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CHAPEL HILL – Perhaps no sequence better illustrates North Carolina’s night offensively, and most of its season, than what transpired after the Tar Heels called timeout with 43.7 seconds remaining in their 62-57 loss to Duke on Saturday night.
Trailing 60-57 after Blue Devils guard Jeremy Rach converted a lightly contested driving layup, UNC Coach Hubert Davis wanted to set up a play for his team. So, when the Tar Heels came back onto the court, the play Davis wanted them to run broke down quickly and ended up with a missed shot by junior point guard RJ Davis. Duke freshman Mark Mitchell rebounded the miss with 19 seconds remaining.
“We had me going through the elevator doors with Leaky (Black) passing the ball,” RJ Davis explained. “We had either C (Caleb) Love for a three or they had me coming off the lateral screen. We kind of got a good look, but we didn’t get the offensive rebound, didn’t make it, didn’t execute.”
The look was Davis trying to get something off the glass after driving into the lane. But it wasn’t the look that was intended.
It appeared as if the Heels’ mission in getting Davis a three from the right wing was snuffed out because a cluster of Tar Heels made a hedge on Davis possible and effective. So, the play broke down, and that hasn’t always turned out well for UNC this season.
“Compliment them, they defended it really well,” Hubert Davis said. “We just didn’t get a clean look off that shot.”
The play personified the last four minutes of the contest for the Tar Heels, which was eerily similar to how the last four minutes played out a month ago in Durham.
On February 4, the teams were deadlocked at 57-57 with 3:57 remaining. Duke scored the final six points of the game, as the Heels missed their last five shots. Saturday night, UNC led 55-54 with 4:20 remaining, but Duke outscored them 8-2 the rest of the way, with the Heels missing their last seven shots from the field.
So, basically the last four minutes of both games against Duke this season, the Blue Devils have outscored Carolina, 14-2, with the Tar Heels 0-for-12 from the field. The consistency with UNC’s misery in both games might serve as a metaphor for the season, as closing games from various points of the contests has been a tug-of-war all season.
Furthermore, after UNC took a 49-45 lead with 8:32 remaining, it was outscored 17-8 the rest of the way.
“We made plays, but we didn’t make enough plays,” RJ Davis said about the issues late, noting the plays the Heels made simply stopped at crunch time. “We had good looks, shots weren’t falling. We attacked the offensive glass, things didn’t bounce our way, but the effort was there. Sometimes you don’t make enough plays to win the game.”
Carolina closed out the regular season 19-12 overall and 11-9 in the ACC, and will be the seventh seed at the ACC Tournament this coming week in Greensboro. If the Tar Heels are to make a run and claim the championship, which is likely their only path to the NCAA Tournament, closing out games will be a must.
