UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team is Clueless in the Wake Loss

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

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The North Carolina basketball team looked to get back in the winning column against Wake Forest on Saturday night. The Tar Heels once again did not show up to play and continued to play some of their worst basketball of the season. The Heels struggled to execute offensively all the game long and weren’t able to defend Wake Forest on the perimeter or on the interior.

UNC kept it close early in the first half, but once they started to turn over the ball and let Wake Forest get out in transition, the Demon Deacons were able to pull away and push their lead to double figures. Wake Forest had 12 points off turnovers and 18 fast-break points in the first half alone and led by 10 going halftime.

In the second half, the Tar Heels couldn’t make any runs to get the game back within reach. Carolina continued to struggle to get into sets offensively and had no answers for Wake Forest players Jake Laravia and Alondes Williams who had 31 and 23 points respectively. The Heels were just unable to disrupt anything Wake Forest did offensively and it didn’t help that the UNC themselves shot 33% from the field and 21% from three. As a result, the Wake Forest lead extended to as much as 23 points. Once they got down, Carolina could not muster up the energy and effort to get back into the game and it led to their 98-76 loss.

UNC Game Stats

1st     2nd     TOT

North Carolina 36      40      76

Wake Forest    46      52      98

North Carolina

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
A. Bacot F	25	4-12	0-0	4-8	6	6	12	1	0	1	2	4	12
B. Manek F	25	8-17	3-7	3-4	3	5	8	0	3	0	0	5	22
R.J. Davis G	31	6-12	2-4	4-5	2	3	5	3	0	0	2	3	18
C. Love G	30	3-15	1-6	2-2	0	4	4	3	0	0	4	1	9
L. Black G	16	0-2	0-1	0-0	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	3	0
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
D. Garcia F	18	3-10	0-3	1-2	3	2	5	1	1	1	1	2	7
J. McKoy F	16	1-1	0-0	2-2	0	4	4	1	1	0	0	4	4
P. Johnson G	14	1-2	0-1	0-0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	2
D. Dunn G	8	0-5	0-4	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Styles G	6	1-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
K. Walton G	11	0-3	0-2	0-0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		27-81	6-28	16-23	23	27	50	9	6	2	11	25	76
		33.3%	21.4%	69.6%

Wake Forest

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
D. Walton F	13	0-2	0-2	0-0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	3	0
I. Mucius F	26	0-2	0-1	0-0	0	2	2	0	1	0	2	0	0
J. LaRavia F	37	9-13	1-2	12-15	2	8	10	4	3	1	2	2	31
A. Williams G	31	9-15	3-5	2-5	0	6	6	3	1	3	1	2	23
D. Williamson G	30	7-9	3-5	2-2	0	3	3	1	0	0	2	3	19
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
M. Marsh F	10	2-2	0-0	3-4	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	7
K. Sy F	14	0-2	0-1	0-0	0	2	2	1	0	1	0	2	0
C. Whitt G	10	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
L. Taylor G	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
C. Hildreth G	3	1-1	0-0	2-2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	4
R. Mccray V G	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Monsanto G	19	4-11	3-9	2-2	0	5	5	1	2	0	1	1	13
M. Lester G	1	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		32-59	10-26	24-32	3	35	38	11	7	6	8	15	98
		54.2%	38.5%	75.0%

UNC Bright Spots

Brady Manek had 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals.

RJ Davis had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists.

Armando Bacot had 12 points and12 rebounds.

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

The Tar Heels are now in 12-6 on the season and 4-3 in the ACC. They have lost two straight games by more than 20 points and they just need to be better in every facet of the game. The talent is there for them to be one of the top teams in the country, but they have to find a way to put it together consistently on the court.

It starts with the guards. This team will only go as far as the guards take them. They have to lead this team and not play selfish basketball. They need to get back to Carolina basketball, playing inside out, moving the ball, and making sure they get the ball to the open man to get the best shot possible on every possession.

Armando Bacot is the best player on the team so they need to feed him the ball first and then it will allow everyone else to get going offensively. The bench also needs to step up and contribute to help this team improve. Guys like Kerwin Walton, Dawson Garcia, Justin Mccoy, Demarco Dunn, Puff Johnson, and Dontrez Styles, all have to be better now that Anthony Harris is out for the remainder of the season.

The Coaching staff has to make sure they are putting these guys in a position to succeed. They have to find a way to stop these teams that are perimeter-oriented teams that continue to destroy them off dribble penetration. In all 6 losses, the Heels have struggled tremendously against dribble penetration and in those same games have struggled offensively. So, they need to make adjustments and changes if they want to turn this season around. UNC has a big week ahead of them with three games in one week so they need to be ready and prepared for each challenge. Next up is Virginia Tech on Monday at 8:00 P.M.