UNC basketball’s frustration continues with tough ACC road loss at Wake Forest
North Carolina played like a team uninterested and unfocused for too long before playing a furious and frenetic pace in a comeback that came up short during its 92-85 loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Carolina’s third straight loss prompted the locker room to stay closed for a prolonged time.. Generally the team meets with the media about 15 minutes after the final buzzer. The team stayed locked away for about 35 minutes on Tuesday. Coach Hubert Davis, who said he wanted to keep that conversation private, wasn’t the only one who addressed the team. Senior forward Armando Bacot voiced his opinion too.
“Go to university like this and have no pride?” Bacot said. “I mean, I’m not perfect either, but I love this university and just giving out that performance is inexcusable.”
Early on there was a feeling the Heels would suffer their first blowout loss of the season. There was Caleb Love, throwing a pass to no man’s land that just bounced out of bounds for a turnover. There was Leaky Black nonchalantly approaching the basket after a steal, being fouled and missing both free throws. There was Jalen Washington dribbling a ball off his foot that led to a live ball turnover.
The Tar Heels (15-9, 7-6 ACC) watched the Demon Deacons (16-9, 8-6) reel off a 14-0 run midway through the first half for a 24-9 lead and the outcome seemed to solidified. The Heels trailed by as many as 26 points, which easily surpassed its 18-point deficit at Virginia Tech for the largest margin this season.
“That’s what I don’t get because we had two good days of practice and there’s no question I thought we were going to come in this game and win,” said Bacot, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out for the first time all season. “And then we get out there and it’s like, we’re not communicating. All of us aren’t communicating and it was like just more worried about ourselves and it was just discouraging because I want to win. That’s why I came back. I want to win.”
Like their loss to the Hokies, Carolina did muster up some urgency. The Deacs got so comfortable with their big lead, they got away from what had been successful. They went to a stall offense to run the clock and allowed the shellshocked Heels to start chipping away at the lead.
What seemed a forgone conclusion as Carolina trailed by 20 with just under nine minutes remaining, became a bit of question when they rallied to make the score 72-62 with 3:27 left. When Andrew Carr missed a layup, Love had the ball and a chance to pull the Heels within single digits. He pulled up in transition for a 3-pointer that was short.
R.J. Davis also had a chance to make Wake fans squirm. When UNC trailed 81-72 with 1:19 left, Davis hustled back as a pass was being thrown down court and had the equivalent of an over-the-shoulder interception. But with a chance to make it a two possession game, Davis also misfired on a 3-pointer.
The shooting struggles for Carolina’s backcourt continued. Love had 24 points on 9-for-25 shooting, and R.J. Davis had 16 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
“Jackson (Watkins, a senior walk-on) was like, ‘Why does it take us being down 26 points to show some fight? We should come out the bus ready to do that,’ and I 100 percent agree with him,” Davis said. “There’s no excuses. There shouldn’t be a reason why we come out and be the aggressor.”
Ultimately, UNC couldn’t overcome its 47-25 halftime deficit. That they competed for a stretch to close out the game was of no solace for coach Hubert Davis.
“We have to find a way to fix, to get better, to regroup, to get stronger, to continue for the rest of the season,” Davis said. “But I don’t look at it in terms of the deficit. I don’t look at it as encouragement that you lost a one possession game and I don’t look at it as discouraged if you lose it by double figures.”
The loss resembled last year’s 98-76 beat down at Wake. One of the differences was after the game last season, Hubert Davis remarked that the Deacs had the two best players on the floor after Jake LaRavia delivered 31 points and Alondes Williams added 23 points. On Tuesday, Wake guard Tyree Appleby proved to be the most impactful.
When Hubert Davis was asked to describe Carolina’s defensive effort in the first half, he replied, “there was none.”
Carolina had no defense for Appleby, the fifth-year transfer from Florida, who seemingly got in the paint at will. And when he wasn’t scoring himself, he was dishing the ball for lob dunks and easy baskets. He finished with 35 points and 11 assists. Appleby shot 23 of 28 from the free throw line, as he delivered each time Carolina fouled late in the game to ensure the Deacs didn’t falter.
The Heels’ effort, or lack thereof, comes at the worst possible juncture of the season. They’ve been viewed by most prognosticators as an NCAA Tournament team. They could be playing their way out of the tournament.
Carolina didn’t build the strongest resume from non-conference play. Its win over Ohio State is, at the moment, hanging on as its only Quad 1 win in the NCAA’s NET rankings, a tool used in measuring quality of wins.
And with five of its remaining seven games against teams ahead of it in the ACC standings, it’s not exactly an easy path to comfortably securing an at-large bid.
“It’s our reality, but the thing about it is, now our back is against a wall,” Bacot said. “So like I told everybody, the people who want to play, be here on Thursday.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 9:23 PM with the headline "UNC basketball’s frustration continues with tough ACC road loss at Wake Forest."