After their Third Straight Loss, is it Time to Panic about UNC?

After entering the season ranked #1 in the country, the UNC Tar Heels are in a rut – losing three straight games. Carolina is at risk of going from #1, to falling out of the top five completely after losing to Indiana 77-65. The Hoosiers dominated UNC in the paint, outscoring the Tar Heels 50-30. UNC as a team only had five assists for the game and shot a dismal 34% from the field and 28% from three. Once again, there wasn’t much ball movement, as shown by the low number of assists. UNC’s back court struggled again against the Hoosiers. Caleb Love was 5-16 from the floor and RJ Davis was 4-11. Combined, the duo was 9-27 from the floor. This comes after Love and Davis shot a combined 21-60 from the floor in a four-overtime loss to Alabama. Love has only shot above 40% from the floor once in his last five games. RJ Davis is only shooting 39% from the floor for the season.This offense is out of sync and it starts with the guard play.

The signs were there weeks ago. UNC didn’t dominate in competition early like you would expect a #1 ranked team to do. They didn’t dominate versus UNC-Wilmington, but it was the first game of the season so rust is expected. However, UNC was down at halftime and didn’t pull away until late against College of Charleston, struggled to beat Gardner-Webb by six, and struggled with Portland. UNC has lost all three games to Power-Five schools so far this season and things won’t get easier as the Tar Heels travel to Blacksburg, Virginia to take on Virginia Tech Sunday.

Is it time to hit the panic button? I wouldn’t say that, but I would be concerned. It is only December 1st and there’s still much season left to be played. A win against Virginia Tech would be a nice start.