UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Falls Short to Texas

by Derrick Clyburn

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The Tar Heels basketball team played a big guard athletic team in Texas today. They had more bounce off the dribble and attacked the basket relentlessly. North Carolina had the advantage inside but couldn’t take advantage of their size enough to seize control.

UNC got down by as much as 16 points and fought their way back to take a two point lead with a minute left in the game but they couldn’t complete the deal. The Tar Heels missed 14 free throws and only made one 3 point shot and still had a chance to win. North Carolina was led by Garrison Brooks who had 18 points and 7 rebounds on a bum ankle.

UNC Game Stats

1	2	T
#14 North Carolina	28	39	67
#17 Texas		40	29	69

North Carolina
		Pts	FG	3FG	FT	REB	A	TO	Min	+/-
1 BLACK 	8	3-7	0-0	2-3	10	2	1	34	-3
2 LOVE 		5	2-13	0-4	1-2	1	0	4	30	-3
4 DAVIS 	11	3-11	0-2	5-7	4	3	3	33	13
5 BACOT 	10	3-5	0-0	4-7	12	0	1	25	8
15 BROOKS 	18	7-12	0-0	4-7	7	0	1	30	-8
3 PLATEK 	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	6	-11
11 SHARPE 	8	4-6	0-0	0-1	5	1	1	16	-5
13 KESSLER 	4	1-1	0-0	2-5	2	0	1	8	1
14 JOHNSON 	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	6	1
24 WALTON 	3	1-2	1-2	0-0	0	0	0	8	1
30 SMITH 	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	3	-4
TOTALS		67	24-58	1-9	18-32	50	6	14	200

UNC Shooting	FG	FG%	3FG	3FG%	FT	FT%
1st Half	11-28	39%	1-4	25%	5-13	38%
2nd Half	13-30	43%	0-5	00%	13-19	68%
Game		24-58	41.4%	1-9	11.1%	18-32	56.3%


Texas
		Pts	FG	3FG	FT	REB	A	TO	Min	+/-
1 JONES 	5	1-7	1-4	2-2	2	1	5	18	-9
2 COLEMAN III 	22	9-16	3-6	1-2	0	3	1	37	0
3 RAMEY 	13	5-17	2-4	1-2	3	3	1	37	2
4 BROWN 	10	3-9	1-5	3-4	6	0	0	19	-20
20 SIMS 	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	13	-11
0 LIDDELL 	2	1-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	1	8	9
5 HAMM JR. 	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	5	1	1	20	14
22 JONES 	12	4-5	1-1	3-3	8	2	2	26	17
30 CUNNINGHAM 	3	1-2	1-2	0-0	0	0	0	21	8
TOTALS		69	25-60	9-22	10-14	32	10	11	200

Texas Shooting	FG	FG%	3FG	3FG%	FT	FT%
1st Half	12-29	41%	7-15	47%	9-12	75%
2nd Half	13-31	42%	2-7	29%	1-2	50%
Game		25-60	41.7%	9-22	40.9%	10-14	71.4%

UNC Bright Spots

Garrison Brooks 18 points and 7 rebounds.

R.J. Davis had 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Armando Bacot had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels have to learn how to maintain their focus and intensity for the complete game. They allowed dribble penetration and played passive defense in the first half that led Texas to a 20-4 run which was the difference in the game.

North Carolina has a small backcourt right now and the Texas big guards took advantage of all game including the game winning shot. Hopefully, Anthony Harris will be back soon to bring some toughness and size at the two-guard spot for UNC.

Final Observations

This North Carolina team has a grittiness about it that I like. No matter how the game is going wrong they have a fight in them to get back in the game. People have to realize this is a very young team that played a Texas team with their whole starting five back. When UNC gets to full strength at the guard position they will make a bigger impact this season.

Yes, everyone wants to go undefeated but it’s about learning, growing, building chemistry and developing for this team. They will be fine as long as everyone stays healthy. It’s a marathon not a sprint.