WINSTON-SALEM—Sitting there at halftime at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, there were a few things you felt pretty confident about. They were as follows:
The game would be close. The halftime score was Carolina 31, Wake Forest 29. Half of UNC games this year — literally almost half, nine of 20 at this point — have been one-possession games. So of course it would be close.
The strange figure of Wake strutting around with the old man logo is far inferior to the old school deacon head.
The Tar Heels would be competing. Even though they don’t have much to show for it, there hasn’t been a single night where they felt like they were withering. They didn’t always make the right plays, but they didn’t make lazy plays.
And it was almost certain that Carolina would get some points at the free throw line. The Atlantic Coast Conference officiating crew called a total of 27 fouls against both teams in the first half. So even if the field goal shot didn’t happen, there would be opportunities to create some offense at the line.
The match was close. The deacon’s head is better. Caroline competed. And the Tar Heels didn’t make a single free throw in the second half.
And so you lose a game 67-66 on the road, marking Carolina’s second straight one-point loss for the first time since 1968.
This is not a story about complaints about arbitration. Of course, it was unusual that both teams committed 27 fouls in the first half, then saw the whistles go silent in the second half. Wake was called for two fouls the entire half until they intentionally started fouling late because they had a bucket full of fouls to commit; they were penalized for 13 fouls in the first half. Steve Forbes’ speech at halftime to stop the fouls must have been very effective.
But it’s also true that Wake has been the best team in the league defensively without fouling this season. In ACC games, opponents have a lower scoring percentage than any other team in the league. When it mattered on Tuesday, they managed to string together 20 straight minutes without sending the Heels to the line once.
“It was unusual” Hubert Davis said on Tar Heel Sports Network about zero free throw attempts in one half. “We made all three shots, but they were generated by drives and we felt like we attacked the basket. We just weren’t able to generate some of our offense that was really important for us, and that’s the free throw double.”
This placed emphasis on scoring on the field, and Carolina was unable to do that consistently. Part of that was due to one of the worst three-point shooting nights of the season, as the Heels made just eight-for-32 from the arc, with the eighth coming after the game was decided.
For significant portions of the game, the Tar Heels didn’t put enough pressure on Wake’s defense. Jae’Lyn Withers scored a three-pointer to put Carolina ahead, 54-53, with more than five minutes remaining. The Deacons then went on a 12-2 run. During that stretch, the Heels had five possessions. They included a turnover and three errant three-pointers (the other possession was a Seth Trimble bucket in the lane).
Therein lies the story of the game. The only time the Tar Heels scored, they attacked the basket. The four times they didn’t, they either turned it over or missed from the outside. Among the players who shot Tuesday, five of eight made at least half of their shots beyond the three-point line. It was a team-wide outbreak.
Wake Forest capitalized on what has been a vexing problem for this year’s Tar Heels since the very first downs: When they absolutely have to have points, where do they go to get them? There were several examples of very clear attacks in Tuesday’s match: the set play for a lob at Jalen Washington the halftime was beautiful, and a Elliot Gift-has-Ven Allen Lubin lob for a dunk later in the second half was nice. Cadeau himself fiercely attacked the rim on three quick possessions in the first half. But with the elimination of the free throw line in the second half, the answer was that they shot beyond the three-point arc too often. And there was no response.
The Heels are now shooting 32.1 percent from the three-point line, which would be the fourth-lowest ever for a Carolina team. The lowest came during the 2019-20 season, the second lowest was the 2022-23 campaign and the third lowest was the 2020-21 team.
Where have you gone, Shammond Williams?
During Friday’s practice, the Tar Heels talked about how they could find open looks against a Wake defense that prioritizes defending the paint. “You’re going to get an open shot right there,” a Tar Heel coach said, pointing to the three-point line. And the Heels did it, repeatedly. But not enough of them found the net and rather than regroup and try to get closer to the basket, the visitors continued to shoot from the outside.
This is one of the reasons why they didn’t stay in line for long. Free throw attempts dropped from over 24 per game in non-conference games to 17.6 per game in conference. It’s no coincidence that scores went down with this. And why the season now appears to be on the line in the next two weeks, with a home game against Boston College, then a four-game stretch at Pitt, at Duke, Pitt at home and a road trip to Clemson.
Everyone involved realizes that the train is now lighter. Davis relayed Hebrews 11:1 to the team after the game: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. »
It’s hard to see him right now. It’s been 57 years since anyone in Chapel Hill had two consecutive one-point losses. The recovery is scheduled to begin against Boston College on Saturday. And that starts with finding a consistent path to the finish line.
