full advantage and continuously attacked the basket down the floor either led to a basket or a trip to the free throw line.

Freshmen Ian Jackson and Drake Powell were huge for Carolina during this stretch, making critical baskets and drives that led to trips to the free-throw line. The improved play on offense and defense would lead to a Carolina run that helped the Heels crawl back to tie the game at 61. In the final minutes, it would go down to the wire and come down to who could execute better down the stretch. The Tar Heels knew that but made some critical mistakes late in this game. Missed rebounds, bad fouls, poor shots, and turnovers all cost the Heels in crunch time and Louisville took advantage of every mistake UNC made. The Cardinals converted their free throws, protected the ball, and made a couple of critical three-pointers to extend their lead. North Carolina completely fell apart at the end of the game and was the more undisciplined team, causing them to fall to Louisville 83-70. 

UNC Game Stats

Final

	1	2	T
UNC	31	39	70
LOU	37	46	83

UNC Bright Spots  

Ian Jackson had 23 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. 

Drake Powell had 14 points and 4 rebounds. 

RJ Davis had 12 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. 

Needs Work  

Coach Hubert Davis must do a better job of running plays for the Bigs, incorporating them more in the offense for more than just setting screens and rolling and crashing the offensive glass. Jalen Washington and Ven Allen Lubin are skilled enough offensively to have specific plays designed just for them. This will make them a more consistent offensive threat that opposing defenses will have to account for and it will make it easier for the guards and wings to get more quality shots at the rim and on the perimeter. They must also emphasize moving the ball more offensively and not get caught up playing one-on-one basketball.  

Defensively, this team needs to be much better on the perimeter defending against the three-point line. Their focus as a team should be to limit threes as much as possible and to run their opponent off the line. They must be better at navigating screens, contesting shots, and defending the paint as well. Their help-side defense, intensity, and effort need to be at a high level for longer stretches of the game. 

The coaching in close games must be better. The in-game adjustments must be quicker. The coaches need to make sure they are putting the players in the best position to win with the defensive and offensive coverages called down the stretch of games. This team is flawed and has weaknesses with their lack of size, their youth, and lack of leadership. As a result, the coaches will need to be more involved to help this team on critical possessions.  

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels fall to 8-6 on the season, 0-1 in ACC play. This team continues to struggle with consistent play from game to game. They struggle to start games with the intensity, effort, and energy needed to play well early in games. The coaches must do whatever it takes to change that, whether that means a change in rotations or a change in offensive or defensive schemes. It is jarring how disinterested this team can be early in games and for extended stretches of the games on both ends of the floor. Carolina is much better than what they have shown this season, especially in the porous first halves they had in numerous games thus far. The lack of size in the frontcourt is a concern for the Heels, but this coaching staff must find a way to help them overcome those limitations. To do that, they must establish a style of play on both ends of the floor that leans into their strengths as a team.

The strengths of this team are their guard play, athleticism, speed, quickness, ability to attack the basket off the dribble, and ability to run and get baskets in transition. To lean on those strengths, the coaching staff must make sure this team is playing at the fastest pace possible offensively and causing the most havoc they can defensively with their ball pressure. That will provide more success for them on the court. Coach Hubert Davis and his staff must improve their decision-making and adjustments late in games. They need to make sure they are getting the right players the ball down the stretch on offense and have the right lineup out there on defense to help their team win. Too many mistakes are being made on critical possessions in crunch time and the coaching staff must step in more often to limit those mistakes.

Seth Trimble has been out with an upper-body injury the last two games and UNC misses his play a lot. In the meantime, Ian Jackson has stepped up his scoring production for the Tar Heels with three straight 20-point games and arguably has been their best player on offense and in the clutch. That is a great sign for North Carolina, adding another dimension to their offense. The Tar Heels need to focus on becoming more consistent with their play each game, playing with a relentless leave-it-all-on-the-floor mindset. Next up is Notre Dame on January 4^th at 12:00 P.M. on CBS.