Down by as many as 16 points in the first half Tuesday night in Iowa City, the 16th-ranked Tar Heels rallied to take the lead midway through the second half before ultimately running out of gas in a 93-80 loss to the No. 3 Iowa Hawkeyes.
With so much focus on National Player of the Year favorite Luka Garza in the paint, the Tar Heels (3-2) left Iowa’s talented shooters wide open on the perimeter right from the start—allowing them to build the commanding early lead.
The Hawkeyes (4-0) set a new record for the 21-year existence of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge by making 17 three-pointers as a team.
Guards Jordan Bohannon, C.J. Fredrick and Joe Wieskamp combined to make all 17 of those shots from deep on just 30 attempts. Each player scored at least 19 points, while Bohannon led all scorers with a game-high 24 points and dished out six assists.
UNC’s talented frontcourt rotation was able to bother Garza, even though he still tallied 16 points and 14 rebounds.
It just so happened that the Hawkeye guards were up to the challenge, forcing head coach Roy Williams’ team to pick its poison each time down the floor.
“We were trying to play him one-on-one and hope that our size would bother him,” Williams said about Garza after comparing him to former Tar Heel legend Tyler Hansbrough. “If it wasn’t doing well, then we were going to try to double team him. But they kept making shots when we would run in there, and we weren’t supposed to be doing that. He’s the real deal.”
The Tar Heels didn’t show much life in a poor first-half showing, but came out of the halftime locker room playing like their pants were on fire. That renewed energy–mixed with some timely shot making—was exactly what UNC needed to slowly crawl back into the game.
Senior forward Garrison Brooks had nine of his team-high 17 points in the first eight minutes of the second half, while a layup by fellow senior Andrew Platek gave the Tar Heels a 68-67 lead with nine and a half minutes to play.
That was enough to wake Iowa up, as the Hawkeyes took off on a 16-2 run after that play and kept UNC from ever threatening again.
When asked what happened after the game, a frustrated Brooks wasn’t shy about what he thought was the problem.
“Getting the ball to the rim,” Brooks said. “I think most of our points came at the rim at the beginning of the second half. That’s something we should have taken advantage of from the beginning of the game.”
Freshman guard R.J. Davis was also critical to the Tar Heels’ comeback attempt, scoring seven of his 12 points during that early portion of the second half.
He and Brooks were two of UNC’s five players to score in double figures—along with Platek, Day’Ron Sharpe and Caleb Love–in a game where the Tar Heels pushed the ball on the fast break more than they have all season.
With the amount of fight displayed after falling behind early, there were plenty of positives to take from the loss–especially with such a young team taking on a talented veteran group.
This was simply a case of playing a much better team on the road early in the year.
“I really, really like Iowa’s team,” Williams said. “They’re like some of our really good teams. They’ve got a big guy inside like we’ve had that can score and they’ve got a bunch of three-point shooters.
“We feel like we came in here and did some good things,” he added. “But the bottom line is they get a W and we get an L as we go and take our rear ends back home.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels were originally scheduled to host Elon this Saturday, before COVID-19 protocols forced Elon to postpone the game.
This means UNC will now have to wait until Saturday, Dec. 19 for their next game, which is against Ohio State in Cleveland as part of the CBS Sports Classic. Tip-off for that game is set for 2 p.m.
Game Notes:
- An unranked Iowa team defeated then-No. 12 UNC 60-55 at the Smith Center in the last meeting between the two schools back in the 2014 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Hawkeyes are now 4-1 all-time against the Tar Heels.
- The Tar Heels have trailed by at least 12 points in the first half in three of their last four games.
- UNC was once again plagued by turnovers, giving the ball away 18 times. Iowa scored 23 points off of those Tar Heel mistakes.
Photo via Stephen Mally (HawkeyeSports.com)
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