By R.L. Bynum

LAHAINA, Hawai’i — You could see the anger on Seth Trimble’s face as he talked about No. 12 Carolina’s effort on both ends of the court against No. 4 Auburn.

The Tigers kept coming with offensive weapons, and the Tar Heels could not stop it or emerge from yet another early hole. UNC never led in an 85–72 loss Tuesday in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Carolina (4–2) faces Michigan State at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday (ESPN2) in the consolation game. The Spartans (5–2) lost the other semifinal to Memphis 71–63.

Trimble said he didn’t see the passion to guard people or the needed fluidity on offense.

“No pride defensively,” Trimble said bluntly, standing outside the gym. “It’s as simple as that. Guys don’t want to guard. That’s the outcome that’s going to happen each and every time.”

Trimble led UNC with 17 points and three 3-pointers, playing a career-high 33 minutes for the second consecutive night but said that UNC’s offensive performance was just as frustrating.

With a lot of freelance offense and one-on-one ball, UNC’s offense wasn’t very cohesive, assisting on only seven of 27 field goals.

“The ball was sticking, and they took us out of our offense,” said Trimble, who added that he wasn’t fatigued by playing so many minutes on consecutive days. “But we let them take us out of our offense.

“It’s kind of just like they punched, and we didn’t want to punch back,” Trimble said. “If I’m playing a team, that’s what I want — I want the ball to stick in one person’s hand for 25 seconds, and that’s kind of how we played the whole game.”

Down by eight points at halftime and within striking distance, there was hope, but halftime words of inspiration fell flat as Auburn (6–0) expanded the lead to 18 in the first three minutes of the second half.

“We had our words,” Trimble said. “We spoke to each other, but what we said in the locker room is going to stay there.”

Auburn gave itself many more opportunities by dominating its offensive boards, rebounding 27.5% of its misses compared to 18.4% for the Heels. UNC blew plenty of chances around the rim, making only 11 of 23 layup attempts, while the Tigers got plenty of open shots passing out of double-teams.

Coach Hubert Davis said he expects his team to “live in and dwell” in the trenches but didn’t come close to doing that.

“What’s in the trenches are the loose balls, the rebounds, the setting screens, getting through screens — those toughness plays, and Auburn won all of them the entire game, and they were better than us,” Coach Davis said.

If there was one sequence that made Coach Davis’ frustrations boil over, it was early in the second half when Auburn got three consecutive offensive rebounds before Chad Baker-Mazara fired in a corner 3-pointer.

Davis quickly called time out.

“It has nothing to do with physical size, [it’s] the size of one’s heart,” Davis said. “We have to be able to rebound the basketball. We have to be able to get those loose balls. We have to play with composure in situations and games like this. And I just felt like we lost our way and didn’t do the things that we normally do out there on the floor.”

Carolina had no answers for 6–10 senior center Johni Broome, who dominated UNC from the start with 23 points and 19 rebounds. He was one of six Tigers to score in double figures.

Coach Davis said Broome was easily the best player on the court because of his ability to finish around the basket, draw fouls, score 3-pointers (he had two) and play stellar defense.

“Things looked slow to him,” Davis said. “He just wasn’t rushed. He was patient — whether we doubled, whether he was by himself, whether he was running the floor. He’s in full command of his game, and he does so many things for this team.”

RJ Davis played just under 36 minutes for the second consecutive night and went from scoring 30 points in the 92–90 win over Dayton to 5 of 11 shooting (1 of 4 from 3-point range) and 12 points. Jae’Lyn Withers, Elliot Cadeau and Ven-Allen Lubin each added 10 points, with Lubin pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.

Broome scored 11 points as Auburn jumped ahead with a 21–6 run in the first 5½ minutes. With Lubin, Drake Powell and Ian Jackson injecting the Tar Heels with athleticism, UNC went on a 15–2 run — with six points from Lubin — to cut the deficit to two on a Trimble drive 10½ minutes in.

After a 7–0 Auburn run, Jackson fired in a transition 3-pointer to ignite a 9–3 UNC run before the Tigers finished the half with a 7–2 run to take a 40–32 halftime lead.

