UNC Basketball suffers Thanksgiving Day loss to Villanova

Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program suffered its first loss of the 2023 season on Thanksgiving day against Villanova.

Thanksgiving day did not go as planned for Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program, as they suffered their first loss of the 2023 season in overtime to Villanova in the semi-finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

North Carolina led by as much as nine but wasn’t able to close out the Wildcats. Of course, you can point to some questionable officiating, but the Tar Heels didn’t do enough on their end to win the game.

Let’s start with Eric Dixon, who absolutely dominated on Thursday afternoon. Villanova’s senior big man scored 34 points and hauled in ten rebounds, as the Tar Heels simply didn’t have an answer for him.

North Carolina faced a ton of foul trouble, as three players (Harrison Ingram, Jae’Lyn Withers, and Elliot Cadeau) all fouled out. With the 30 fouls called against the Tar Heels, Villanova went to the free throw line a staggering 36 times, knocking down 32 of those attempts.

Before fouling out, Ingram was the hot hand, scoring 20 points for a new season high. RJ Davis went on to lead the Tar Heels with 23, as Cormac Ryan (who suffered an injury late in overtime) was the only other UNC basketball player in double-figures.

Ryan sent the game into overtime with a clutch three-pointer and has started to regain his success shooting the basketball after a rough start to the season. Hopefully, the injury isn’t one that doesn’t sideline the veteran, as he is a very important piece to this year’s squad.

The Bahamas haven’t been friendly for star big man Armando Bacot. Although he hauled in 18 rebounds, he finished the game shooting 4-10 from the floor for eight total points. It goes to show that North Carolina needs Bacot to be his dominant self to reach their goals this season.

Yes, it’s a game that you can get frustrated over losing, especially with the officiating that we sat through. NO college basketball game should take almost three hours to complete…

Although the loss stings, it’s a very good early season test for Hubert Davis’ squad as the Tar Heels look to learn more about themselves and ways they can improve as the season goes on.

North Carolina will wrap up the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the third-place game on Friday afternoon against the loser of Arkansas/Memphis.

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