Garrison Brooks, arguably UNC’s most important player, was missed in loss to Louisville
Even before North Carolina knew Garrison Brooks was not available for Saturday’s road game against No. 11 Louisville, the Tar Heels were already sizable underdogs.
The Cardinals (23-5, 14-3 ACC), with the exception of a few hiccups recently, have been one of the country’s best teams. The Tar Heels haven’t won a game this month.
But when Brooks was ruled out, the Tar Heels almost needed to be perfect.
Needless to say, that didn’t happen, and UNC lost its 17th game of the season, 72-55.
The Tar Heels are having one of their worst seasons ever. Their 17 losses are second-most in program history, and tied for the most under coach Roy Williams in 17 years. A big reason for that is injuries to key players and lack of consistency with its lineups.
On Saturday, after announcing that Brooks was out with an illness, the Tar Heels started their ninth different lineup this season. By contrast, UNC started the same lineup in 35 of its 36 games during the 2018-19 season. That team was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the Sweet 16.
This team may not even get to the NIT tournament, unless something drastically changes.
“We’re not deep enough, especially in the front court position, to lose one of our players,” UNC freshman forward Armando Bacot said. “Losing Garrison was huge for us.”
Brooks wasn’t the only player out Saturday. Graduate senior Justin Pierce, who plays both the three and four, was also out with a sprained ankle. UNC started sophomore guard Leaky Black at the four, along with Bacot, Brandon Robinson, Christian Keeling and Cole Anthony. Prior to Saturday’s game, that lineup had not been on the floor together.
Nine different players have now missed a combined 85 games this year due to injury or illness.
“It’s kind of like a ‘here we go again thing,’” junior guard Andrew Platek said. “Like, who is it going to be next this week?”
Pierce injured his ankle in a practice on Thursday.
But UNC coach Roy Williams said he didn’t know Brooks was out until Saturday morning. The junior forward had been dealing with a fever for most of the week, and it was worse when he woke up on Saturday.
Brooks was so sick, he did not make it to the team’s shootaround that morning, Williams said.
“North Carolina played Louisville today at four o’clock, and we’re going to play again on Tuesday regardless,” Williams said. “I would have liked to have him out there but that’s what happens.”
Rebounding and defense
To beat Louisville, the Tar Heels needed to win the rebounding advantage and take care of the basketball.
But they didn’t do either.
The Tar Heels turned it over 17 times and allowed 18 points off turnovers. Some of those turnovers occurred on fumbled catches. At least twice, Cole Anthony had an open teammate, either on a fast break or in a pick and roll, and did not connect with his teammate.
“It wasn’t pretty, and we’ve got to play better,” Williams said.
UNC led Louisville 3-0 for 57 seconds on Saturday. But after Louisville took a 10-7 lead with 13:23 left, the Cardinals never looked back. The Tar Heels kept it close for 16 minutes but were ultimately worn down and overwhelmed.
Anthony, who finished with 18 points, was the only player to score in double figures. Keeling and Platek finished with 9.
Not only did the Tar Heels miss Brooks’ scoring (15.2 points per game), they also missed his rebounding and defense.
Brooks, who is fourth in the ACC with 8.5 rebounds per game, was not there to keep Louisville off the offensive glass, nor was he there to help UNC get extra possessions on offense.
“He’s the guy who sets the tone on defense,” Robinson said. “His presence just inside, I know we missed it tonight. It was kind of difficult. We practiced yesterday with him. And then him not being there today, we weren’t prepared for that mentally or physically.”
The Tar Heels were outrebounded 38-29 and finished with only six second chance points.
“Guys just tried to step up the best way they could,” Robinson said. “I commend Leaky because he never really plays the four.”
Running out of chances
The Tar Heels say their goal is to run the table in the ACC Tournament in March. But they are running out of chances to gain any confidence.
They have now lost seven consecutive games and remain in last place in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels are also one game behind Wake Forest, and three games behind Pittsburgh, which swept them this season.
With four games left, the Tar Heels will likely be a 15-seed in the ACC tournament unless they win out.
“It’s hard to put some things in and make some changes, but again, it’s part of the game,” Williams said of having to make last-minute adjustments due to injury. “It’s part of what happens.
“I’m tired of it happening to us.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2020 at 9:24 PM with the headline "Garrison Brooks, arguably UNC’s most important player, was missed in loss to Louisville."