UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Lays an Egg Against Marquette
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team showed its youth again by coming out flat after a great game against Louisville on Saturday. They must learn how to bring the same level of energy every game. The Tar Heels allowed Marquette to get up to as much as 18 points in the first half. They went 3-15 from the field in the first 15 minutes and didn’t have no rhythm on offense and allowed easy layups or open 3 pointers on defense. They also committed 19 turnovers. Making it a very sloppy game.
The guard play on both ends of the court will determine the Tar Heels fate. They must hit open shots and stop dribble penetration. The UNC guards went 7-30 from the field. That’s not going to cut it against most opponents. The Tar Heels were led by Garrison Brooks with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
UNC Game Stats
1st 2nd TOT North Carolina 29 41 70 Marquette 45 38 83 North Carolina Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/- 1 BLACK 3 1-4 0-1 1-1 3 0 3 25 -2 2 LOVE 1 0-6 0-2 1-2 0 7 3 30 13 5 BACOT 3 1-4 0-0 1-2 5 2 0 13 19 15 BROOKS 18 8-10 0-0 2-4 5 0 2 30 10 24 WALTON 8 2-9 2-7 2-2 1 0 2 25 16 0 HARRIS 2 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 2 1 10 2 3 PLATEK 5 1-4 1-4 2-2 1 0 1 16 -2 4 DAVIS 11 4-10 2-4 1-2 2 1 4 18 -5 11 SHARPE 9 3-6 0-0 3-5 11 1 2 25 1 13 KESSLER 10 5-6 0-0 0-0 4 0 1 8 -1 TOTALS 70 25-60 5-18 15-22 35 13 19 200 41.7% 27.8% 68.2% Marquette Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/- 4 JOHN 11 5-7 0-0 1-2 5 0 0 29 7 5 ELLIOTT 15 4-9 3-5 4-4 3 1 2 31 7 21 CARTON 17 5-13 1-5 6-9 4 5 5 32 17 23 CAIN 3 1-4 1-4 0-0 5 0 1 26 2 33 GARCIA 24 9-13 1-4 5-5 11 2 1 37 24 10 TORRENCE 3 1-2 1-1 0-0 1 0 2 8 -4 25 MCEWEN 5 2-4 1-3 0-0 2 6 4 23 9 55 PEREZ 5 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 14 6 TOTALS 83 29-56 9-24 16-20 34 15 18 200 51.8% 37.5% 80.0%
UNC Bright Spots
Garrison Brooks had 18 points and 5 rebounds.
R.J. Davis had 11 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Walker Kessler had 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to be much better offensively. The guards need to do a better job of getting the team into their sets and getting the ball inside to the bigs. The guards also need to attack the basket more often and take better quality shots. When the guards are not aggressive, it allows teams to pack the paint and gives no room for the bigs to operate and be productive.
The Tar Heels must also do a better job of communicating and rotating on defense. There are too many instances where opponents are getting wide open layups, back-door layups, and wide-open threes.
Final Observations
This game was supposed to be a game to build on, but Marquette had other ideas and took advantage of the mismatches and made North Carolina pay on the switches. The Tar Heels seem to take teams for granted and don’t come out with consistent intensity game to game. They must learn that it’s all about respecting the current opponent and not thinking that past wins equate to the game at hand. Next up is Florida State on Saturday. UNC must regroup and be prepared for another tough outing.