Again, Auburn was hot to start a half, with three 3-pointers in an 11–2 run after halftime to expand its lead to 18 in the first three minutes. A contested Davis 3-pointer 9½ minutes into the half cut the lead to 13, but an 8–2 Auburn run shoved the lead back to 19.

Carolina scored eight consecutive points to trim it to 11 on two Withers free throws at the 6:15 mark. After four Auburn points, two Trimble 3s cut the lead to nine, but it quickly became 14 as the Tigers put the game away.

NOTES — UNC is 3–2 against Auburn, with two consecutive defeats after a 97–80 Tigers win in the 2019 NCAA Sweet 16 in Kansas City. … UNC is 36–6 in Hawai’i, 19–4 in Lahaina and 23–5 in the Maui Invitational. … Carolina is 7–2 in Maui semifinals, the other loss coming in 2012 to Butler. … Carolina leads the series with Michigan State 13–4, with a 9–2 edge in neutral site games. The Tar Heels beat the Spartans 85–69 on March 23 in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Charlotte last season.

No. 4 Auburn 85, No. 12 UNC 72

Maui Invitational

Lahaina Civic Center | Lahiana, Hawaii
All times ET
Monday’s first round results
Memphis 99, No. 2 UConn 97, OT
Michigan State 72, Colorado 56
No. 4 Auburn 83, No. 5 Iowa State 81
No. 12 UNC 92, Dayton 90
Tuesday’s results
Semifinals
Memphis 71, Michigan State 63
No. 4 Auburn 85, No. 12 UNC 72
Consolation bracket
Colorado 73, No. 2 UConn 72
No. 5 Iowa State 89, Dayton 84
Wednesday’s games
Championship: Memphis (6–0) vs. No. 4 Auburn (6–0), 5 p.m., ESPN
Third-place game: Michigan State (5–2) vs. No. 12 UNC (4–2), 9:30, ESPN2
Fifth-place game: Colorado (5–1) vs. No. 5 Iowa State (3–1), 2:30, ESPN2
Seventh-place game, No. 3 UConn (4–2) vs. Dayton (5–2), midnight, ESPN2

Date	Month/day	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
15	Tuesday	W, 84–76	at Memphis	Exhibition
27	Sunday	W, 127–63	vs. Johnson C. Smith	Exhibition
	November
4	Monday	W, 90–76	vs. Elon	1–0
8	Friday	L, 92–89	at No. 1 Kansas	1–1
15	Friday	W, 107–55	vs. American	2–1
22	Friday	W, 85–69	at Hawai’i	3–1
			Maui Invitational
25	Monday	W, 92–90	Dayton	4–1
26	Tuesday	L, 85–72	No. 4 Auburn	4–2
27	Wednesday	9:30 ET	Michigan State	ESPN2
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
4	Wednesday	7:15	vs. No. 9 Alabama	ESPN
			—————————
7	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Georgia Tech	ACCN
14	Saturday	4 p.m.	vs. LaSalle	The CW
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	Florida	ESPN
			CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden
21	Saturday	3 p.m.	UCLA	CBS
			—————————
29	Sunday	8 p.m.	vs. Campbell	ACCN
	January
1	Wednesday	TBA	at Louisville	ACCN
4	Saturday	Noon	at Notre Dame	CBS
7	Tuesday	9 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
11	Saturday	4 p.m.	at N.C. State	ACCN
15	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Cal	ACCN
18	Saturday	2:15	vs. Stanford	The CW
21	Tuesday	9 p.m.	at Wake Forest	ESPN
25	Saturday	2:15 p.m.	vs. Boston College	The W
28	Tuesday	9 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	ESPN
	February
1	Saturday	6:30 p.m.	at No. 11 Duke	ESPN
8	Saturday	4 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN or ESPN2
10	Monday	7 p.m.	at Clemson	ESPN
15	Saturday	6 p.m.	at Syracuse	ESPN
19	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
22	Saturday	4 p.m.	vs. Virginia	ESPN
24	Monday	7 p.m.	at Florida State	ESPN
	March
1	Saturday	Noon	vs. Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
4	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ESPN, ESPN2 orESPNU
8	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 11 Duke	ESPN
11– 15	Tues.–Sat.		ACC tournament Spectum Center, Charlotte