UNC Basketball: Tar Heels need more production from key players

The North Carolina Tar Heels need some more production from key players

There are going to be some frustrating losses for every college basketball team. That’s just how it is every year.

For the North Carolina Tar Heels, the majority of those frustrating losses have come on the road.

All three of the Tar Heels’ Atlantic Coast Conference have come on the road and all three have been you guessed it, frustrating.

Whether it was the one-point loss at Florida State or the blowout loss at Virginia. The latest came at Virginia Tech, a game where the Tar Heels really didn’t look good and left fans with a lot of questions.

UNC was led by Luke Maye and Joel Berry who both scored 23 points in the loss. The rest of the team scored a combined 23 points.

Yikes.

That’s certainly not a good recipe to win many games as two players can’t be your whole offense.

UNC needs more key players to step up and score, including in their starting five. The Tar Heels went with their small “death lineup” for the fifth-straight game on Monday night.

In the prior four games that the Tar Heels used that lineup they won. Monday was the first loss with that starting lineup and looking at the box score, it’s obvious the Tar Heels need some more production.

Assistant coach Brad Frederick was the guest on Roy Williams Live Tuesday night, filling in for the head coach who was on recruiting trip.

Frederick noted that the Tar Heels would like to get more production from their bench players:

"“We have a more experienced starting five, but after that, then we’re relying on so many young guys,” Brad Frederick said via Inside Carolina. “We need our bench to play better to help us down the stretch. One of the things we’re struggling with right now is that when you take two or three guys out of that starting lineup, then there’s a significant drop off. We’re not able to rest guys as much as we would like.”"

Every team would love more bench production but looking at the recent loss to the Hokies, the starters outside of Maye and Berry weren’t very good.

Junior guard Kenny Williams finished with just four points shooting 1-of-6 from the field including 0-4 from the three-point line.

Williams is in a rough stretch right now shooting 3-of-12 from the field in his last two games.

But when looking at his three-point shooting, he’s really struggling. In his last five games, Williams is 4-of-24 from the three-point line shooting just 17 percent.

The junior has come on strong this season and we’ve seen him pour in some buckets but it’s become a trend that he seemingly disappears in the second half.

For UNC to be successful, they need Williams to start getting hot. In addition, fellow starter and grad transfer Cam Johnson really struggled against Virginia Tech.

Johnson entered Monday’s game shooting 59 percent from the field in his previous two games, both home wins against Clemson and Georgia Tech.

Against Virginia Tech, Johnson was just 1-of-9 from the field. He’s performed a lot better in the Dean E. Smith Center this season than he has on the road.

There have been flashes of what Johnson can do offensively, providing a big boost for this UNC offense but there has to be consistency both at home and on the road.

Senior Theo Pinson finished with just four points against the Hokies. It would be a big benefit if Pinson can score in double figures but his contributions were found in other areas.

Pinson grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 8 assists in the loss. The offensive production has to get better but you know what you’re going to get from Pinson.

The Tar Heels return home for a game against NC State on Saturday, hoping to get back on track in the ACC.

Next: Roy Williams is 'ticked off' with the Tar Heels recent performance

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