Lucas: Tennessee Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Tough day from the start for Carolina, as the Tar Heels looked like a tired team in a 89-69 loss to Tennessee. Carolina simply wasn't able to muster the same level of competitiveness as the Vols, as both teams were coming off intense games on Saturday and Tennessee responded better.

2. Carolina's defense needs improvement. During what eventually became the decisive stretch of the game, Tennessee scored on 16 of 17 possessions on which it took a shot. That's a problem on two fronts: defense and allowing too many offensive rebounds. The Vols shot 54.3 percent from the field in the game and it seemed higher than that. In four of the last eight halves, the Tar Heel opponent has shot at least 60 percent from the field. The Vols hit an eye-popping 65.6 percent in the second half on Sunday, when they seemed to be able to get a high-percentage shot any time they wanted it.

3. The Tar Heels were simply beaten in virtually every category. Bench points, turnovers, rebounds, assists, assist/turnover, energy...pick your (least) favorite. It's not going on the highlight tape for anyone.

4. There's no point in singling out any individual. Everyone wearing blue had an off day. Everyone will have their designated goat, but that loss was a team effort in exactly the same way that some wins are team wins. Sometimes those days happen, and this was one of those days. Brady Manek led Carolina with 24 points on 7-12 shooting.

5. Carolina's last offensive possession of the first half did a very adequate job of summarizing the Tar Heels' offensive execution in the first 20 minutes. The possession mostly consisted of dribbling 40 feet from the basket, a couple perimeter passes, and Caleb Love hoisting a 35-point three-point shot that clanged off the backboard.

6. It was at least good to see Leaky Black back with the team on Sunday. Black was ill with a non-Covid illness on Saturday, but played 19 minutes on Sunday. He was clearly under the weather on the UNC bench and hopefully will feel better by Tuesday.

7. The Tar Heels leave Uncasville with interior scoring and interior defense being concerns. Purdue held a 42-18 advantage in points in the paint yesterday. On Sunday, Tennessee had a 54-22 advantage in that category. So, in two games against the best competition the Tar Heels have seen this year, they were outscored 96-40 in the paint.

8. Roy Williams must have taken at least 250 pictures over the course of the last two days during Carolina's games. Seated courtside, Williams eventually worked out a formula where fans would line up and he'd try to knock out as many as possible at halftime and before and after games.

9. With this collection of four teams, we knew all along that a good team was going to leave Uncasville 0-2. The hope, of course, was that it wasn't the Tar Heels. It's a quick turnaround now to recover and get ready to host UNC Asheville on Tuesday night at the Smith Center.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Leaky Black

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

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