UNC Women's Basketball: A win is a win, regardless of how pretty it is

If you're the UNC women's basketball program, you'll gladly take the win, even though you didn't put together your best performance by any means.

Early on, it looked like the Tar Heels were going to run the Wake Forest Demon Deacons out of their own gym. North Carolina commanded the first quarter, pulling away with a 12-point lead after one quarter of action.

From that point on, Wake Forest, a team who has yet to win an ACC game this season, continued to hang in the game.

Now, to clarify, Wake Forest didn't do anything spectacular to stay in the game. North Carolina helped keep them in the game with sloppy play and horrible free throw shooting.

To put it into perspective: the Tar Heels turned the basketball over a season-high 24 times, as they only made 22 shots from the floor throughout.

If that stat didn't frustrate you, this one certainly will: North Carolina got to the free throw line 25 times. They were only able to convert on 11 of those opportunities.

Yes, North Carolina shot 52.4% from the floor, but that gets overshadowed by the ability to protect the basketball and capitalize on free opportunities at the line.

Other than Alyssa Ustby, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 10-11 shooting, no other Tar Heel really got going from the floor.

It was an off night for Deja Kelly, who still finished with 15 points, while Lexi Donarski, coming off a game in which she drained six three-pointers, only took two shots the entire night.

Of course, a win is a win, and you'll gladly return home with it. However, you have to be concerned with the performance, especially ahead of a week where the UNC women's basketball program is set to face off with two top 25 squads in a span of four days.