Chansky's Notebook: The Outfoxing

Ten days of hell just became two weeks, maybe more.

It’s one thing to lose at Miami, which entered the game in first place in the ACC, but it’s another to come out of it like you were 30 points worse than the underrated and athletic Hurricanes.

Despite a center with seven straight double-doubles (who made it eight after the outcome was decided,) the Tar Heels’ first five shots were 3-pointers, four of them missing. From there it was an avalanche.

Now, facing a brutal rescheduled stretch of five games in 10 days, Hubert Davis will send his troops back to boot camp to somehow get ready for sneaky-good Wake Forest in Winston-Salem Saturday. If Carolina can’t win three straight home dates against Virginia Tech, Boston College and N.C. State next week, it faces four far tougher games the following two weeks.

By getting embarrassed and out-foxed in Coral Gables, the Heels have shown they cannot beat anyone in the league besides two of the worst teams (BC and Georgia Tech), and way-below-par Virginia.

That’s how disheartening the blowout by The U looked, from the first coach on the bench to the last player who was in at the end of the 85-57 rout that pretty much left the ACC race to Miami and Duke, which lost in overtime at Florida State. Two wins for the unvaxxed Sunshine State!

UNC’s game plan was pretty simple, but its execution was awful. Work to get the ball to Armando Bacot and stay in front of Miami’s dribble-drives. Instead, the Heels settled for the three-ball and when Brady Manek’s first went in to give them a short-lived lead, it seemed that it would be easy.

Not soon after, Leaky Black, R.J. Davis, Caleb Love and Manek missed the next four, and Miami tied the game on a 3-pointer from unheralded center Sam Waardenburg, who went on to score 17 points in the first half and finish with 5-of-6 threes and a career-high of 21 points.

Meanwhile, the Heels attempted 30 long balls and hit only 6 (20 percent) and made 16 of their 35 shorter shots for a decent 46 percent. The U shot the same stat from in close but drained 13 from the arc.

That 21-point differential turned what should have been the close game we expected into the second-worst loss of the season behind Kentucky.

Photo via AP Photo/Lynne Sladky.

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