UNC Basketball: Takeaways from the Jimmy V. Classic

Here are some takeaways following the UNC basketball program’s loss to No. 5-ranked UConn in the Jimmy V. Classic on Tuesday night.

If you follow the Keeping It Heel team (especially X), you know that on UNC basketball game days, I typically live tweet about each game.

Well, being from New Jersey, any time the Tar Heels come to the area, you know I’m there, so I decided to enjoy the game as a fan and report back to everyone the following morning!

North Carolina suffered a loss to No. 5-ranked UConn in the second game of the annual Jimmy V. Classic, as it’s a game that certainly will help the Tar Heels grow over time.

Let’s start with the atmosphere.

Coming from New Jersey, my family (all die-hard Tar Heels fans) decided to head into the city early to give ourselves time to get to Madison Square Garden. We arrived right at tip-off for the first game between Florida Atlantic and Illinois, and let me tell you, it felt like they were simply the opening act.

Great game between two top-25 teams, and the crowd didn’t start filling out until midway through the second half.

Once the tip-off of the UNC basketball/UConn game got underway, it felt like an Elite 8 or Final Four atmosphere. The crowd was ELECTRIC! Of course, it felt like a UConn home game at times (I would say the crowd was 60/40 in their favor, plus their band and cheerleaders were in attendance), but it was still a very cool back-and-forth experience to witness first-hand.

Now to the game.

UConn is the defending national champions for a reason: they are GOOD.

Their ball movement reminds me of the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic operating the offense. They move so effectively around the court and almost always seem to find a quality shot.

Even the shots they had to force were ones that they were able to make.

While UConn seemed to make every shot (or at least it felt like that), North Carolina didn’t have that same success.

Other than RJ Davis (who exploded offensively in the second half) and Harrison Ingram, the Tar Heels struggled to get much going otherwise.

It looked like Armando Bacot was in line for a huge performance, but a knee injury in the first half definitely impacted him. He wasn’t the same after that, and that simply hurt the Tar Heels.

If the Tar Heels want to make a deep run into March, they NEED Cormac Ryan to get back on track. I personally still think his ankles are bothering him (which could be impacting his shooting and movement on the floor), so hopefully the long rest before the Kentucky game will help him get closer to full health.

The thing that keeps standing out to me about this team is their fight. No disrespect to last year’s squad, but if they were faced with the same adversity as this year’s team was on Tuesday night, it’s likely they would’ve gotten blown out.

The Tar Heels didn’t come to the Big Apple to lose. Although the game did not go in their favor, it’s one that you can still be pleased with their performance and know that there’s a lot they can learn from it as they progress deeper into the 2023-2024 season.

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