UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Folds and Falters
by Derrick Clyburn
North Carolina forward Garrison Brooks (15) shoots over Syracuse forward Bourama Sidibe during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)
The Tar Heels basketball team completely faltered from the start they had 4 fouls and three turnovers within the first 3:50 of the game. Syracuse got up 9-0 and never looked back.
North Carolina could never get in a rhythm or figure out Syracuse’s matchup zone defense. They struggled to get good looks at the basket. That seemed to carry over to their matador defensive effort which compounded itself and led to frustration on the part of all the Tar Heel players.
UNC Game Stats
1 2 T
North Carolina 22 31 53
Syracuse 43 38 81
North Carolina
Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/-
1 BLACK 14 5-10 1-2 3-3 4 1 3 24 -6
2 ANTHONY 5 2-10 1-6 0-0 4 3 6 36 -23
4 ROBINSON 4 1-4 0-3 2-2 1 0 4 23 -13
5 BACOT 8 3-7 0-0 2-2 7 3 0 25 -12
15 BROOKS 18 7-14 0-0 4-6 4 0 2 37 -30
3 PLATEK 0 0-2 0-1 0-0 3 0 0 9 -14
11 RUSH 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 2 2
13 FRANCIS 0 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 9 -10
22 MILLER 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2
25 ELLIS 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2
30 SMITH 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 2
32 PIERCE 2 1-2 0-0 0-0 4 0 1 10 -20
34 O’HAN 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
35 MCADOO 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2
55 KEELING 0 0-4 0-1 0-0 5 0 1 15 -22
TOTALS 53 20-60 2-16 11-13 42 9 18 200
33.3% 12.5% 84.6%
Syracuse
Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/-
11 GIRARD III 3 1-6 1-4 0-0 2 8 0 35 31
21 DOLEZAJ 13 6-11 0-0 1-2 3 0 1 24 11
33 HUGHES 27 9-20 4-10 5-5 7 2 1 38 30
34 SIDIBE 12 4-5 0-0 4-6 13 1 2 35 27
35 BOEHEIM 17 4-8 2-4 7-12 1 3 1 36 31
0 GOODINE 2 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 4 -3
1 GUERRIER 7 3-6 0-1 1-3 9 1 1 19 20
10 WASHINGTON 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 4 -3
12 PAUL 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 -2
24 BELBEY 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 -2
TOTALS 81 28-60 7-21 18-28 38 15 8 200
46.7% 33.3% 64.3%
UNC Bright Spots
Garrison Brooks had 18 points and 4 rebounds.
Leaky Black had 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Needs Work
North Carolina has to start games with more urgency and intensity. The Tar Heels need to work on their on the ball defense and help-side defense. Several times they were lazy on the defensive end when rotating or keeping their man in front of them.
Final Observations
This disastrous season is finally over. This was a season riddled with injuries, lack of practice, lack of chemistry, and bad breaks happening game after game. The silver lining is that next season can’t be worst than what we witnessed this year. The 2020-2021 Tar Heels will add four Mc Donald’s All-Americans to go along with expected returning players Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, and Jeremiah Francis to build a very solid team.
Roy Williams endured a season to forget. He will get back to the drawing board and work on building another team that will pursue a deep run in the NCAA tournament next season.