UNC drops ACC opener at State for first loss in Raleigh since 2013

I wanted to start this post off by saying I thought long and hard about how I wanted to approach this blog post so much so I decided not to write it till the next day. I decided the only way to handle writing about a loss to NC State is with a sarcastic tone so that’s a fair warning. If you aren’t much for sarcasm this may not be the post for you.

Welcome to ACC basketball freshmen and welcome to an 0-1 start. Inconsistency and turnovers doomed us as we dropped our ACC seasoned opener in Raleigh. That was Carolina’s first loss in Raleigh since 2013. It was a good run boys. Hopefully y’all can get your ish together before we play them again in chapel hill. Let’s be honest here, we had our chances. In the second half when we had the chance to tie or take the lead mid way through we either took a bad shot or turned the ball over. Usually it’s NC State dumbing themselves out of a win but, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we managed to do that this matchup. Our problems seem more like themes now so let’s summarize them shall we:

1. Slow starts

2. Double digit deficits

3. Turnovers

4. Inability to shoot the 3

5. Inability to guard the 3 or keep our man in front

6. Poor shot selection (not getting the ball down low)

7. Inconsistent (we play in lolls and spurts)

8. Free throw shooting (not as much this game compared to NCSU)

Shockingly all the things mentioned usually piggy back off each other.

Look at the stats and you would think we won: we had a huge rebounding advantage, points in the paint and fast break point advantage. State shot worse than us from the free throw line and we had about an even point per turnover ratio. We both had a negative/turnover ratio. We had a +6 advantage on the offensive glass but only a 2 point advantage in second chance points. Obviously State was more efficient when it came to converting their misses. State converted our 18 turnovers to 19 points. We converted their 14 to 14 points. State’s game seemed to be to turn the opposing team over and run but we beat them in that regard and steals were even at 8 a piece. They were missing Funderburk and Hellems only scored one point yet we fell 3 points short. Carolina had 4 players in double figures and State had 3.

UNC:

Bacot: 16 points, 6 rebounds 3 TOs

Davis: 11 points, 3 assists, 3 TO

Love: 11 points, 4 assists, 2 TO

Brooks: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 TO

Black: 6 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assist, 2 TO

Platek: 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 TO

Sharpe: 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 TO

Kessler: 3 points, 3 blocks, 3 steals, 6 rebounds, 1 TO

Walton had 3 points, Johnson had 2 points

NCSU:

Daniels: 21 points, 5 rebounds

Bates: 14 points, 7 rebounds

Beverly: 8 points 3 assists, 3 rebounds

Thomas:6 points, 4 rebounds

Hellems: 1 point, 5 rebounds

Moore: 17 points

Hayes: 7 points

Seabron: 5 points, 7 rebounds

8 games into the season and it brings us another slow start and a double digit deficit. We were down by as much as 17 in the first half. State got anything they wanted on the offensive end. Their guards were easily getting into lane and it led to kick outs, easy dump downs to the post, pull up jumpers, lay ups, floaters, etc. They got ANYTHING. Leaky Black struggled to keep Daniels in front as he drove by Black for the first basketball and had 7 of State’s first 9 points. He went 2-3 from behind the arc. Beverly is a good, smart player and he has been at State for what seems like 10 years, but you can’t tell me Love or Davis can’t keep him in front of them. We had 5 turnovers in the first 7 minutes and 8 in the first half. Love and Davis had half of them. Love did end with a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio, so for the second straight game that was a positive number. State got a huge lift off the bench from Moore who came in and had 8 straight points off of 2 straight 3’s and a dunk off of a Davis turnover. Those were State’s only fast break points of the game. Moore had 13 in the first half and was perfect from the field. He ended with 17 and went 3-4 from behind the arc. Midway through the first half we went away from getting the ball down low and state went on a 15-2 run to make it 17-30. That was eventually stretched out to a 17 point lead. We were taking too many jumpers. Our offense lacks penetration. If we don’t get the ball down low we end up dribbling around the perimeter and then are forced to take a contested long range jumper at the end of the shot clock. Let me clarify something, I am okay with us taking jump shots as long as they are open and are created within our offense sets. Right now we dribble too much. We had our opportunities to knock down open shots and we didn’t. We desperately need shooters which is why Walton and Platek are seeing so many minutes. Platek made one of our two 3’s. Davis made the other. Kessler’s impact won’t really show up in the stat sheet, but his hustle and effort saved our ass at the end of the half. He had a nice steal where he showed off his agility. We call that being bimble (big and nimble). He then hustled after a loose ball and threw it off of Beverly to keep possession. Platek drew two charges in the final minutes of the first half and we went on a 13-3 run to cut the deficit to 7. Both teams shot over 50% for the field in the first half and state was 6-9 from 3.

We played better in the second half, but unfortunately we play in lolls and spurts. Our spurts happen when we get the ball down low which allows us to get into a rhythm. Our lolls happen when we turn the ball over and take bad shots. I have in my notes way too many times “Stupid shot by Davis.” We can’t settle for jumpers at the beginning of the shot clock. Love is driving more which is a bright spot and had a nice finish at the rim. He converted the 3 point play. Platek made some uncharacteristic stupid mistakes on the defensive side of the ball. He fouled Moore on a 3. He made 2 out of 3 free throws. He then had a nice drive where he got fouled and converted the 3 point play, but then he gave it right back when he came down and fouled Daniels for a 3 point play. We had our chances where we just toyed with the idea of tying it or taking the lead when the game went back and forth between a 2 and 4 point game. We either took a bad shot or turned it over and State went on a 9-2 run to make it 64-72. Beverly hit a deep 3 to make it 64-75 and State had a 13 point lead with under 10 minutes to go. We woke up with about 4 minutes to go. My final notes look like this:

7-0 run, 71-77 3:30 to play

Kessler blocks, 9-0 run 73-77 2:45 to play

Davis misses floater

Love misses runner 1:20 to play

Love misses 3 73-78

Missed travel call

Beverly offensive foul 30.4 left

Walton makes one of two free throws 74-78 17.8 to play

Love makes both free throws 76-78 with 10.4 to play

Davis and love missed 3s at the end that would have tied it

Lost 76-79

Notice anything in particular Tar Heel fans? Too many missed shots by our freshmen guards. Lets take away the two 3 pointers at the end even though Love got a good look from the top of the key. Davis missed an easy floater and Love missed an easy runner. These were shots in the lane that you can’t miss down the stretch. You want to play on the big stage? You have to make those shots.

State did struggle with our run and jump trapping a little bit which was an improvement from past games. If we defend like we did the last 4 minutes we should be fine, but the problem is we don’t. We don’t put a full 40 minutes together. We haven’t even been close 8 games in. The crazy thing is that despite how terrible we have looked at times we have given ourselves a chance in every game. Just imagine Tar Heel fans… And i say imagine because that may be the best we get. But imagine if we could put a full 40 minutes together. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

It is clearly there, but like the state farm commercial we almost had it. Well we have a week to get ready to travel down to Atlanta where we haven’t played great the past couple of years. We need to limit turnovers and get better on defense or we are going to be looking at an 0-2 start in the ACC. The ACC is wide open this year folks, but can we get our ish together in time to take advantage? So far we haven’t.