UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Fail to Adjust to Miami and Gets Blasted

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by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team traveled to Florida to face off against Miami on Tuesday night and played their worst game of the season. The Tar Heels did not come ready to play and it was on display from the start of the game. Miami got out to an early lead and kept the lead for the remainder of the game. The Heels were outplayed on both ends of the floor from start to finish.

UNC struggled to defend the Hurricanes on the perimeter and against dribble penetration. Miami got whatever they wanted offensively and took advantage of all the Heels’ mistakes and miscues. North Carolina just never adjusted to Miami’s 5 out offense and they made Miami’s offense look unstoppable throughout the game. Offensively, the Heels were no better. They did not take care of the ball and they got frustrated that their shots were not falling. As a result, the Tar Heel’s overall energy just went away from the game because things were not going their way.

Miami outplayed them in all aspects of the game and led by as many as 33. The Heels shot 28% from the field in the first half, and 33% for the entire game. Only Armando Bacot scored in double figures and the Heels just never looked comfortable at any point in the game. It was North Carolina’s worst performance of the season and it ended in an 85-57 loss.

UNC Game Stats

1st     2nd     TOT

North Carolina 22      35      57

Miami          49      36      85

North Carolina

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
A. Bacot F	27	6-9	0-0	3-4	4	8	12	1	0	1	4	4	15
B. Manek F	25	2-8	2-8	1-2	0	3	3	3	0	1	1	1	7
R.J. Davis G	30	3-10	0-3	3-3	1	4	5	0	0	1	4	1	9
C. Love G	30	2-12	1-5	0-0	0	3	3	3	0	1	2	1	5
L. Black G	12	0-2	0-1	0-0	2	1	3	2	0	0	0	1	0
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
D. Garcia F	15	1-4	1-4	0-0	0	1	1	0	1	1	1	3	3
J. McKoy F	16	1-4	0-2	0-0	2	2	4	3	0	0	1	2	2
P. Johnson G	5	0-3	0-1	0-1	2	2	4	0	0	0	1	1	0
D. Dunn G	9	2-3	0-1	0-0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	4
D. Styles G	12	3-5	1-2	0-1	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	7
K. Walton G	19	2-5	1-3	0-0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	5
TEAM		22-65	6-30	7-11	15	30	45	13	1	5	14	18	57
		33.8%	20.0%	63.6%

Miami

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
S. Waardenburg F	24	7-9	5-6	2-4	0	2	2	2	1	1	0	1	21
I. Wong G	35	9-18	5-8	2-3	1	7	8	2	2	0	2	0	25
J. Miller G	32	1-6	0-3	0-0	1	5	6	1	2	0	0	1	2
C. Moore G	26	2-8	0-3	3-4	0	3	3	4	1	0	1	3	7
K. McGusty G	35	7-15	1-5	5-7	1	9	10	4	4	0	0	3	20
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
T. Oosterbroek F	1	0-0	0-0	1-2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
A. Walker F	14	0-0	0-0	1-2	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1
D. Gak F	5	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
R. Miller Jr. C	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
W. Poplar G	6	1-2	1-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
B. Joseph G	19	2-4	1-2	0-0	0	3	3	2	0	0	0	2	5
F. Gkogkos G	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		29-63	13-28	14-22	8	31	39	16	10	1	4	13	85
		46.0%	46.4%	63.6%

UNC Bright Spots

Armando Bacot had 15 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block.

Needs Work

Defensively, the Tar Heels have to be much better in all areas. They need to be better at the point of attack, with their help-side defense, against dribble penetration, with their post defense, and with their rim protection. They also have to communicate better with each other on defense

The Coaching staff has to do a better job of making in-game adjustments to stop the other team’s momentum, whether that be offensively or defensively. When something is not working, adjustments must be made quickly so the game will not get out of hand.

The coaches must realize when they quicker faster guards that they have to mix in some zone schemes to slow them down.

The UNC guards have to understand when their shots are not falling how to impact the game in other ways to help the team win. It seems as if when they are not scoring their effort in any other facet of the game drops dramatically, which is totally unacceptable and detrimental to the team.

The Tar Heels also must continue to work on cutting down on their turnovers. They had 14 in the game.

Final Observations

The Tar Heels once again played the worst game of the season and that’s saying something because their losses to Kentucky and Tennessee were both pretty bad. This team is just too inconsistent. They have to find a way to find some consistency in their play from game to game if they want to reach their potential as a team.

This coaching staff and team need to do some soul searching and find out what team they want to be. There is too much talent on this team for them to be having performances like they had tonight. The coaching staff has to do a much better job of putting their players in a position where they can succeed.

If their original game plan is not working they must be willing to make adjustments to it to help win these types of games. In the five losses this season, it has become evident that true point guards that are quick and fast give our combo scoring guards give Love and Davis a hard time. And in this game, Miami had at least four guys on the court at all times that could handle the ball so they gave the Heels even more problems with their dribble penetration and perimeter attack.

The Heels got rattled when things did not go their way and they just did not play well. Coach Davis and the staff have to be aware of these flaws and use more zone defense to slow down the dribble penetration and offensively be able to run some sets to get quality open looks for other players when teams are focusing on stopping Armando Bacot. The Tar Heels have to regroup, make changes to the issues plaguing them, and play to the strengths and identity of this team going forward if they ever want to compete with top teams. Next up is Wake Forest on Saturday at 8 P.M.