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CHAPEL HILL– The University of North Carolina is known for its iconic pointing to the passer after a player scores.

Dean Smith implemented that rule mandating his players celebrate the passer. Somewhere along the way, UNC lost touch with the tradition, though it can still be seen at times. It’s the volume of assists, however, that are down, so the pointing is, too.

The Tar Heels average 12.3 assists per game, which is the worst ever for any North Carolina basketball team since the records on this stat have been kept.

What has led to the preseason number one team to be statistically the worst passing team in UNC history? Could it be that the Heels are the second-worst 3-point shooting team in program history? Even though the 3-point percentages are definitely a factor, even this team's success even inside the arc shots are often not assisted.

In the loss to Miami on Monday night, UNC only assisted on 20.7 percent its baskets. This season, the Heels are averaging a 44.4 percent assist-to-field goal ratio, the worst in UNC basketball history. To help put that in perspective, UNC’s 2016-17 title team A/FG ratio was 58.9 percent, and last year's national runner-up team was at 54.1 percent.

"We have become stagnant a little bit on the offensive end," junior point guard RJ Davis said after the Miami loss. "When guys have the ball, we kind of just standing there, not moving on the weak side or trying to make a play for each other."

In 10 of its 26 games this season, UNC has recorded single digit assist totals. The Heels have lost six of the single-digit games with two of the wins against non-power conference programs: Gardner-Webb and UNC-Wilmington. In each of its games with fewer than 10 assists, UNC has had more turnovers than assists.

The offense appears broken at times, without a solution to increase flow, which always leads to better connection, and therefore assists. There are times when transitions morph into set plays, or at least the appearance of one, and too often players look at one another to make plays. UNC’s opponents know don’t have much trouble figuring out the method in which the Heels are trying to score.

"I think they really just took us out of a lot of our sets, saying you got to knock down shots," senior forward Armando Bacot said about the offense's lack of sharing.

That leaves Hubert Davis with a big problem and limited of time to fix it. The proof is in the pudding; every UNC starter, including Pete Nance, assist production has dropped from last season. The Heels are forced to take questionable shots, which leads to a lack of assists and 30.6 percent perimeter shooting.

"It's a number of things," RJ Davis said about the lack of assists. "Our inability to get to the basket, our inability to shoot the ball from the outside, they have a number of help side defenders in the lane that made it difficult to get the ball, Armando."

Carolina’s second-year coach hunted Monday night at possible making some changes, be it approach or even with use of personnel.

"We have to find other ways or find other players to put out on the floor," he said. "We will take a look at it this week and see if we can make some tweaks, peaks, and alters before we play NC State on Sunday."

North Carolina pointing to the passer again means a return to what should be a timeless tradition, but also a reflection of the team playing as designed.