University of North Carolina Athletics
Leaky Black
Photo by: Peyton Williams
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
January 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from the home matchup with Clemson.
By Adam Lucas
1. What a painful end to a Saturday in the Smith Center, as Clemson does what's been done to them so many times and emerges with a 79-76 overtime win.
2. The final minutes of the second half, as Carolina coughed up a ten-point lead with two minutes left, were excruciating. Bad turnovers, uncertain offense and a bevy of big Tiger shots will probably go down as two of the best minutes in Clemson basketball history--and, given the circumstances, perhaps two of the worst in Carolina basketball history.
3. It will be interesting to find out what the instructions were from the Carolina bench during the timeout with 12.1 seconds left in regulation. Brandon Robinson drained both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity to put the Tar Heels up three. Carolina then chose to play out the final clock rather than fouling, and Aamir Simms hit his second big three-pointer in the final push to tie the game.
4. Carolina's shot selection at the start of overtime looked like a staggered team. Andrew Platek (who overall was solid, with eight rebounds and six assists) hoisted a three-pointer just seconds into the shot clock, and Leaky Black (who was working on a solid floor game until the final two minutes of regulation) missed a drifting jumper with a hand in his face. The Tar Heels executed better in the remainder of overtime, but those first two possessions gave Clemson a quick lead and some confidence.
5. But also notable was that Carolina's defensive problems reappeared in the extra session. The Tigers scored on five of their seven possessions in overtime, including a couple of layups.Â
6. Brandon Robinson will join Garrison Brooks' big performance against Georgia Tech as offensive explosions that no one ever wants to remember. Robinson fired in 19 points in the first half and finished with 27, hitting nine-of-17 from the field and, for much of the game, being Carolina's only offensive threat. Yes, he missed the potential game-tying shot in overtime, but Carolina isn't even in the game at that point without him.
7. It's hard to even know how to write this since there were two such distinct parts of the game. There were the first 38 minutes, when Carolina looked reasonably assured, played some solid team defense, and generally put forth the exact effort Roy Williams has been asking for in recent weeks. Those 38 minutes were encouraging.
8. But when adversity hit, the Tar Heels collapsed. Carolina turned it over three times in the final two minutes, including tossing it away on an inbounds play after a timeout. If you hadn't just seen it, you wouldn't have believed it. The Tar Heels have lost four in a row for the first time since 2010.
9. Clemson hasn't been a good rebounding team this year, and they were even, 39-39, on the boards with Carolina. Another stat that was key: the Tar Heels got just two points off the bench. The Tigers led that category, 13-2. Yes, Carolina's personnel is diminished by injuries, but they desperately need more than just two points from the reserves.
10. One statistic that does a pretty telling job of summing up the season so far: Carolina used two starting lineups last year--one for 35 games, and one for one game. This season, through 16 games, the Tar Heels have used six different starting lineups and have started four different players at point guard. Saturday's starters--Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, Andrew Platek and Brandon Robinson--was Platek's first career start.
11. Nice sign of maturity from Armando Bacot, who picked up an early foul in the first half. But he played the rest of the period without fouling and eventually played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring nine points to go with three rebounds in that stanza. Fouls have been an issue for the freshman this year, and avoiding them was a huge benefit for a Tar Heel team that was already short on personnel. Bacot finished with 21 points and was effective at times around the paint, but Carolina needs more than five rebounds from him.
12. The results haven't always been great, but Smith Center crowds have been very good through this long homestand. They've tried their best to push Carolina through some struggles, and it was evident early on Saturday that this was a crowd that wanted to make a difference. Unfortunately, what looked like the most friendly part of the league schedule--four straight home games overall, with three of them in the league--resulted in three straight ACC losses.
13. The Tar Heels shot below 50 percent for the 16th straight game, breaking the mark set by the 1959-60 team, which finally hit 50 percent in its 16th game of the year. Carolina shot 42.4 percent against Clemson and was 6-for-26 from the three-point line. Other than Robinson, the Heels were 1-for-13 from three.
