Remember a few weeks ago, when the North Carolina Tar Heels quickly proved themselves as a second half team, in completing their season sweep of Syracuse?
UNC did the same thing Thursday night, losing 80-79 in its ACC Tournament quarterfinal rematch against Clemson. North Carolina (24-8, 12-6 ACC) trailed by eight points at halftime, later by 18 midway through the second half, but charged all the way back to a 1-point deficit capped by Derek Dixon’s final 3-pointer.
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Alas, Hubert Davis and his Tar Heels now await their NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday. UNC needed to win the ACC Tournament for improved seeding next week, but is now looking at a likely five or six seed.
A slow start hurt North Carolina on Thursday night, but there’s plenty more behind the loss. Free throw struggles caught up to the Tar Heels again, who sank just 10 of their 17 attempts. Clemson (24-9, 12-6 ACC), which will face Duke in the ACC Semifinals tonight, made 17 of 13 free throws.
A common theme behind previous UNC wins is bench production. There was little of that last night, with a combined five points, three rebounds, one assist and turnover apiece across 35 minutes. The Tigers’ bench was a major factor in their victory, highlighted by Nick Davidson’s 17-point, 11-rebound double-double.
If North Carolina won, Duke awaited in the ACC semis. With Patrick Ngongba and Caleb Foster out, the Tar Heels’ path to an ACC Championship game berth looked easier.
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Alas, UNC now plays the waiting game. Keep reading below to see what Davis said after North Carolina’s loss, which nearly became a win during the final seconds.
All quotes are via TarHeel247’s Rykin Fuller:
On particular areas that got away from UNC in the loss:
“Yeah, just the inability to respond to physicality,” Davis said. I felt like it was the same thing Saturday of last week, and for most of the game tonight. Clemson has always been physical defensively, and one of the things I always say is you never let a defense dictate and decide how efficient you are on the offensive end. And I felt like their physicality took us out of our offense, took us off of our cuts, our screens, our moves, and didn’t really respond to that until the latter part of the second half..
“Then also, I’ve been straightforward about – for us to be a good team, we’ve just got to be good defensively, Davis continued. I’ve said defense and rebounding and taking care of the basketball. When you allow a team to shoot 50 percent from the field, especially this time of the year against good teams, that’s just not a recipe for success.”
On the loss and playing for more ahead in the NCAA Tournament
“I’m just not there. I’m here with our team. Big-picture questions – it’s not that I can’t answer it, I’m just not thinking about that right now. I’m thinking about our team and thinking about these kids and thinking about the NCAA Tournament next week.”
On if playing desperate is good for the Tar Heels
“Yes. Specifically, I talked to the team – what is today, Thursday? Tuesday, Wednesday and today, about having that hunger and that thirst. That hunger and that thirst to compete, that hunger and thirst to prepare, to practice, hunger and thirst to play together as a team and as a group as long as we can.”
On Seth Trimble’s senior leadership
“Seth is one of our leaders on the team, somebody that should be celebrated for obviously his career thus far. But being as accomplished as a player, for him to be a four-year player, committed to his team, committed to this program, committed to this university for four years is something, as I said before, should be highlighted and celebrated. If you were to have someone to lead a team, you would want somebody that’s been in the program for a while, and Seth definitely has done that.”
On UNC’s bench production vs. Clemson’s
“Well, I think Clemson’s bench was really good tonight. They had guys in there that really stepped up. We talked defensively that we were able to guard their actions, but it just basically came down to could we guard them, whether it’s in the post or the perimeter. They took us one-on-one, and for most of the game they were able to execute and able to score. At the end of the day, it just comes down to getting stops, finishing those possessions with a rebound, and last couple games we haven’t done that consistently.”
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Hubert Davis after ACC Tournament loss vs. Clemson
