Senior guard Matt Coleman’s jump shot from the right elbow rolled in with one tenth of a second remaining in Wednesday night’s Maui Invitational championship game, giving No. 17 Texas a 69-67 victory over No. 14 UNC in Asheville.
The Tar Heels (3-1) trailed by as many 16 points late in the first half as Texas got hot from behind the three-point line, but they spent the majority of the second half slowly clawing their way back into the game—even tying things up on three separate occasions in the final four minutes.
A pair of free throws from Leaky Black tied the game at 67 with just 25 seconds remaining, setting up Coleman—who waved off his teammates and created the final shot by himself against UNC freshman guard R.J. Davis.
He finished with a game-high 22 points for the Longhorns, as they improved to 4-0 this season and claimed the program’s first ever Maui Invitational title.
When asked if he had told his guys to expect Coleman to get the ball on the final play, UNC head coach Roy Williams said his team’s inexperience kept him from doing what he wanted to do defensively.
“You can tell them anything you want, but if you’ve ever played basketball it’s up to you to guard that guy,” Williams said. “R.J. tried to do a good job and Matt hit a tough shot. If we had a little more experienced team, we probably would have tried to double team but we haven’t been doing a very good job of that in practice.”
The Tar Heels have found themselves trailing early in the majority of their four games so far, but this deficit against another ranked team ultimately proved to be too much to overcome.
Just one day removed from turning the ball over 24 times in a close win over Stanford, the Tar Heels were better as a team with only 14 turnovers.
The problem was that Davis and fellow freshman point guard Caleb Love combined for seven of those. A bad inbounds pass by Love with less than a minute remaining also turned directly into a fast break dunk by Texas.
Couple those plays with the team’s six missed free throws in the second half and the degree of difficulty became that much harder for the comeback attempt.
“They’ve got to grow up quickly,” Williams said, of Davis and Love. “We can’t keep doing that and saying, ‘Oh, well they’re freshmen.’ It doesn’t make any difference because it counts in the loss column. You can’t have seven turnovers from the two guys running your point guard spot.”
Davis finished with 11 points as one of three Tar Heels to score in double figures, but he and Love combined to make just five of their 20 shots from the field.
Sophomore forward Armando Bacot added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while senior Garrison Brooks had a team-high 18 points to go with his seven rebounds.
UNC finishes its three-day trip to Asheville with a pair of wins and a tough loss against a good team, which was enough for Brooks to still have the utmost confidence in where this team is headed.
“I think we showed a lot of toughness,” Brooks said. “Especially in the second game, winning a close game, and then losing one like this when we’re down and then come back. It shows the toughness that we have and that we can fight.
“We’re still one of the best teams in the country when we do what we’re supposed to do, not turning the ball over and playing hard,” he added.
Up Next:
The first true road game of the season awaits the Tar Heels next Tuesday, Dec. 8, as they take on National Player of the Year favorite Luka Garza and the No. 3 Iowa Hawkeyes
Game Notes:
- UNC is now 22-4 all-time in the Maui Invitational. The Tar Heels hadn’t lost in the event since losing to Butler in the 2012 semifinals.
- Texas has won its last five games against UNC in a streak dating back to 2012.
- Leaky Black finished two points shy of a double-double, as he finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
- The Tar Heels made just one of their nine attempts from three-point range, while Texas connected on nine of its 22 shots from deep.
Photo via Camping World Maui Invitational
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