Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the UNC men’s basketball team on Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum, as the Tar Heels put together their lowest scoring total of the season in a 63-50 loss to the Clemson Tigers.
UNC (11-6, 6-4 ACC) came into the night having won six of its last seven games, while Clemson (11-5, 5-5 ACC) had lost four of its last five since being ranked as high as No. 12 in the country.
The Tigers didn’t even play particularly well on Tuesday, getting outrebounded by the Tar Heels and shooting only 40 percent from the floor. UNC just failed to take advantage at any point in the game.
At the free throw line, UNC converted on just 11 of its 21 attempts. The Tar Heels also turned the ball over 17 times while making only 17 shots from the field. Against a Clemson team that plays a slower tempo and limits the number of possessions in a game, those numbers become even more important.
Needless to say, head coach Roy Williams was not too thrilled with the way his team took care of the ball.
“I think that they’ve always been a good defensive team,” Williams told reporters about Clemson. “But if you have 17 turnovers in a low possession game, you’re not gonna have a whole lot of points from anywhere. It’s a low possession game. And 17 times we gave it to them without a shot.”
Sophomore forward Armando Bacot—who had been a primary catalyst of the Tar Heels’ recent success—was limited to just one point and three rebounds while battling foul trouble. Clemson also held UNC to just 18 points in the paint as a team, taking away the Tar Heels’ biggest strength.
Freshman Day’Ron Sharpe led the team with 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while senior Garrison Brooks added eight points and nine rebounds.
Brooks credited Clemson’s defense for keeping the Tar Heels from imposing themselves inside, but also stated that he doesn’t think this game is a sign of things to come.
“I think we struggled today,” Brooks said. “You’re gonna have days you struggle. Most of the time, you overcome it. But today we struggled and we didn’t win. But I think it’s something we can still learn from. We just go in to practice tomorrow and get better. I don’t think it’s something where we took a step backwards.”
It had been a full week since the Tar Heels had last played a game, however Williams didn’t feel like that had much impact on the way things turned out.
UNC simply laid an egg on the road against a team desperately seeking some kind of good fortune after a recent run of bad outings.
“I told them this was a wounded team, they were embarrassed in their last game,” Williams said. “We should not take anyone lightly. Respect everyone. Fear no one. But never take anybody lightly.
“We’ve talked about that,” he added. “If I had known how to correct it, I would have corrected it before. But I was so dumb, I thought that we would be ready to play tonight and I thought we would play well.”
Up Next:
UNC will make the short trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday for its first game against Duke this season. Tip-off for that contest is set for 6 p.m.
Game Notes:
- UNC trailed by as many as 16 points and held the lead for just 16 seconds in the opening minute.
- The Tar Heels had 10 turnovers in the first half compared to only eight made shots. Nine different players recorded at least one turnover during that span.
- On lay-up attempts at the rim, UNC went just 4-for-13.
- Clemson was led by 16 points from junior forward Hunter Tyson.
Photo via Ken Ruinard (ACC Media)
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
There is absolutely zero excuse for losing to that Clemson team with the bigs we have in our lineup. I saw lackluster performances and ill advised passing all night and yet we continue to shoot poorly from the free throw line which has been a problem most of this year. If we ever want to be a good defensive team then Roy needs to stop that double teaming and focus on more zone or man to man. If you look back on all of the games this season then you would probably be amazed at all of the wide open 3’s we allow each team by trying to play a style of defense that simply just isn’t working for this group of players. Until we figure this out we will continue to disappoint fans and players for the rest of this year. Go back to work on the defense and start shooting more free throws in practice. The bigs need to learn how to make shots under the basket and draw fouls with head fakes. I have yet to see any resemblance to Tyler H style basketball. He was one of the best ever at finishing and making the shot while getting fouled. Our bigs are playing like they are afraid of the opposing player and giving them way to much credit. We should be dominating every team with our under the basket play and this would allow our 3 point shooters to get better shots instead of rushing and forcing up bad shots.