UNC Basketball: Tar Heels fall to Auburn in Sweet 16

The Tar Heels fell short in Kansas City as Auburn used a big second half to advance on and play Kentucky in the Elite 8

Well, that’s not how we imagined the season ending for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

From the start UNC struggled to get into their offense as Bruce Pearl decided to pressure guard Coby White in the full-court. The Tar Heels just looked off early on and never really recovered as Auburn kept the pressure on.

The first half was a back-and-forth contest with neither team really taking control. UNC went through two scoring droughts of three-plus minutes but Auburn didn’t really take advantage.

Then with UNC up 38-33, they had two possessions where they could have extended that lead a bit but missed two three-pointers. It would come back to hurt the Tar Heels.

The Tigers would take a 41-39 lead after J’Von McCormick took the ball coast-to-coast for an easy layup as time expired. The Tar Heels went the final 2:28 of the first half without a field goal, their last coming on a Coby White layup.

While the score was close in the first half, the second half was a different story.

The Tigers came out red-hot in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the half and opening up on a 11-2 run to take a 52-41 lead. UNC never recovered.

Auburn got hot from the three-point line in the second half and made a total of 17 on the game, a record for most made three-pointers against a UNC team in the NCAA Tournament. It got to the point where Auburn even banked in a deep three.

Yeah, it was that kind of night for the Tar Heels.

UNC couldn’t get their offense going as the Tigers clamped down defensively, putting a full court press on. The Tigers also did a great job on the glass finishing with 36 rebounds compared to UNC’s 40. Auburn was ranked 225th going into the game in rebounding and it was an area they needed to do well in to have a shot.

They did just that and it showed as they hung with the Tar Heels on the glass.

Overall it was just an ugly performance for UNC, one of their worst this season and it simply came at the wrong time.  Cameron Johnson and Coby White both scored 15 points to lead all UNC scorers while  Luke Maye had 13 in his final game.

For the Tar Heels, they head back to Chapel Hill wondering what could have been if they had just played their game on Friday night. Some big decisions will come in the next month or so with White and Nassir Little, plus the recruiting decision of Cole Anthony.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for the latest on the UNC Basketball program.