UNC’s NCAA Tournament collapse leaves a bitter taste — and a lot of questions
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UNC blew a 19-point second-half lead and lost 82-78 to VCU.
- VCU guard Terrence Hill Jr. scored 34, including a clutch late 3.
- UNC finishes 24-9, leaving offseason questions about coaching and roster.
UNC blew an NCAA Tournament game so completely Thursday night that it’s still hard to fathom.
A 19-point second-half lead. A chance to win the game in regulation. A chance to tie the game in overtime.
All of it melted away, and the Tar Heels were left with this stark final score:
VCU 82, UNC 78.
How did it happen? Slowly, and then all at once.
With 14:58 to play, UNC led, 56-37. The Tar Heels were cruising. Playing four hours later than Duke in the same Greenville arena, it appeared that sixth-seeded UNC was actually going to have an easier time with a No. 11 seed than Duke did with No. 16 Siena.
But if you’ve watched much of this UNC team in the past month, you know that nothing comes easy. And this loss leaves a bitter taste — and a whole lot of questions for a program that lost its final three games of the season just isn’t performing at the level it wants or needs to.
In the postgame press conference, I asked UNC coach Hubert Davis: “Generally, what do you think went wrong?”
“What do you mean?” he countered.
I explained briefly I wanted to know why Carolina couldn’t score at the end: The Tar Heels missed their final nine shots from the field and scored only on four free throws in the game’s last 7:44 (including overtime).
Said Davis: “Well, to go back to what Seth (Trimble) said, just because you miss a shot doesn’t mean something’s wrong. We had open looks. We had shots at the basket. We had executed plays. And we missed eight free throws. Sometimes, the ball doesn’t go in.”
All of that is true. But is there something more at play here? I guess that’s what I really wanted to know, and an answer we still don’t have.
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Thursday was a familiar feeling for Tar Heel fans, who have had some really bad days over the past month: The one-point quarterfinal loss to Clemson in their first and last ACC Tournament game a week ago in Charlotte. The second game against Duke. The day they heard Caleb Wilson would be out the rest of the season because he dunked a basketball so hard he broke his hand. UNC fans have seen Thursday’s movie before, in other words, and they didn’t like it the first time.
So here came VCU, climbing back. And back. And back.
Davis and his staff seemed powerless to stop the rise or to figure out a defense that could stop VCU guard Terrence Hill Jr., who had 34 points and was clearly the best player on the court. At the end, on the offensive side, UNC was turning the ball over, missing bunnies and running plays that got no one open.
Still, it looked like the sixth-seeded Tar Heels might survive. They were still up 75-70 with 1:59 to go. But UNC didn’t score again in regulation (and had only three points in overtime, all on free throws — they didn’t make a shot in the last 7:44 of play). Trimble made a steal and took a difficult, running 3-pointer that would have won the game in regulation and created an instant forever highlight, much like his shot against Duke in February. But it didn’t go in and then the Tar Heels never made a field goal in overtime, going 0-for-6.
Hill took over at the end, hitting a contested, NBA-range stepback 3-point jumper with 15.1 seconds to go that was the game’s biggest play and put VCU up by two. Henri Veesaar got fouled with 3.8 seconds left but then missed the first one (accidentally) and the second (on purpose, but so badly that it didn’t hit the rim and thus gave the ball to the Rams as a violation). VCU hit two more free throws and that was that.
For the UNC fans who don’t think Davis gets good enough results consistently in the NCAA Tournament, this added more fuel to the fire. The Tar Heels did lose Wilson on Feb. 10, yes, and that was monumentally significant. He was a second-team All-American this year and a likely NBA top-5 pick.
Still, that was five weeks ago. And as Veesaar said the day before this game, the Tar Heels were going in “knowing that we have not showed up on the big stage. So we kind of have to do better this tournament.”
They didn’t. Again, they couldn’t put a full game together. This is the sort of game that means all sorts of questions will be asked all offseason.
UNC finishes the season 24-9, losing in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 64 for the second consecutive year. That’s not nearly good enough at the program of Dean Smith, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Charlie Scott and Roy Williams.
Just making the tournament isn’t enough. Really, just getting out of the first weekend is barely enough.
But losing a 19-point lead in the second half?
That’s not only not enough, that’s an embarrassment.
Davis was also asked in his postgame press conference if he thought going out in the round of 64 for two consecutive years meant that something is “inherently missing” or was just a fluky combination of events.
Said Davis: “Yeah, that’s a big thinking question, and I apologize. I’m just not there right now. Just really sad that we’re not continuing to play and to move forward because I have loved and enjoyed this team.... I really wanted this group and these kids to experience more.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 10:16 PM with the headline "UNC’s NCAA Tournament collapse leaves a bitter taste — and a lot of questions."