14. The latest UNC injury is Jeremiah Francis, who did not play on Saturday. Roy Williams indicated Francis would be evaluated again on Monday.
1. What a painful end to a Saturday in the Smith Center, as Clemson does what's been done to them so many times and emerges with a 79-76 overtime win.
2. The final minutes of the second half, as Carolina coughed up a ten-point lead with two minutes left, were excruciating. Bad turnovers, uncertain offense and a bevy of big Tiger shots will probably go down as two of the best minutes in Clemson basketball history--and, given the circumstances, perhaps two of the worst in Carolina basketball history.
3. It will be interesting to find out what the instructions were from the Carolina bench during the timeout with 12.1 seconds left in regulation. Brandon Robinson drained both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity to put the Tar Heels up three. Carolina then chose to play out the final clock rather than fouling, and Aamir Simms hit his second big three-pointer in the final push to tie the game.
4. Carolina's shot selection at the start of overtime looked like a staggered team. Andrew Platek (who overall was solid, with eight rebounds and six assists) hoisted a three-pointer just seconds into the shot clock, and Leaky Black (who was working on a solid floor game until the final two minutes of regulation) missed a drifting jumper with a hand in his face. The Tar Heels executed better in the remainder of overtime, but those first two possessions gave Clemson a quick lead and some confidence.
5. But also notable was that Carolina's defensive problems reappeared in the extra session. The Tigers scored on five of their seven possessions in overtime, including a couple of layups.Â
6. Brandon Robinson will join Garrison Brooks' big performance against Georgia Tech as offensive explosions that no one ever wants to remember. Robinson fired in 19 points in the first half and finished with 27, hitting nine-of-17 from the field and, for much of the game, being Carolina's only offensive threat. Yes, he missed the potential game-tying shot in overtime, but Carolina isn't even in the game at that point without him.
7. It's hard to even know how to write this since there were two such distinct parts of the game. There were the first 38 minutes, when Carolina looked reasonably assured, played some solid team defense, and generally put forth the exact effort Roy Williams has been asking for in recent weeks. Those 38 minutes were encouraging.
8. But when adversity hit, the Tar Heels collapsed. Carolina turned it over three times in the final two minutes, including tossing it away on an inbounds play after a timeout. If you hadn't just seen it, you wouldn't have believed it. The Tar Heels have lost four in a row for the first time since 2010.
9. Clemson hasn't been a good rebounding team this year, and they were even, 39-39, on the boards with Carolina. Another stat that was key: the Tar Heels got just two points off the bench. The Tigers led that category, 13-2. Yes, Carolina's personnel is diminished by injuries, but they desperately need more than just two points from the reserves.
10. One statistic that does a pretty telling job of summing up the season so far: Carolina used two starting lineups last year--one for 35 games, and one for one game. This season, through 16 games, the Tar Heels have used six different starting lineups and have started four different players at point guard. Saturday's starters--Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, Andrew Platek and Brandon Robinson--was Platek's first career start.
11. Nice sign of maturity from Armando Bacot, who picked up an early foul in the first half. But he played the rest of the period without fouling and eventually played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring nine points to go with three rebounds in that stanza. Fouls have been an issue for the freshman this year, and avoiding them was a huge benefit for a Tar Heel team that was already short on personnel. Bacot finished with 21 points and was effective at times around the paint, but Carolina needs more than five rebounds from him.
12. The results haven't always been great, but Smith Center crowds have been very good through this long homestand. They've tried their best to push Carolina through some struggles, and it was evident early on Saturday that this was a crowd that wanted to make a difference. Unfortunately, what looked like the most friendly part of the league schedule--four straight home games overall, with three of them in the league--resulted in three straight ACC losses.
13. The Tar Heels shot below 50 percent for the 16th straight game, breaking the mark set by the 1959-60 team, which finally hit 50 percent in its 16th game of the year. Carolina shot 42.4 percent against Clemson and was 6-for-26 from the three-point line. Other than Robinson, the Heels were 1-for-13 from three.
14. The latest UNC injury is Jeremiah Francis, who did not play on Saturday. Roy Williams indicated Francis would be evaluated again on Monday.
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