UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs Miami 75-66 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Lays an Egg After Their Rivalry Win and Miami Exploits It to Give UNC Another Loss
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team faced off against Miami on Monday night. Coming off a hard-fought win over Duke, the Tar Heels needed to switch their focus to the Hurricanes quickly. In the opening minutes of the game, Miami came out red hot and hit 11 of their first 14 shots, leading the Heels 24-15. From the very start, North Carolina’s lack of energy, effort, and urgency was apparent. The Tar Heels were very sloppy with the ball, played lackadaisical defense, and just weren’t ready to play early on. Once the Tar Heels woke up and started to settle into the game, they were able to cut into the Miami lead. UNC got a huge boost from its bench in the first half, with 19 of its 40 points coming from its reserves. Miami dominated UNC in the paint, outscoring them 26-14, but what kept Carolina in the game was their three-point shooting. North Carolina made 7 of their 13 threes in the first half and shot 55% from the field. Both teams shot the ball extremely well, but Miami led by 3 going into halftime, mainly due to the poor defense by Carolina and the Heels’ 8 turnovers.
In the second half, both teams missed 11 of their first 15 shots, but the game would go down to the wire. The Tar Heels struggled to get consistent offense from their starters. North Carolina just wasn’t aggressive enough in attacking the basket and playing through their bigs to help generate quality shots for everyone on the floor. In addition, when the Heels did have good looks, they passed it up to take a tougher shot or make an ill-advised pass that led to multiple empty possessions. North Carolina wasn’t as locked in or sharp on either side of the floor in this game. Defensively, the Heels played much better in the second half, but they allowed multiple offensive rebounds, which led to second-chance points for the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes had 9 second-chance points, and it would come back to bite the Heels late.
North Carolina wasn’t as locked in or sharp on either side of the floor in this game. UNC looked out of sorts, rushing shots, making bad passes, not securing the ball on rebounds, and allowing multiple easy baskets because of a lack of focus and communication defensively. Miami was the more invested team and just outhustled and outplayed Carolina when it mattered most. North Carolina shot 26% from the field in the second half and missed 10 of their final 12 shots. Even though Miami didn’t shoot the ball well either, they made more winning plays than the Tar Heels in the final minutes and hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the game when UNC couldn’t buy a shot. Carolina loses to Miami 75-66, ending their 5-game winning streak.
UNC Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 11 North Carolina 19-5 | 40 | 26 | 66 |
| Miami (Fla.) 19-5 | 43 | 32 | 75 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Stevenson | 13 | 6 | 0 | 6/10 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 4 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Wilson | 12 | 6 | 0 | 4/10 | 0/1 | 4/6 | 1 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| H. Veesaar | 11 | 6 | 2 | 5/12 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 4 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0/5 | 0/3 | 4/4 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Dixon | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1/9 | 0/6 | 0/0 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| K. Evans | 8 | 0 | 4 | 3/4 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| L. Bogavac | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2/5 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Powell | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2/4 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 1 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Young | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1/3 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Z. High | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Denis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Davis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Holbrook | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Smith | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 66 | 31 | 16 | 25/63 | 8/27 | 8/10 | 18 | 200 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| Starters | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| M. Reneau | 16 | 10 | 4 | 5/11 | 1/1 | 5/9 | 3 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| E. Udeh Jr. | 15 | 10 | 1 | 7/8 | 0/0 | 1/4 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| T. Donaldson | 14 | 6 | 5 | 6/16 | 0/4 | 2/2 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| S. Henderson | 12 | 5 | 0 | 5/14 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 1 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| D. Allen | 9 | 2 | 4 | 4/8 | 0/2 | 1/3 | 1 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| T. Malovec | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 2/2 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Dovrat | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Altuntas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Kee | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Laboy II | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 75 | 35 | 15 | 29/62 | 3/13 | 14/23 | 9 | 200 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
UNC Bright Spots
Jarin Stevenson had 13 points and 6 rebounds
Caleb Wilson had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Henri Veesar had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to make sure they are not allowing the defense to dictate what shots they take. The shot selection must be better. They must consistently play through the bigs and attack the basket aggressively to collapse the defense, which will generate better shots for them.
The Tar Heels need to play hard for 40 minutes. They need to play with a sense of urgency to start games and not have stretches where they play lackadaisical basketball or just look uninterested out there on the floor.
The Heels must be better on the defensive glass, securing rebounds. Everyone on the floor needs to do a better job of crashing the boards and boxing out, not just the bigs.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels fall to a 19-5 record after a letdown performance against Miami. North Carolina just has to be better on the road. They are great at home and are undefeated, but they are now 3-4 on the road in ACC play. The coaching staff must find a way to get this team to play with the same sense of urgency and energy on the road. It takes too long for this team to settle into the game, and by that time, their opponents are already too comfortable. In order to be a good road team, you have to throw the first punch; you can’t always be the second team to fight back. Too often, the Heels put themselves in a hole early in these games, and it’s hard to consistently try to make comebacks. They are a better team than what they have shown on the road this season, and they need do whatever it takes preparation wise to help them play their best basketball away from the Smith Center. The Tar Heels have dropped to 7th in the ACC standings.
They cannot afford to lose many more games because it will affect their seeding in the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. The coaching staff must get this message across to their players and emphasize the importance of each game, playing each one like their season is on the line. This team is very good, can compete with anybody when they are at their best, and hasn’t even reached their potential yet, but they must take care of business in the regular season to give themselves a better chance of making a run in March. Next up is Pittsburgh on Saturday, February 14, at 2:00 P.M. on ESPN.
Carolina got punked, end of story.