Tar Heels Troubled by Clemson's Zone in First Home Loss
CHAPEL HILL -- When now-Clemson guard Joe Girard announced his decision to leave Syracuse and enter the transfer portal, it’s a fair assumption that he thought his days of playing zone, at least primarily, were over.
That turned out not to be the case on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill.
Girard was wearing a different orange, but playing defense just like the Orange, as the Tigers’ zone gave the Tar Heels issues throughout their fifth loss of the season.
It first made its appearance midway through the first half, when Paxson Wojcik connected on a three-point shot attempt to cut the Clemson lead to six with 10:10 remaining.
The Tigers possessed a 23-17 advantage and made the decision to change their defensive gameplan.
Clemson head coach Brad Brownell altered their defense, switching to a 3-2 zone, as the Tigers were seeking just their second win in 62 tries in Chapel Hill.
North Carolina would have no answer, shooting two for their next 13 from the field, which contributed to their 36.9 shooting percentage on the night, their second-lowest of the season.
Guard Cormac Ryan finished 1-for-10 from the field and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc, tied for his most attempts from three without a made basket this season. While RJ Davis tallied 22 points in 38 minutes, the zone impacted his performance, as he was 7-for-22 from the field and 2-for-10 from two-point range.
From Wojcik’s three-point basket to the two-minute mark of the opening half, Clemson would use an 18-8 run to balloon their lead to a game-high 16 points, North Carolina’s largest deficit since Dec. 5 against UConn.
“We were prepared in the sense that we knew they might get to it, but I don’t think we drove the gaps in it, or swung the ball, or made the zone shift probably as much as we should’ve,” said Paxson Wojcik. “They ended up going into the man with 10 seconds left in the shot clock so it was the changing of defenses that bothered us.”
In the final 32 minutes, the Tar Heels outscored the Tigers (15-7, 5-6 ACC) 51-39 to no avail, falling just short in the 80-76 defeat.
“They came out from the beginning and they had nothing to lose. They played harder than us, they bullied us,” said Harrison Ingram. “They played better defense [and] better offense. They were the better team.”
After Clemson delivered the first punch with a 15-2 run to open up the contest, it was a matter of if, not when, North Carolina would push back in the first half.
They turned in a crucial 8-0 spurt even before Wojcik’s aforementioned three, trimming the lead to five at 17-12.
Yet, it was Brownell’s decision midway through the first half that not only helped the Tigers create a cushion to withstand a second half push from Hubert Davis’ team, but also earn their first road win against an AP Top 5 opponent since 1977.
“We have a lot of zone plays and we weren’t really executing well. Their zone was giving us problems,” said Ingram. “Their coach recognized that, he kept going to it, and we couldn’t score.”
Clemson reverted back to the zone at times in the second half, and the Tar Heels did find some success, even tying the game at 70 with 4:17 remaining.
Down the stretch, when the attention to detail matters most, North Carolina was unable to deliver. The Tigers’ zone held the Tar Heels to 1-for-5 in the final four minutes and helped force three turnovers, as they used a 7-0 stretch to put the game out of reach.
“At the end of the day our job is to come in every day and be ready to play and be ready to go hard every day,” said Ingram. “Today, we didn’t show that and we gotta bounce back.”