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Fatigue A Derailer For Depleted Tar Heels

A short rotation and two overtimes did in a  Tar Heels team Wednesday night that is ravaged with injuries.
A short rotation and two overtimes did in a Tar Heels team Wednesday night that is ravaged with injuries. (Jacob Turner, THI)

BLACKSBURG, VA - Fatigue played a major factor in North Carolina’s 79-77 double-overtime loss at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.

Only seven Tar Heels saw the court against the Hokies and four played over 40 minutes, with Garrison Brooks playing 48:21, Andrew Platek 48:00, Leaky Black 47:21 and Justin Pierce playing 45:53.

Not to mention Armando Bacot was in foul trouble before being disqualified with 2:42 remaining in the first overtime and Christian Keeling only played 8:22, meaning UNC was basically playing using a six-man rotation for the 50-minute contest.

Injuries have completely decimated this team causing a serious lack of depth that ultimately came back to haunt the Tar Heels in their second overtime game in 11 days.

“Guys, we’re pretty thin,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said after the loss. “If you would have asked me in August who our top seven players would be, I’d tell you we don’t have four of those seven.”


Pierce surpassed his previous playing time high  at UNC by 17 minutes Wednesday night.
Pierce surpassed his previous playing time high at UNC by 17 minutes Wednesday night. (Jacob Turner, THI)
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On the season, seven different Tar Heels have now combined to miss 57 games due to injury: Anthony Harris has missed 13 games with a knee injury, Jeremiah Francis missed eight games with a knee injury, Cole Anthony has missed nine games with a knee injury, Brandon Robinson has missed five games with an ankle and now a neck injury, Andrew Platek missed two games with an ankle injury, Leaky Black missed one game with a turf toe while Sterling Manley has missed the entire season due to a lingering knee injury.

Harris, Anthony, Robinson and Manley were the four players Williams was referring to he’d once expected would be in the rotation.

Platek, who finished with seven points and five rebounds against Virginia Tech, said cramps affected both him and a teammate down the stretch, especially in overtime.

“I was cramping really bad, me and Leaky both,” Platek said. “I missed a rebound, my legs, I couldn’t really get off the ground because every time I’d go up my legs would cramp up. I mean, I still should have grabbed it, but it factored into your play for sure.”


Platek said he and Leaky Black cramped a lot late in Wedesday's game.
Platek said he and Leaky Black cramped a lot late in Wedesday's game. (Jacob Turner, THI)

The Tar Heels aren’t trying to use their abundance of injuries as an excuse, though. It has affected this team all season and particularly in Cassell Coliseum, which was their fifth straight loss, but it’s just an unfortunate reality they have to deal with.

And dealing with it, whether they want to or not, they are.

"That’s life,” Black said. "Life’s just going to throw anything it can at you and you’ve just got to take it on the chin. It’s just character building at this point.”

Effort wasn’t the problem in Blacksburg like it has been in some games this season. Lack of healthy bodies was, though, and it culminated in another overtime loss in the ACC for UNC.


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