UNC Basketball shoots its way out of must-win game

The UNC basketball program was too reliant from three-point range, as their abysmal shooting cost them in Monday’s loss to Miami.

At this point, what more can you really say?

The UNC basketball program suffered yet another disappointing loss, this one at the hands of the No. 15-ranked Miami Hurricanes. With the loss, the Tar Heels continue to push themselves closer towards not making the NCAA Tournament, as the momentum built from the Clemson victory was all but wasted.

In the first half, it was a very competitive contest. Although the Tar Heels struggled mightily from three-point range, they thrived attacking the basket, as the likes of Caleb Love and RJ Davis had their way in the paint.

However, when the teams returned from the break, Miami essentially controlled the remainder of the game.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word ‘insanity,’ is defined as, “an action that is stupid and likely to have extremely bad results.”

Well, you could classify the Tar Heels three-point shooting as a prime case of insanity.

North Carolina has not lit it up from three all season. In fact, they are one of the worst teams in the country in regard to shooting the deep ball.

However, after knocking down 15 triples on Saturday (which was rather surprising, to say the least), the Tar Heels once again tried to have a three-point shootout, only this time, not many were successful.

Overall, North Carolina made just five of 31 three-point field goal attempts. Yes, they attempted 31 threes and only knocked down five.

Their willingness to settle on bad shots instead of continuing to attack the basket was one of the major factors that helped lead them to yet another loss.

Davis (23 points) and Love (20) chucked up plenty of their own, missing 15 of their 19 three-point attempts. However, both shot the ball well from within the arc, as Davis was 7-11 while Love was 5-7 in these shot attempts.

Why didn’t we see more of them driving to the basket?!

This was a game that the Tar Heels let slip out of their grasp. Yes, give credit to Miami, they are an outstanding team with a very good coach that made some critical adjustments at the half. Even though all these things are true, it’s concerning that North Carolina essentially went away from what was working, as settling for forced shots killed any chance of them winning this game.

We can talk about another poor performance from Pete Nance or the lack of the usage of the bench, but the same story remains: the roller coaster season of the UNC basketball program continues, as the ride is now once again trending towards a bad ending.

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