WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –– Too little too late seems to be the case with the North Carolina basketball team as they once again fell on the wrong side of a close game.
The Tar Heels dropped their second game in a row falling 67-66 to Wake Forest Tuesday night.
Despite scoring 10 points in the final 40 seconds, critical free throws sealed the win for the Demon Deacons while the Tar Heels faced heartbreak, falling to 12-8 on the season and 5-3 in ACC play.
UNC had no answer for Wake Forest guard Cameron Hildreth, who knocked down 14 first half points. While he didn’t shoot particularly well in the second, he made up for it on the charity stripe hitting 10 of his 16 attempts.
A sloppy first half from the Tar Heels led to them never pulling away from the Deacons, including a painful stretch where the team came up empty on four straight fast-break opportunities.
Sophomore Elliot Cadeau was a bright spot for the Tar Heels with 14 points and was the only other double-figure scorer besides RJ Davis.
Ian Jackson once again with his second straight single-digit game being held to just 13 points over the past two games. His lack of production was an unfortunate turn of events and yet another indicator of another high-flying scorer needing to emerge.
It didn’t help that the team was streaky in the second half, struggling to regain their composure after – allowing the Deacons to go on a 12-0 run and later going scoreless for a six-minute stretch.
The Tar Heels ice coldness in the final minutes and inability to score points places them in a tough spot going forward. They needed this win to serve as a corrective from their failures versus Stanford and as they head into tougher ACC competition going forward.
North Carolina hasn’t had a single win that indicates they can hold their own in the postseason, let alone go dancing. There is still plenty of opportunity for improvement but the margin of error is slim.
The Tar Heels must collect quality wins these next few weeks as they also begin shaping up for March. The disjointedness of the offense and irregular defensive effort is unacceptable at this point of the season.
Regardless of these factors, however, head coach Hubert Davis is still confident in the competitive fight of his team.
“Our competitive fight was really good, we just couldn’t keep them off the free throw line,” Davis said. “We had some open shots, good looks. Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t.”
Davis kept it short after the game, with his press conference lasting just under six minutes before he exited with a solemn look on his face, one that matched that of his players.
UNC must fix things and it starts with getting to the line. The team’s free throw shooting has plummeted drastically since conference play and with it scoring.
With a home game coming up against Boston College on Saturday, North Carolina must begin its recovery journey this weekend, because at this rate their postseason aspirations aren’t looking too bright.
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