AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie
There’s little doubt that North Carolina is a good basketball team. Whether they have the potential to be a great one and a serious national championship contender was cast into some doubt on Tuesday night.
The No. 5 UConn Huskies beat up on the No. 9 Tar Heels in the Jimmy V. Men’s Classic at Madison Square Garden, 87-76, behind Cam Spencer’s 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
But this was a team win. UConn out-rebounded the Tar Heels, 42-33. They played better team basketball, with a 25-18 advantage in assists. North Carolina scuffed a number of layups they could have easily made and struggled from the charity stripe (13-of-22).
UConn was favored coming into the game, and Madison Square Garden provided them a bit more of an advantage than a normal neutral court might have. The defending champions looked very, very good.
Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops
UConn with a pretty resounding win over UNC in The Garden.
Maybe the Huskies really do have a chance to repeat. …
Imagine if Clingan really gets it going.
Seth Davis @SethDavisHoops
Pretty incredible that UConn could lose its top two scorers, three starters and two key reserves from the national champs and still be this good. A champion’s performance at the World’s Most Famous Arena tonight.
Jeff Borzello @jeffborzello
FINAL: No. 5 UConn 87, No. 9 North Carolina 76
Impressive bounceback performance for the Huskies despite being banged up. Turned it up an extra gear down the stretch. Cam Spencer & Alex Karaban were terrific, Solo Ball hit big shots. Think they have another level to hit too.
Matt Norlander @MattNorlander
From two weeks ago.
Nothing has changed.
UConn has a level few teams in the sport can match. https://t.co/4mEclDUkio
RJ Davis did his job on the night, putting up 26 points, while Armando Bacot added a double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds). But it wasn’t enough, and college basketball fans felt that the Huskies exposed a number of UNC’s weaknesses on the night:
John Silver @JohnFSilver
North Carolina can’t stop our offense. Execution is too good. UConn’s half court is beautiful.
Jason McCallum @JMacSC
This was a good measuring-stick game for North Carolina and the only reason they were losing was because UConn had an early stretch in the 2nd half when they didn’t miss.
But then the last 4 minutes happened and their inability to match toughness was completely exposed.
Curry Hicks Sage @CurryHicksSage
UConn is just a much much tougher basketball team than North Carolina. The talent gap barely exists but in every other category UConn is a zillion times better
Matt Maher @SimplyMM05
North Carolina still has an Armando Bacot problem . The college basketball game isn’t meant for soft big guys.
Ken Davis @Kendavis55
North Carolina is an awful rebounding team
Austin Bechtold @AustinRBechtold
North Carolina is just too sloppy with the basketball
David Sisk @CoachDavidSisk
North Carolina needs to score to push the tempo & press. When they don’t make shots UCONN can walk it up and play more of a halfcourt game. That pace is in the Huskies advantage. @HeelIllustrated
Noah Monroe @thenoahmonroe
North Carolina had their chances to win the game and ultimately they let those chances go by the wayside and UConn capitalized on the chances UNC gave them
No Escalators @NoEscalators
Starting to understand how Villanova beat North Carolina.
The reason is: North Carolina is bad.
Nathan Giese @NathanGiese
North Carolina doesn’t have enough shooting for Cormac Ryan to be below 30% on the year.
North Carolina’s utter meltdown last season, ending without a bid in the NCAA tournament, is going to lurk in the background every time they lose this season. The Tar Heels’ mental toughness is going to be constantly scrutinized, even if this is a different group.
It’s certainly a group that bought itself some benefit of the doubt after solid wins over Arkansas and Tennessee this season. UConn is just a different beast, and it was clear they were operating on a higher plane than these Tar Heels.
Can North Carolina get to that level? The talent is there. But there’s plenty of work to be done in Chapel Hill before this team will convince anyone it’s a legitimate title contender. A loss in December doesn’t make or break a season, but the Tar Heels need to address the weaknesses UConn exposed.
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