Sloppy North Carolina regresses in loss to Clemson
This is why North Carolina coach Roy Williams was so reluctant to say his team had turned a corner despite winning six of seven games. For as good as the Tar Heels looked while winning three in a row, they looked just as bad in falling at Clemson 63-50 Tuesday at Littlejohn Coliseum.
In some ways it seemed like Carolina (11-6, 6-4 ACC) regressed from the progress it showed in wins over Wake Forest, N.C. State and Pittsburgh. UNC was held to a season-low point total Tuesday and its 38% shooting from the floor was its worst since shooting 34% in a win at Miami.
“I feel like we took a step back tonight,” said freshman forward Day’Ron Sharpe, who was the lone UNC player in double figures with 16 points. “We were on a good streak getting better and better and playing defense better and limiting our turnovers, but I felt like we had a slump.”
It wasn’t that Clemson was particularly sharp in running out to a 16-point lead in the first half. Carolina was just too sloppy. UNC reverted to earlier in the season when turnovers and double-digit deficits were a factor every game.
Even when the Heels rallied to pull within five points in the second half, they couldn’t close the gap because of turnovers. They finished with 17 turnovers — which accounted for 23% of their possessions.
“Some of the turnovers were really bad, really bad, and 17 turnovers is 10 times worse in a low possession game,” Williams said. “... Coach [Dean] Smith used to say that turnovers are usually selfishness, which means the guy’s trying to make a great play or carelessness, and I think some of them were selfishness but more or more carelessness, and give Clemson’s defense some credit, too.”
For a stretch in the second half, it seemed like UNC was poised to complete a comeback.
Sharpe ignited Carolina with a play he didn’t even complete. He anticipated a pass, deflected it into the backcourt but could not gain total control as he slid to the floor trying to grab the ball. Clemson maintained possession, leading 38-27, but the effort still seemed to energize the Heels.
Sharpe scored UNC’s next two baskets, including a dunk when Hunter Tyson tried to front an entry pass. When Kerwin Walton made his second 3-pointer of the half, it capped off a 9-2 spurt and pulled the Heels within 40-36. They never got closer than four. Over the next six minutes, the team committed four turnovers and made just one of six shots.
Trailing 42-38, one possession summed up the game for UNC: R.J. Davis missed a runner, Sharpe missed a would-be tip-in and Garrison Brooks followed by trying to dunk Sharpe’s miss, but he also came up empty.
“That would have made it a two-point game and you know, you’d like your chances a little bit better,” Williams said. “But when you miss three layups in a row ...”
Sharpe attributed some of their rust to having a week off from the last time they played.
The Heels’ first game against Clemson, which was scheduled for Jan. 2, was postponed. Notre Dame instead filled in on that date, moving up from a game originally scheduled to be played Jan. 30. That left Carolina without a game Saturday and a week between its most recent games.
Williams said he believed the team had two good practices leading into Tuesday. It was an especially rough outing for leading scorer Armando Bacot, who had averaged 18.6 points in his last three games but was held to just one point in 19 minutes.
“When Aamir Simms, the first time he got the ball, drove him right to the basket and laid it up over top of him, sometimes those kind of plays tend to affect kids mentally,” Williams said. “And maybe Armando couldn’t shake that part of it. He took one shot, two turnovers, four fouls — it was not a good night for Armando, and he, for most of the year, has been our most consistent player.”
The Tigers also eliminated Carolina’s offensive rebounding, which is widely considered its greatest strength. UNC collected just seven offensive boards and six second-chance points. It marked the only time this season the Heels did not have at least 10 offensive rebounds.
“They did a really good job boxing out,” Brooks said. “I think that’s just something every team in the country knows we emphasize so much, and they did a good job of taking that away from us.”
Carolina will now try to bounce back from the loss when it faces rival Duke on Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Sloppy North Carolina regresses in loss to Clemson."