On Wednesday, exactly one month ago, North Carolina defeated Syracuse 36 points at home and appeared to be a serious contender for the national championship. The Tar Heels won 103-67, and they played almost perfectly. The only suspense in the last seconds was whether they would score more over 100 points, which would have sparked a well-liked Smith Centre promotion offering free fast food biscuits. Think about how UNC dominated that specific Saturday. In both halves, it scored a minimum of 51 points. In the first half, it led by as much as 27 points, and in the second, by 39. Two players, Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram, each finished with nine points; five players scored in double figures. The Tar Heels had comparable success on the defensive aspect as well. This week, UNC went to upstate New York, where it played the Syracuse squad that it had thrashed a month prior on Tuesday night. It was going to be a different game from the start, and it was going to be more of a road test. The Tar Heels fell behind by ten points four times in the first half and were behind for nearly thirty-two minutes on the whole. Their 86-79 loss was a 43-point difference from their Jan. 13 at Chapel Hill matchup with these opponents. More significantly, the loss continued a troubling trend for the Tar Heels and was UNC’s third in the previous five games. Teams hoping to go on long March runs should be getting close peak form in February. UNC is trending the opposite way. Amid UNC’s recent struggles, here are reasons to be concerned. And why to remain hopeful, still:
f there’s one broad, general commonality among UNC’s three recent defeats, it’s probably this: it hasn’t played winning basketball in the final minutes. “Winning basketball” is one of those nebulous cliches coaches like to use that can be difficult to define with precision. But whatever it is, it’s not what UNC has been doing late in games. The Tar Heels were in a good (or at least decent) position with four minutes remaining against Georgia Tech, Clemson and Syracuse, and found a way to lose all three. Clemson turned a tie game into a four-point victory; Syracuse’s lead went from four to seven. UNC actually cut into Georgia Tech’s three-point lead with four minutes left, but couldn’t make the critical play late. Even in its two victories during the past five games, the trend has held. UNC led Duke by 13 points with four minutes left, before the Blue Devils cut that deficit to seven. At Miami, UNC led by nine with four minutes remaining and then held on for a three-point victory. Missed shots, turnovers, missed free throws, bad fouls – it has been different things in different games down the stretch. But overall it has been the same thing: bad basket
Roy Williams liked to remark, “Everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket,” or at least that was one of his most often used sayings. maybe even worse when it comes to UNC’s defence. However, the Royism is accurate and serves as a subliminal reminder of how much of this game is luck-based. Yes, controlled chance. Still, it’s chance. A team might just get hot at times. like Tuesday night in Syracuse, for example. The Orange’s field goal percentage of 62.5% was the highest by a UNC opponent since Pittsburgh’s 64.5% in February 2015. (Yes, UNC also lost the match.) After a game like that, one’s first thought is, “Wow, what happened to the Tar Heels’ defence?!” Actually, the discussion ought to probably focus more on Syracuse, which played probably its best game of the season and held on in the final minutes.
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