CHAPEL HILL – The UNC Men’s Basketball team is done after a 70-58 loss to No. 1 seed Kansas in the Round of 32. And we’re all trying to move on, but let’s recap briefly.
“Whatever kind of shots they are, if you don’t make them then you aren’t going to do very well. When Carolina shot 22 of 73 that is not a winning formula,” said Barry Jacobs of the ACC Sports Journal.
The Jayhawks can now relish in the fact that for a second year in a row, they ousted UNC from the NCAA tournament.
But in the first half of Sunday night’s game, it was the Heels that came out more composed. “It’s almost like at the beginning of the game Kansas was hyperventilating,” Jacobs said. “North Carolina came out and was like, ‘We have nothing to lose, nobody expects us to win.’”
That’s not to say that Carolina was firing on all cylinders in the first half, though. The Heels and Jayhawks were deadlocked at two points for nearly two minutes.
But the less experienced Heels unraveled. The Jayhawks out scored the Heels 49-28 in the second half.
“When you miss lay-ups as well as three-pointers and you have more turnovers than assists, which Carolina did last night, you’re going to lose most times,” he said.
So with what Carolina fans would call an early exit from the tournament, it’s never too early for the “what’s next?” conversation.
“Next year, Carolina will go back to being more up tempo, it will have shooting options and several good guards.”
Jacobs was talking about the 6-foot-1 Nate Britt. He’s a part of a three-person class for Coach Roy Williams next season, along with center Kennedy Meeks and power forward Isaiah Hicks.
Hicks had a monster performance with 34 points, 30 rebounds and seven blocks in Oxford Webb’s winning 3A basketball title game earlier this month.
Jacobs said he thinks these recruits could help to fill in the gaps on UNC’s roster, especially if sophomores James Michael McAdoo and P.J. Hairston declare for the NBA Draft.
“Whether or not this will be a Carolina team that can compete for a national championship, we know that it’ll come a heck of a lot closer than this year’s team.”
And Coach Williams is playing the waiting game on the decision of where forward Andrew Wiggins will go. He’s being sought by Kansas, Kentucky and Florida State.
Here’s hoping Wiggins will choose the Heels.
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