UNC Basketball: The final score don’t tell the true ugly tale…

The final score is very deceiving, as the UNC basketball program put together an embarrassing performance on Tuesday night at Wake Forest.

There’s no other way to put it: the UNC basketball program should be embarrassed by its performance, especially in the first half of play, against Wake Forest.

The Tar Heels, now losers of three straight games, looked as if they didn’t want to be in Winston-Salem. Behind a sluggish effort, North Carolina allowed the Demon Deacons to shoot 51.4 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes of play, as the Tar Heels simply couldn’t buy a basket.

Other than Armando Bacot, who outscored the rest of his team in the first half, not a single Tar Heel had more than two points in the first half. The backcourt duo of Caleb Love and RJ Davis went to the locker room shooting a combined 1-14 from the floor.

Trailing by their biggest halftime deficit of the season, the Tar Heels did pick it up a bit in the second half, as they outscored the Demon Deacons 60-45 over the frame. However, it was not enough, as the lead was too insurmountable for the Tar Heels to overcome.

You saw improvement when Hubert Davis elected to mix and match a bit, most notably with the likes of Seth Trimble and Tyler Nickel being inserted. However, it was still a performance that makes you realize that this group is closer to being a bubble team than they are to being a true NCAA Tournament contender.

Whether it was Leaky Black jogging on a fast break (ultimately leading to two missed free throws) or Caleb Love and RJ Davis playing as if they were the only players on the court, the body language and effort were embarrassing, to say the least, as it was a group that truly seemed disinterested in playing basketball.

There seems to be no talking on defense and a ton of isolation basketball on the offensive end. Even when Armando Bacot is dominating, the Tar Heels don’t make an effort to feed him in the post, rather, mainly utilize him as a screener behind the three-point line.

Something is going on with this team. Whether it’s frustration from the players or a lack of accountability from the coaching staff, it’s actually mind-boggling to see this group struggle as much as they have, especially on Tuesday night. In a must-win type of game, the Tar Heels came out flat, which goes to show just where this team is at this point in the season.

It feels as if we’ve been beating a dead horse, but after Tuesday night’s performance, the frustration is really starting to kick at a much higher level.

But don’t worry, the schedule gets tougher, as the Tar Heels will take on Clemson and Miami in a span of three days.

The way the UNC basketball program is playing, it could become a very bumpy ride over the next week of play.