UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Villanova 83-81 OT Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Falls in a Back and Forth Game in the Semi-Finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team played their second game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament against Villanova on Thursday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth game throughout the first half. One team would go on a run and then the other team would respond with another run. The Tar Heels led by as much as 9 in the first half. UNC was at its best offensively when they were pushing the pace, scoring in transition, getting dribble penetration to score in the paint, and kicking out to wide-open three-point shooters. Harrison Ingram led the way with 13 points at the half. However, defensively the Heels struggled to defend Villanova in the paint. Villanova was able to find success scoring posting up their guards and in isolation all game long against the Carolina defenders. Villanova forward EJ Dixon had the most success against the North Carolina defense from the outside and in the paint as he had 20 points in the first half alone. However, UNC still led by 1 going into halftime.
In the second half, the Tar Heels came out with much more energy, effort, and intensity on both sides of the ball in the first few minutes after halftime. North Carolina was moving the ball around with purpose and attacking the paint aggressively to help push their lead to 9. However, Villanova would not go away. The Wildcats battled back and went on a 9-0 run to tie the game. Throughout the entire game, Villanova had the advantage in the paint and at the foul line with 32 made free throws. The Wildcats were torching the Tar Heels with their isolation play and Carolina never made any adjustments to stop or disrupt anything Nova was doing offensively. North Carolina was called for 30 fouls in the game and had 3 players foul out including Harrison Ingram, Jaelyn Withers, and Elliott Cadeau. This would cause the game to go down to the wire. Down the stretch of the game, it was basket after basket scored by both teams. Neither team could get a stop and the game would go into overtime. In overtime, Villanova just made more game-changing plays than North Carolina. The Tar Heels had their opportunities to hit some shots to change the course of the game but couldn’t make the easy ones and were unable to get stops on defense. Villanova forward EJ Dixon had a game-high 34 points in this game and was dominant throughout the game, leading Villanova to their 83- 81 win over the Tar Heels.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | OT | T | |
| North Carolina 4-1 | 34 | 34 | 13 | 81 |
| Villanova 5-1 | 32 | 36 | 15 | 83 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 23 | 5 | 3 | 8/22 | 2/8 | 5/6 | 2 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| H. Ingram | 20 | 2 | 2 | 6/8 | 4/5 | 4/6 | 5 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Ryan | 18 | 3 | 1 | 7/12 | 2/6 | 2/3 | 3 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| A. Bacot | 8 | 18 | 2 | 4/10 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| J. Withers | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 5 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/1 | 3/3 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Cadeau | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1/4 | 1/1 | 0/2 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Wojcik | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/3 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Okonkwo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Z. High | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 81 | 37 | 13 | 28/65 | 9/24 | 16/23 | 30 | 225 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| E. Dixon | 34 | 10 | 0 | 11/19 | 3/5 | 9/11 | 2 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| J. Moore | 16 | 2 | 2 | 5/11 | 0/3 | 6/6 | 2 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M. Armstrong | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2/9 | 0/1 | 6/7 | 2 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T. Burton | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1/4 | 1/3 | 4/5 | 3 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Bamba | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1/8 | 0/4 | 2/2 | 3 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Longino | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3/6 | 1/4 | 2/2 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| H. Hart | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 3/3 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Njoku | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| B. Hausen | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Ware | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| T. Patterson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. O’Toole | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Dumont | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Arcidiacono | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 83 | 32 | 5 | 23/60 | 5/22 | 32/36 | 22 | 225 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Harrison Ingram had 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Cormac Ryan had 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to be more aggressive defensively but without fouling. They allow the opponent to dictate pace and don’t disrupt the opponent’s rhythm enough. They struggled to defend the paint, guard against isolation and didn’t make any changes defensively.
The North Carolina guards must be better down the stretch in games. Late in games, they make too many poor decisions. They fail to get the team into sets that will get them quality shots and settle for contested shots.
The Tar Heels’ shot selection and decision-making needs to be much better. When they settle for jump shots and are not hitting, it allows the other team to get out and run in transition for easy baskets.
In addition, they need to be better finishing around the rim. They missed too many shots around the basket and in close games that can cost you games.
The coaching staff needs to be better with in-game adjustments. They failed to make subs at the right time and change the team’s defense when the other team was playing well offensively. In this game, Villanova was scoring every time in isolation with the same play and the coaching staff never made any adjustments to stop it, which is totally unacceptable, and it ultimately cost them the game.
Final Observations
North Carolina falls to 4-1 on the season. The Heels lost to a disciplined, experienced, gritty Villanova team. The outcome could’ve been different, but they were never able to stop Villanova’s isolation attack and couldn’t execute offensively to get quality shots down the stretch of the game. Coach Hubert Davis and his coaching staff failed his team. They never made any adjustments by switching defenses to disrupt Villanova’s offense and didn’t call enough quality offensive sets down the stretch to help his team. If this team wants to ultimately be successful late in the season and make a run in any tournament, the coaching staff must be much better in those situations.
In addition, Armando Bacot needs to play better. Over the last couple of games, he has been inept offensively, and this team needs him to be much more assertive and dominant in the paint consistently for this team to reach its potential. North Carolina won’t have much time to dwell on this loss though. Next up they play their final game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament tomorrow, Friday, November 24 against the loser of the Arkansas Memphis game.