UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Stagnant in the 2nd Half
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
North Carolina forward Armando Bacot (5) dunks while Pittsburgh guard Justin Champagnie (11) looks on during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
The Tar Heels basketball team came out with a lot of more urgency and effort against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night than the past two games. In the first half, UNC moved the ball well on offense and played well on the defensive end holding Pittsburgh to 32% from the field, which led to their 9-point lead going into halftime.
In the second half, North Carolina’s offense got stagnant as they could not buy a basket and turned the ball over nine times. UNC struggled to guard the three-point line in the second half as they allowed Pittsburgh to hit 8 threes just in the second half and to shoot 58% from the field overall. Pittsburgh would go on two big runs in the second half including a 16-4 run early in the second half to take the lead and a 16-5 run to finish the game.
UNC Game Stats
1 2 T
North Carolina 37 28 65
Pittsburgh 28 45 73
North Carolina
Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/-
1 BLACK 9 3-9 1-5 2-2 5 4 3 34 -10
4 ROBINSON 13 4-9 3-8 2-2 1 3 3 34 -11
5 BACOT 15 6-11 0-0 3-4 9 4 4 31 -9
13 FRANCIS 2 1-9 0-5 0-0 2 4 4 24 4
15 BROOKS 21 9-12 1-1 2-5 10 1 1 37 -8
3 PLATEK 2 1-4 0-1 0-0 5 0 1 19 -2
30 SMITH 1 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 3 3
32 PIERCE 0 0-4 0-1 0-2 4 0 0 12 1
55 KEELING 2 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 6 -8
TOTALS 65 25-61 5-21 10-17 42 17 17 200
Pittsburgh
Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/-
0 HAMILTON 6 1-2 0-0 4-4 2 0 2 19 8
1 JOHNSON 17 6-11 1-2 4-6 3 3 6 32 20
2 MCGOWENS 24 8-17 4-8 4-6 6 8 4 39 7
11 CHAMPAGNIE 22 7-12 4-7 4-4 8 0 1 40 8
24 MURPHY 4 1-8 0-4 2-2 4 2 0 38 12
4 DRUMGOOLE 0 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 10 -16
12 COULIBALY 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 -3
21 BROWN 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 18 4
31 EZEAKUDO 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 73 23-52 9-22 18-22 27 13 13 200
UNC Bright Spots
Garrison Brooks had 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Armando Bacot had 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Brandon Robinson had 13 points, 1 rebound, and 3 assists.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to cut down on turnovers. They go through too many stretches where they have too many unforced or careless turnovers.
UNC needs to do a better job of stopping dribble penetration and playing help defense. Too many times the other team is getting wide-open threes or layups due to lack of rotations on the defense.
The Tar Heels also need to work on their execution on offense. There are too many occasions where the Heels go through scoring droughts throughout the game and bad offensive possessions with bad shot selection.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels basketball team is now 8-7 on the season and 1-3 in ACC play. At this point in the season, UNC cannot afford to lose games that they should win. The two transfers, Christian Keeling and Justin Pierce have been disappointments so far this season. They have not lived up to expectations yet.
In addition, other players have not stepped up to fill the void left by players from last season. With Cole Anthony out North Carolina just has not found a way to win games consistently. The coaches must do a better job of putting these players in a position to win on the court because this is a young team with not a lot of experience.
They make too many mistakes on their own. UNC is much better than the way they have been playing lately and needs to find ways to win because the schedule does not get any easier going forward.