UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Wake Forest 92-85 Loss
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Doesn’t Show Up Until Midway Through the Second Half
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team played a lackluster, unemotional, who-cares first half against Wake forest. I have never seen such apathy from any North Carolina team on the basketball court. It was not just embarrassing but sad.
It seemed like the players were just going through the motions and sulking from their loss to Duke last Saturday. Armando Bacot was the only bright spot with 13 points in the first half with the Heels going into the locker room down by 22.
In the second half, Wake Forest built the lead to 27 points before the Tar Heels began to dig down and make a slow but steady comeback. Coach Davis had to use his bench liberally due to foul trouble from Bacot. North Carolina started to show some fight in them like they should have begun the game.
The Tar Heels get no closer than 7 points but they fought to the final buzzer with Caleb love hitting 4 three-pointers to make it close. The Tar Heels scored 60 points–sixty!–in the second half on Tuesday, outscored Wake by 15…and still lost the game. That’s unacceptable!
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| North Carolina 15-9 | 25 | 60 | 85 |
| Wake Forest 16-9 | 47 | 45 | 92 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Love | 24 | 3 | 0 | 9/25 | 4/9 | 2/2 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 17 | 11 | 0 | 7/15 | 0/1 | 3/5 | 5 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| R. Davis | 16 | 5 | 5 | 4/12 | 0/4 | 8/8 | 3 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| P. Nance | 11 | 10 | 2 | 5/8 | 0/2 | 1/2 | 3 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| L. Black | 2 | 10 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 1 | 29 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| P. Johnson | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 4/4 | 4 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| S. Trimble | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Nickel | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3/3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Dunn | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| T. Appleby | 35 | 7 | 11 | 6/20 | 0/6 | 23/28 | 1 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Monsanto | 16 | 7 | 0 | 4/11 | 3/9 | 5/5 | 2 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Bradford | 8 | 6 | 1 | 3/4 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| A. Carr | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3/7 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| C. Hildreth | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2/9 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 5 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| M. Marsh | 10 | 4 | 0 | 5/5 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Williamson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Klintman | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2/3 | 1/1 | 0/1 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 2 |
UNC Bright Spots
Caleb Love had 24 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Armando Bacot had 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 steal.
RJ Davis had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists
Pete Nance had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels started the game out by disrespecting the program with their first-half performance. They need to understand and take pride in what North Carolina basketball is all about. They must play with more urgency, energy, and effort.
They must be better with their shot selection, move the ball more often and take advantage of their mismatches on offense to give them a more balanced offensive attack in the half-court. They also need to cut down on their turnovers and be better with their transition defense.
The Tar Heels must also be better defensively at guarding pick and rolls and with their help defense.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels are now 15-9 on the season and 7-6 in ACC play. The first half was a horrible performance for a team that has so many veteran players. It’s inexcusable for them to play so poorly. Hubert needs to go to the youth movement and start building for the future if these veterans don’t want to show up with more fire and effort in the games. Next up is Clemson Saturday at 2 pm.