UNC basketball falls to Alabama in 4OT stunner, suffering second loss in three days
Alabama coach Nate Oats said on Friday after both the Crimson Tide and North Carolina lost games in the Phil Knight Invitational that Sunday’s matchup would be as close to a must-win game as one could be in November. And it played out that way.
It was physical. It was intense. It couldn’t even be settled in regulation.
Or in the first overtime.
Or in the second.
Or even in the third.
The game had 15 ties and 14 lead changes before finally, in the fourth overtime, the No. 18 Crimson Tide scraped just enough plays together to emerge a 103-101 victor. Carolina filed out of its locker room in Veterans Memorial Stadium more exhausted from a 60 minute game, than discouraged by a second straight loss that solidified its tumble from a No. 1 ranking.
“I know we left this tournament 1-2, but why would I be discouraged about the way that we competed in played?” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “That would be negligent on my part to walk away and think that this is a disappointment.”
The Tar Heels (5-2) played the final two overtimes with forward Armando Bacot only taking the court once for 31 seconds. Bacot injured his right ankle while grabbing a rebound for a putback in the second overtime and came out of the game with 1:54 left.
“I thought I got in a really good rhythm and I thought I was going,” said Bacot, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “Then it was me just fighting out there the whole time, just trying to stay in and just trying to help our team win. But towards the end, my ankle just started stiffen up even more and I just couldn’t move.”
Pete Nance, who replaced Bacot and played all of overtime with four fouls, was an example of why Davis was encouraged by how many players had big contributions in key moments. It was Nance who got switched off on Bama guard Jahvon Quinerly and blocked his shot to force a third overtime.
While Nance managed foul trouble, Puff Johnson filled his void in the lineup and logged a career-high 48 minutes. Johnson had 10 points and five rebounds.
“Everybody that went into the game made an impactful play,” said Davis, who included Will Shaver, who got his first bit of playing time of the season with Bacot and Nance in foul trouble and made two free throws at the end of the first half.
The Heels fell short of making a final impactful play.
Furious finish
Alabama took the lead for good on a Charles Bediako layup and the 7-foot center was again the focus on defense.
Guard Caleb Love, who finished with a career-high 34 points, looked to answer for Carolina with a drive and a floater than Bediako blocked. The shot was ruled goaltending, giving the Heels a temporary lead with 9.3 seconds to play. Officials overturned the basket upon review and alternating possession gave the ball back to the Tide.
UNC freshman Seth Trimble entered the game, presumably to foul and send Alabama to the free throw line. But his defense on Mark Sears during the inbounds pass forced a turnover when he dove and the ball last touched Sears.
Carolina was forced to inbound from a tricky angle in the corner of the baseline and Nance, without any timeouts left, threw the ball away.
“Coach drew up a play, and I thought the first three options were pretty covered,” Nance said. “And I saw Leaky (Black) kind of had a smaller guy on him and I tried to lob it up for him. I thought the guy pulled him out of the way a little bit, but it’s a bad play by me.”
The Heels had a final chance to tie or win after Jaden Bradley made one free throw, but R.J. Davis’ 3-pointer at the buzzer wasn’t close.
It was just the second four-overtime game in Carolina’s history, the previous coming in a win at Tulane on Nov. 27, 1976.
Carolina opened the third overtime scoring on its first three possessions to take a six-point lead. Bama cut it to 96-94 on a Brandon Miller 3-pointer and the Heels missed shots on their next three possessions allowing the Tide to tie it on a pair of Quinerly free throws with 28 seconds left. With a chance to take the lead on a final shot, Nance’s skip pass across the court was too long for Love to handle.
It gave the Tide the ball back with 3.0 seconds left. Bama then turned the ball back over when Bradley’s in-bounds pass sailed over Quinerly’s hands out of bounds.
That gave Carolina possession at the same spot on its side of the court and Love’s 3-pointer came up short.
“That type of game, it’s just the little plays,” Love said. “What could we have done (better) with the little plays? The loose balls, thinking back, how many loose balls could we have got? Or how many layups we missed or wide open threes that we missed? Or defensive mishaps? Just looking back at those and thinking about that, that’s probably the toughest part.”
No defense for 3s
Carolina again was hurt by 3-point shooting. Instead of one player who just got hot like in Caleb Grill’s seven 3s, and 31-point performance for Iowa State. Both Quinerly and Mark Sears paced Bama by making a combined eight of their first 14 shots from behind the arc.
Sears would eventually match Grill’s seven 3s en route to a team-high 24 points.
The Tide totaled 16 3s, which meant Carolina allowed 10 or more in two of its three games at the PKI and all three teams shot 37 percent or better.
Miller meets Leaky
Bama needed its outside shooting because Miller, who entered the game averaging 20.5 points, found out why Hubert Davis calls Black one of the best defenders in the nation.
Black frustrated Miller early on, twice blocking his shots. When Miller also got into foul trouble in the first half, he never was able to get into a scoring rhythm. Miller only scored seven points in regulation and finished with 14 points on 4-of-21 shooting.
“I know that there’s other defenders good defenders in the country, I know that I’m biased, I don’t think there’s one better than Leaky,” Davis said. “He’s just amazing...and the reason why Brandon struggled from the floor was because of the defense of Leaky.”
Black also was the on-ball defender on Alabama’s final shot of regulation. He got switched on Quinerly and forced a final miss as the game went to overtime.
Black was at in again in the second overtime with the Heels trailing by two. He tapped the ball just as Miller was trying to drive and the steal lead to a Love layup to tie the game at 89.
This story was originally published November 27, 2022 at 7:05 PM.