UNC’s struggles to score continued against Virginia. Here’s a big reason why.
The last time North Carolina went two consecutive games without scoring 50 points was in 1947.
In 1947, the 3-point line hadn’t been invented. UNC was in the Southern Conference. It hadn’t won an NCAA championship in basketball yet. And Roy Williams, who is now UNC’s head coach, wasn’t even born.
But on Sunday, three days after UNC lost to Ohio State at home 74-49, the Tar Heels were beaten by Virginia 56-47 on the road. And their struggles to score the basketball have only continued to worsen.
It did not help that UNC was playing the best defensive team in the country. But this isn’t the same UNC team college basketball fans have grown accustomed to seeing. The Tar Heels have been known for scoring a ton of points.
And this season that just hasn’t happened.
Sunday’s game was another prime example.
The Tar Heels missed 10 free throws — shots that are unguarded — and shot 1-for-14 from behind the 3-point line. UNC freshman guard Cole Anthony, the Tar Heels’ leading scorer, was 4 of 15 from the floor.
“Since last year, last two years, last three years, I’ve gotten to be the worst coach I can ever remember because we are doing some of the most unbelievable things of any team that I’ve ever had,” Williams said after Sunday’s loss.
The Tar Heels (6-3, 1-1 ACC) have dropped three of their last four games, albeit the competition has increased. Two of those three losses have come to ranked opponents. All three if you count Michigan, which wasn’t ranked at the time it played UNC, but is now.
Williams said this is the most frustrated he has been in his 32 years as a head coach.
“I don’t think we’re playing basketball the way that I want us to play and that is probably the most frustrating,” he said. “Pushing the pace, sharing the ball, competing like crazy.
“I’ve been very fortunate over the years to find the right buttons to push to get guys to do that, and I haven’t found the right buttons to push to get these guys to do it that way.”
If Williams doesn’t find those buttons, this season could take a turn quickly. UNC faces Wofford next Sunday, and Gonzaga on the road on Dec. 18.
Pushing the pace
If it looks like this UNC team isn’t nearly as fast as last year’s team, that’s because it’s true. UNC’s average time of possession this season is 16.1 seconds, 1.5 seconds slower than the 2018-19 team. The Tar Heels are currently ranked 71st in the country in that category.
Since 2010, the first time Ken Pom began keeping track of time of possession, UNC has finished outside the Top 20 only once. They were ranked 25th in 2017 in average time of possession.
That is one of the things that irks Williams most because it takes away from what he likes to do on offense.
When asked in a press conference Friday how that negatively affects what he wants to do, Williams said if the Tar Heels are running, that means they’re getting easy baskets.
“If we’re running, what else are we doing?” Williams said. “They’re not getting offensive rebounds because they’re sending guys back, worried about our break.
“So, they’re back there wondering what was coming at them,” Williams continued. “OK, so they’re not getting picked up properly because the first two or three guys getting back — what does our first big guy do that I said a minute ago? He’s got to run to the front of the rim — so who’s back for them? The point guard. So, the point guard’s got to pick up the big guy. All right, so if our fourth guy who comes down is our point guard, who’s picking up our point guard?
“It’s somebody else.”
‘Got to get better’
Because the Tar Heels haven’t pushed the pace as quickly as Williams would like, they’ve had to work for almost every shot. And that was the case against the Cavaliers.
This game was built in Virginia’s favor, at a slower pace. The Cavaliers forced the Tar Heels to go deep into their own shot clock and force bad shots before time expired.
“It’s just frustrating to play against,” UNC senior guard Brandon Robinson said, shaking his head.
The Cavaliers limited the Tar Heels to only two fast break points.
Anthony said the Tar Heels have to do a better job on the defensive glass.
“We’ve got to win the rebounding battle,” Anthony said.
Both Virginia and Ohio State outrebounded the Tar Heels in their two losses. Against Ohio State, the Tar Heels were outrebounded by 16. Against Virginia, the Tar Heels were outrebounded by five rebounds.
But if it was as simple as that, the Tar Heels issues would have been fixed by now.
“Like I said, we’ve just got to get better,” Robinson said.
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 9:26 PM.
