North Carolina continued their run in Hawai’i on Tuesday night with a matchup in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational presented by Novavax against the No. 4-ranked Auburn.
And a day after the Tar Heels came back from 21 points down to Dayton, they found themselves down again. But this time, they couldn’t come back as they fell to the Tigers 85-72.
Auburn jumped out to a big lead early while North Carolina battled back to less than 10 points at the halftime break. However, Auburn came back out in the second half and grew the lead again consistenly keeping it between 12-15. The Tar Heels really couldn’t get much closer than nine points in the second half as the Tigers kept the foot on the pedal in the impressive win.
Here are things we noticed to take away from this loss and apply against Michigan State.
Ball Security
Yesterday, against Dayton, North Carolina turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, which is what helped contribute to the deficit they faced. They once again had double-digit turnovers in this game, with some coming at the most crucial times when the team needed a big play.
They allowed Auburn to score 15 points off of their turnovers as well.
Free Throw Shooting
This is something I would never think that would be a North Carolina downfall. They are known for being one of the most prestigious free-throw shooting teams in the nation.
The Tar Heels shot 12-of-19 in this game from the stripe, just 63%. Key players including Elliot Cadeau, Jalen Washington, and Seth Trimble missed several key free throws that cut momentum-building moments.
First-Half Struggles
Last night, RJ Davis had this to say about the first half of UNC games this season, via Inside Carolina.
“Obviously we went down big in the first half. Wasn’t the first half we like to play. Myself and Seth, we just told them, like, We got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We always putting ourselves in this positions and got to climb our way back into games.”
Well, it happened again. The first half has been BRUTAL for the Tar Heels against big teams this season. Unless that changes, North Carolina is going to have to fight every game back out of a hole.
Rebounding
North Carolina struggles mightily against team’s whose best player is a forward or a center. Facing off against Johni Broom of Auburn, it was going to be a tough fight for the team. However, they had no answer for 6-foot-10 senior.
Broome finished with 23 points and 19 rebounds, shooting 9-of-18 from the field and 2-for-4 from behind the arc. On top of that, North Carolina was out-rebounded by Auburn as a team, 42-36
Powell Power
Drake Powell is quickly becoming one of the most important key role pieces for Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels. He came in last night and shot perfect from the floor with six points and four rebounds. However, his non-statistical contributions are just as important.
Tonight, it didn’t feel like the team got the same energy out of the freshman. As one of those rotational big guys, Powell’s success might be directly related to North Carolina’s success in the near future.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire : Instant reactions to North Carolina’s loss to Auburn
