UNC falls to Florida in Charlotte, leaves Tar Heels still without big non-conference win
Charlotte loves its Tar Heels.
But No. 7 Florida came to spoil the party.
North Carolina, the home team in the first game of the third-annual Jumpman Invitational, muscled back from a 17-point first-half deficit only to fall just short to the visiting Florida Gators, 90-84 — the team’s 9-0 run to start the second half and the boisterously blue crowd not quite enough to deliver the Tar Heels their first big non-conference win of the season.
The Tar Heels are now 2-1 in this event. They defeated a then-Top 10 Oklahoma team in 2023, which preceded an ACC regular season title. They defeated Michigan in 2022.
The second half, once North Carolina finally climbed out of its Tuesday night malaise, was about as back and forth as they come. There were three lead changes and five ties in the final eight minutes — every bucket bordering on heroism. A stepback RJ Davis 3 here, a Walter Clayton Jr. and-one there, a Florida offensive rebound-turned-bucket here, a North Carolina steal at halfcourt-turned-trip to the free-throw line there.
The Tar Heels’ first lead of the game came with 7:51 left. It arrived thanks to Seth Trimble knocking the ball loose at halfcourt, muscling his way through two defenders and finishing through them on a layup in which he was fouled. And-one. Trimble, upon watching the ball fall in after it hung on the rim for what felt like minutes, screamed into the Spectrum Center canopy. The game had officially become North Carolina’s to lose.
There were many other moments that made Tuesday a standing-in-lower-bowl-only spectacle. There was Florida’s start at 6-of-10 from 3 (contrasting to UNC’s 0-of-10 start). There was Elliot Cadeau’s high-floating alley oop to Jalen Washington to give the Tar Heels an 81-77 lead. There was Florida guard Alijah Martin’s huge 3 with 2:13 left to tie it at 82.
The biggest ended up being Florida’s bucket to make it 86-84 with 54 seconds to go, courtesy of Will Richard’s go-ahead layup after the Gators collected two offensive boards. (That put Florida ahead in the offensive board category 15 to the Tar Heels’ five at the time.)
The ensuing possession, North Carolina drew up a sideline out-of-bounds play that led to an open RJ Davis 3-pointer, but it wouldn’t go down. Florida then went down, missed a shot, collected an offensive board, made two free throws and that was it.
The win keeps Florida at a perfect 11-0. The Gators were led by Will Richard, who finished with a team-high 22 points and six rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting. Martin (19), Clayton Jr. (12) and Denzel Aberdeen (12) rounded out their double-digit scorers.
The loss drops North Carolina to 6-5 and still without a key non-conference win. Its only non-conference wins are Elon, American, Hawaii, Dayton and La Salle — the Tar Heels lost their games against Kansas, Florida, Alabama, Michigan State and Auburn.
Starting slow, climbing back in second half ‘not sustainable’
Ask UNC head coach Hubert Davis to look at the final stat-line, and there’s hope everywhere. The biggest bit of hope was perhaps found in RJ Davis, the team’s fifth-year senior who finished with a game-high 29 points and team-highs of eight rebounds and four steals.
But there was a head-scratcher there, too — one that’s been there all season.
And that’s the Tar Heels’ tendency to start slow and then pray that a second-half surge can save them.
“I can’t explain how we play with that type of energy and effort in the second half and not have that consistently in the first half or an entire game,” Davis said. “It’s something that’s been a consistent theme for us this year. It’s playing the way we want to play for one half. ... It’s not sustainable. It’s just not. We may be able to get away with it one time against Dayton, but it’s just not sustainable, especially against good teams.
“And we have to put a full 40 minutes together. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you have to be disciplined. And my definition of disciplined is being committed to doing the right things, the right way, and with the energy and effort that’s required out there on the floor the entire game. That’s just something we’re going to have to figure out. It just doesn’t work.”
The same question posed to players led to similar shrugs and looks of ... well ... “I don’t know.”
“I’m not sure why we keep waiting til the second half to get going,” freshman guard Ian Jackson said. “I’m not sure yet. That’s what we got to figure out. That’s our next step, as a unit, as individuals: figure out how to start and finish the whole game.”
Seth Trimble agreed.
“We can’t keep having these performances in the first half,” Trimble said. “We’re just not being who we know we can be. I don’t know. When we’re having those runs in the second half, and we’re playing like the team that we know we can be, it’s the most fun basketball I’ve ever played. These second halves, I’m having more fun playing basketball than I did with last year’s team.
“We’re right there. We’re going to turn it around. I’m 100% confident that we will. But I don’t know, we need to find a way to figure out what’s wrong with these first halves.”
Florida dominates glass
The Gators outrebounded their home opponent 46-36 on Tuesday night. That margin was worse in the offensive board numbers: 16-5, which loomed large, particularly down the stretch of the contest.
Let Florida coach Todd Golden explain.
“The thing I’m most proud of our group for: There were four minutes to go in the game, down four, and in our huddle I saw no disappointment,” Golden said. “I saw nobody pointing fingers. I saw guys who were poised and ready to attack the last four minutes and just defending and rebounding and taking care of the ball.”
Emphasis on rebounding. Florida, after all, came into Tuesday ranked 11th nationally in rebounding margin per game, outrebounding their opponent on average by 10. They ranked 14th in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 14.6.
“I think we outrebounded them 8-1 down the stretch,” Golden continued. “Big time offensive rebounds that allowed us to get an and-one and two free throws to ice it down the stretch.”
Said coach Hubert Davis: “They were one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. We knew coming in that a huge determining factor for us is that we had to finish a possession with a box out and a rebound. They go consistently to the offensive glass. They’ve got length, persistence in terms of getting second-chance points. And we’re up by four with four minutes to go, and down the stretch they got four offensive rebounds for seven points. That was the game.”
Welcome to showtime, Ian Jackson
Another bright spot beyond RJ Davis on Tuesday was the freshman guard Ian Jackson, who for a stretch in the second half looked like he was going to take over the game.
It wasn’t uncommon for Jackson to get a switch he liked — whether that be with him at the top of the key with Alex Condon or another Florida big on him — and just go to work.
He flashed a fade-away middy. He showed his athleticism and finishing ability, too — regularly blowing by his defender and hurtling into the air with reckless abandon, happy to land on his neck and shoulders so long as the ball nestled through the net.
Jackson finished with 11 points — one of only four Tar Heel double-digit scorers alongside Davis, Cadeau (11) and Trimble (11) — and said he appreciated his teammates’ confidence in him.
“I know my guys trust me from practice, from how I’ve been performing and showing in moments what I can do,” Jackson said postgame. “They trust me, and I trust them.”
There was one possession in particular that felt particularly memorable. With five minutes left, Jackson got another favorable matchup, and the crowd and the bench held its proverbial breath in anticipation. Assistant coach Marcus Paige — long the standard-bearer for late-game buckets in Tar Heel history — told everyone to clear out, a moment resembling a passing of a mantle.
“I know Ian can do that. He’s absolutely capable of doing that,” Trimble said. “Every guard on this team, as soon as we get an opportunity to expose a matchup, we want to do that. Ian and RJ both, but Ian specifically, he got that switch ... and we have full faith and confidence in him to expose that matchup and go to work.
“That’s what we want to keep on doing throughout the year with not just Ian, but with (Elliott), RJ, myself included. We need to continue to expose matchups because it works for us. But it just wasn’t enough tonight.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 9:42 PM with the headline "UNC falls to Florida in Charlotte, leaves Tar Heels still without big non-conference win."
