UNC Tar Heels Basketball Teams Lethargic Start Ends in an Awful Loss

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team seemed to take Pittsburgh for granted. They allowed the Panthers to hang around and get comfortable at the Dean Dome. UNC had no energy or intensity. Pittsburgh hit six 3 pointers and shot 67% from the field in the first half. They played very physical and aggressively with the Carolina guards and it took them out of rhythm.

The Tar Heels had a hard time getting into their offense and the guards just passed the ball around the perimeter. They took bad shots or drove in the paint and drew charges. The result was a 17 point half-time deficit.

In the second half, both teams struggled offensively but Pittsburgh increased their lead to 21 points. With 7 minutes left in the game, Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton got hot and scored 26 of the next 30 points for the Heels to cut the lead to just 6 points. Then, Caleb Love intercepted a pass and then dribbled it off of his foot out of bounds and that was pretty much the game.

UNC Game Stats

1st     2nd     TOT

North Carolina         23      44      67

Pittsburgh             40      36      76

North Carolina

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
A. Bacot F	26	2-6	0-0	3-4	4	4	8	4	0	3	3	4	7
B. Manek F	35	5-13	1-7	1-2	5	5	10	3	2	1	4	3	12
R.J. Davis G	35	1-6	0-2	1-2	0	1	1	2	4	0	2	3	3
C. Love G	38	7-14	1-6	4-5	0	2	2	2	1	0	3	3	19
L. Black G	36	4-8	2-4	1-1	2	4	6	2	1	1	1	2	11
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
P. Johnson G	2	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Styles G	10	1-3	0-2	2-2	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	0	4
K. Walton G	18	4-7	3-4	0-0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	11
TEAM		24-58	7-26	12-16	11	18	29	13	11	6	13	18	67
		41.4%	26.9%	75.0%

Pittsburgh

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
M. Gueye F	29	4-7	2-4	1-2	0	5	5	1	1	2	3	4	11
J. Hugley F	27	6-10	1-2	5-6	2	3	5	0	0	1	2	4	18
F. Odukale G	40	3-6	2-3	2-2	0	3	3	9	1	0	7	2	10
I. Horton G	40	5-9	5-5	4-4	1	4	5	0	1	0	1	2	19
J. Burton G	38	4-11	0-2	6-6	1	6	7	2	0	0	3	4	14
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
N. Collier F	6	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
W. Jeffress G	18	1-3	0-1	0-0	1	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	2
O. Ezeakudo G	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		24-47	10-17	18-20	5	23	28	12	5	4	18	16	76
		51.1%	58.8%	90.0%

UNC Bright Spots

Caleb Love had 19 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Brady Manek had 12 points 10 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Leaky Black had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to improve their defense overall on the perimeter, on the interior, and in transition. They need to find a scheme that will allow them to disrupt teams who play 4 players out on the perimeter and not allow straight-line drives and easy lanes to the basket. Their communication also needs to be better so they won’t allow so many wide-open shots.

The Coaching staff has to do a better job of making in-game adjustments to stop the other team’s momentum. 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.

Final Observations

This North Carolina team will go as the guards go. Caleb Love and R.J. Davis allow too many teams to bully them and take them out of their game. They must Man up and be the aggressor, because when they struggle they lose their attention to detail in other aspects of their game.

This is the team that Coach Davis has to work with. He has no true point guards on this team. So he has to deal with the hand that he was dealt. There is no consistency and you don’t what to expect from game to game.

Next up Va. Tech on Saturday at 4 pm.