UNC's defensive effort against SMU was even worse than you imagined

Saturday afternoon was not a good one for the UNC Basketball team, as they traveled to Dallas for their first Atlantic Coast Conference road game of the 2025-2026 season, and just their second true road game of the year.

The defensive performance was worse than you thought (or maybe it was exactly how bad you imagined...)

You probably felt like every time SMU had possession, the basketball was finding the bottom of the net. Well... you wouldn't be wrong. The Mustangs were extremely efficient on the offensive end of the court, and for as good as they were in the first half, they got even better in the second half (how is that possible?).

Despite the incredible offensive performance in the first half by the Mustangs, the Tar Heels were able to go into the break tied at the half at 39. However, shortly after the start of the second half, it would be all downhill from there for North Carolina.

They gave up a whopping 58 points in the second half as they were outscored by 14 in the second half, allowing 97 total points for the game.

Let's start first with reference to the current UNC Basketball team: The current Tar Heels hadn't allowed over 75 points all season.

This isn't a bad Tar Heel defensive team (or at least it hadn't been through 14 games). They entered the game versus SMU, ranked 19th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Needless to say, that stat plummeted following Saturday's result.

So now, how does that relate to historical reference outside of the 2025-2026 season? Watching the second half, you probably started to think, "I don't remember the last time a team has had this good of an offensive performance against a UNC Basketball team."

Well, you'd be right... it hasn't happened often.

In fact, KenPom was created in 1997. In the 29 years since, there has only been one singular performance that was worse using KenPom ratings for a UNC defense.

The worst performance? 2015 versus Pittsburgh. A game in which the Tar Heels lost 89-76.

Looking at just field goal percentage, the Tar Heels allowed the Mustangs to shoot 60% for the game. The last team to do that was the Syracuse Orange in 2024 when they shot 62.5% in a 86-79 loss for North Carolina.

And finally, in the second half, SMU shot 71.4% from the field, including 60% from beyond the arc on 9 of 15 shooting. A team hasn't touched that number in a single half since 2019, when Gonzaga eclipsed it with a 72% performance.

Needless to say, it hasn't happened often that we see this poor a defensive performance from a team in Carolina blue. Hopefully, this is a rare occurrence, and we don't see it again for a very long time.

Or did SMU expose a weakness for the now 13-2 Tar Heels and future ACC opponents will look to do the same?

Let's hope that part isn't true and that this team can use the upcoming seven days off to watch film, regroup, and make sure this doesn't happen again.