Well, the pressure is off in more ways than one.
The formerly first-ranked Tar Heels continue what could be the fastest drop out of the polls in college basketball history with their third consecutive loss over the last week.
The fall down the elevator shaft will take the pressure off a team that clearly was riding on the laurels of a hot last month of last season, and they are surely happy that the latest 77-65 loss is over along with the stifling defensive pressure Indiana applied all night. The Hoosiers forced 10 turnovers off which they scored almost every time.
A month does not a season make, and that will apply to how Carolina has opened so unimpressively with a 5-3 record. That doesn’t mean the road-weary Heels cannot get it together to have a better December, when ACC play starts, and climb their way back into the conversation like they did last March.
At this point, they are not close to being that team, and it’s not about the loss of shooting ace Brady Manek, who is replaced by Pete Nance’s more nuanced game. It is actually the four returning starters who are most responsible for the way this season has gone so far.
“At the end of the day, our better players have to play well,” said Hubert Davis, who refused to use the four-game and ten-day trip to Oregon and Indiana or some nagging injuries as excuses for being embarrassed by the 10th-ranked team on both ends of the court.
On offense, the Tar Heels were completely flustered and shut down by the kind of defense Indiana’s Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight used to play. The Hoosiers were aggressive from the jump in shutting off the passing lanes and the sight lines, resulting in UNC going 3-for-17 out of the gate and shooting a season-low of 34 percent for the game.
And the Heels’ D was zero match for IU’s pass and screen and cut offense that runs through their preseason All-American big man Trayce Jackson-Davis, whose 21 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots led the dominating performance for the 7-0 Hoosiers.
After a summer of opponents watching tape, Carolina is getting the best prepared and most intense efforts from every team on the schedule. And that won’t get any easier unless they fix things fast.
With exams starting, Davis hopes to get in at least two days of practice before the ACC opener at Virginia Tech Sunday.
At least the expectations are gone and the pressure is off.
Featured image via Associated Press/Darron Cummings
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