UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Wakes Up to Close Out a Victory Over Miami

by Derrick Clyburn

• 

The North Carolina basketball team slept walked through most of the game. They woke up with seven minutes left in the game and fought back to take the victory with a bucket by Andrew Platek with three seconds on the clock.

The Tar Heels struggled with the same issues again. They turned the ball over 19 times and allowed players to drive for layups and dunks. UNC seemed to just be going through the motions playing with lack luster effort but they found a way to pull out the game. North Carolina was led in scoring by Rechon “Leaky” Black with a career-high 16 points on 4-4 from the 3 point line.

UNC Game Stats

1	2	T
North Carolina	32	35	67
Miami		30	35	65

North Carolina
		FG	3PT	FT	REB	AST	TO	PTS
D. Sharpe	4-12	0-0	4-5	16	0	3	12
A. Bacot	1-3	0-0	5-5	2	0	1	7
K. Walton	4-8	3-7	2-2	1	4	3	13
R.J. Davis	1-5	0-2	0-0	0	0	2	2
L. Black	6-9	4-4	0-2	9	3	2	16
W. Kessler	0-1	0-0	1-2	2	0	1	1
G. Brooks	1-7	0-0	4-6	7	1	2	6
P. Johnson	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0
C. Love		1-9	1-3	0-0	4	4	4	3
A. Platek	3-6	1-3	0-0	1	1	1	7
TEAM		21-61	9-20	16-22	45	13	19	67
 		34.4%	45.0%	72.7%

Miami
		FG	3PT	FT	REB	AST	TO	PTS
M. Cross	2-4	2-4	0-0	3	2	2	6
N. Brooks	5-8	0-0	0-0	6	0	1	10
E. Timberlake	3-13	0-3	6-7	5	5	5	12
I. Wong		3-8	0-1	2-2	4	0	1	8
H. Beverly	3-13	0-3	3-5	2	2	3	9
A. Walker	3-8	0-2	3-3	3	0	1	9
D. Gak		0-2	0-0	0-1	4	0	1	0
E. OlaniyiG	3-6	1-2	4-4	3	0	0	11
TEAM		22-62	3-15	18-22	38	9	14	65
 		35.5%	20.0%	81.8%

UNC Bright Spots

Leaky Black had a career-high 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Kerwin Walton had 13 points, 4 assists, and 1 rebound.

Day’Ron Sharpe had 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels must continue to cut down on the turnovers. They had 19 turnovers for the game, which is unacceptable. They need to come out with more energy and intensity on both ends of the floor and play smart, clean basketball.

UNC needs to get better in stopping dribble penetration. They allowed a couple of highlight dunks.

Final Observations

At this point in the season, you take what you can get. A win is a win and this was an ugly win. It seems that too many Tar Heels are thinking too much. They still haven’t defined their identity yet. UNC is playing way below their potential but still is in games. They shot 29% from the 2 point shots tonight which is ridiculous.

North Carolina has to just keep working on the little things and pay attention to details. The freshmen point guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis have to find some confidence in their shots. They were 2-14 from the field and committed 6 turnovers. Again, UNC will take this win and continue to build from it.