The ACC did the Tar Heels no favors by scheduling a road game just days after their big showdown with Duke. North Carolina promptly responded by going down to South Florida and losing by nine to a Hurricane’s team that was in desperate need of a signature win. The Tar Heels were all too happy to oblige as the team fell to 2-4 on the road in the ACC this season.
So without further ado, here are three takeaways from North Carolina’s road loss to Miami.
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Trap Games work both ways
As mentioned above, this game came less than 72 hours after an emotional home win against the bitter rival Blue Devils. Everyone always talks about how the game before is a trap game because teams can overlook it preparing for the big game. However, the game people talk about less is the one that follows such an emotional game, especially after a win like the Tar Heels had. North Carolina came out sloppy, turning the ball over 11 times (eight in the first half) and never led in the ball game, tying the score up only twice the entire game. For those keeping track at home, the Tar Heels have now led all of .4 seconds in their past two contests, something coach Hubert Davis would sure like to rectify before Saturday.
Udeh all day
One of the reasons North Carolina got beat is they got dominated in the post. Miami outscored the Tar Heels 46 to 28 on points in the paint, outrebounded them 41 to 35 (plus 3 on both offensive and defensive rebounds), and outblocked them 5 to 3. One of the main culprits for that was Hurricane’s starting center Ernest Udeh Jr., who had 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting and 10 rebounds for a double-double. The transfer from TCU also had a block and was the recipient of several alley-oop dunks in the second half.
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Caleb Wilson hand watch
Wilson did not have his best game against Miami. The superstar freshman finished with a season low 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting. The bigger news thought was that he left the game early in the second half and returned with wrap on his left hand. The fact that he was able to continue to play is a positive, but hopefully it is nothing too serious as all of Tar Heel nation will be watching to make sure he will be good to go against Pitt.
What did you notice from the latest Tar Heel’s defeat? Let us know in the comments below
