The regular season ended with a whimper, not a bang, for the UNC men’s basketball team Saturday night. The Tar Heels lost to Duke 62-57 in the Smith Center as the Blue Devils finished off a season sweep of Carolina and also made their NCAA Tournament hopes dire. UNC now likely must win the ACC Tournament to earn a bid to the field of 68.

The Tar Heels held a slim lead at 57-56 with 1:57 left, but failed to score again in regulation. The Blue Devils closed the game on a 6-0 run to seize the lead and the win. Carolina went the final 4:20 of the game without hitting a shot from the field.

“I felt like it was very similar to a number of our games [this season],” head coach Hubert Davis said afterward. “I think it’s been a consistent theme all year; in that time where it’s a great opportunity to extend [the lead], there’s been a lot of times this year that we haven’t been able to do it.”

Carolina had led by as many as four points in the second half after trailing by as many as seven. Consecutive three-pointers from R.J. Davis and Pete Nance had swung the game in UNC’s favor, forcing Duke to call a timeout. After that stoppage, the Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 17-8.

The makes from downtown were a statistical anomaly: UNC finished just 5-23 on three-pointers and shot a pedestrian 8-30 from the field (26.7 percent) in the second half. Duke wasn’t much better, finishing the game 22-58 (37.9 percent) from the floor. Like the first meeting between the two teams in February, the Tar Heels let a winnable game go by the wayside.

Or more appropriately, bounce off the rim.

Now, Carolina is faced with the daunting task of winning four games in four days in next week’s ACC Tournament in Greensboro. The Tar Heels are the No. 7 seed in the field and will face the winner of No. 15 seed Louisville and No. 10 seed Boston College in Wednesday’s second round.

“What’s frustrating is we know how good we are,” said Nance. “We’ve all seen how good we can be, but it’s been at times. The moment this group can bring it all together, I think it can be a really dangerous thing. We just have to have the belief in that.”

“We have confidence in each other,” said R.J. Davis. “Coach Davis and the rest of the coaching staff has confidence in us. We’re not gonna give up… I believe in us.”

The winner of Wednesday’s game would face No. 2 seed Virginia in the quarterfinals on Thursday. A meeting with the Cavaliers would be the third for the Tar Heels this season, having split the previous two.

“It’s just something we’ve gotta do,” senior center Armando Bacot said of running the table in Greensboro. “We don’t have a choice.”

 

Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.

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