The UNC Tar Heels (6-5) fell to the 7th ranked Florida Gators (11-0), 90-84, in night one of the Jumpman Invitational. The Gators jumped out to a 16-6 lead early, with the Tar Heels trailing by as much at 17 in the first half. It’s the seventh game this season UNC has faced a double digit deficit. The Tar Heels are 2-5 in those contests. And while North Carolina made it a game in the second half, starting the period with an 11-0 run and even leading by four points with just 4:03 remaining – late game turnovers, missed free throws and rebounding were their ultimate demise.
“To play with type of energy and effort in the 2nd half and not have that consistently in the first half, or for an entire game, is something that has been the consistent theme for us this year,” head coach Hubert Davis said when asked about the slow starts. “It’s not sustainable. You may be able to get away with it one time against Dayton, but it’s just not sustainable especially against good teams.”
“If we played the way we played in the 2nd half and applied that for a full 40 minutes, I think it will be a different outcome,” 5th year leader RJ Davis said. “It’s frustrating, because obviously it’s my last year and I want things the way I know it can be. I’m still positive and have good spirits around this team, but we just have to dial in on the little things.”
With ACC league play quickly approaching and the Tar Heels just 1-5 against teams ranked within the top tier of the NET rankings – essentially signifying a high-quality win that significantly impacts a team’s NCAA tournament seeding potential – one has to consider if their resume will be good enough to make the Big Dance as an at-large team.
That makes Saturday’s neutral site contest against 18th ranked UCLA an early season must-win, but that “back against the wall” mentality is something Hubert Davis says the Tar Heels always need to play with.
“You can stay down. You can point fingers. You can whine and complain. You can make excuses, or you can get your tail back up, step forward and start swinging again. There’s just no choice in that. You get knocked down in life. Not everything is going to go your way and so the only thing you have control over is how you act and how you respond. How we react and how we respond from this and our preparation for our next game is going to be huge.”
The Tar Heels will play their final game before Christmas on Saturday when they meet Bruins in the CBS Sports Classic in New York City’s Madison Square Garden at 3 p.m.
