By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina will have to learn how to win when giving up a lot of height, but the Tar Heels didn’t show the toughness to make that happen against a long Alabama team.
The No. 10 Tide’s size and length were too much for the No. 20 Tar Heels, who fell behind by double-digits in the first half for the fourth consecutive game. UNC could never mount a significant rally in a 94–79 loss Wednesday in the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge.
Carolina (4–4) is reeling with a three-game losing streak and is off to the program’s worst start in 23 years — when a 3–5 record became 8–20 in the 2001–02 season. It’s come while facing three top-10 opponent, through eight games in 57 years.
“I didn’t think we played well enough to win tonight, and we didn’t do things consistently to put ourselves in a position to win a game like this,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “When things don’t work our way, there are two choices: you can stay down and whine and complain, or you can get your tail back up and step forward and start swinging.”
Freshman guard Ian Jackson, who led the team with 23 points, three 3-pointers and a 17.4 game score, said the Tar Heels didn’t bring the needed effort.
“I just feel like we’re not tough enough yet,” Jackson said. “I feel like there’s plenty of times in the game where we could have come back and fought, and we didn’t. That’s just something that, internally, we’ve got to fix, and we’re going to fix.”
Coach Davis tried many lineups, including starting Drake Powell (6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) instead of Jae’Lyn Withers, but he didn’t get the needed effort from any of the groups he put out onto the floor.
“The rotation and subs throughout the entire game was to try to get a fresh, energized group out there on the floor,” Coach Davis said. “You can talk about X’s and O’s but you can’t bring that sustained will and want-to.”
Alabama’s starters had a collective 15-inch advantage over UNC, starting three 6–11 players.
“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, they’re bigger,’ and just lay down,” Powell said.” Just got to get tougher and compete.
Among those tall players was Cliff Omoruyi, who UNC pursued in the offseason to get a post presence. He had 11 points and five rebounds.
Ven-Allen Lubin was the first player off the bench and contributed eight points, four rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes.
“The energy and effort on the defensive end,” said Lubin when asked why UNC struggled. “Shots weren’t going in on the offensive end. We had a lot of great looks, but we couldn’t knock them down. Hard for us to build a lead and close up the gap.”
The communication issues on defense at the Maui Invitational continued Wednesday as Alabama (7–2) got whatever it wanted offensively most of the night.
“I don’t speak in tongues or interpretations,” Coach Davis said. “I’m straightforward and direct. That is something we have had to work on, not just in games, but in practices. We need to be able to consistently execute things that we’ve been told and taught and are talented enough to do.”
Mark Sears, guarded by Trimble and Elliot Cadeau (1 point, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 turnovers), led six Alabama players scoring in double figures with 20 points. Alabama shot 49.3% from the floor and made 36.4% of its 3-point attempts.
“Alabama is a very talented basketball team,” Powell said. “But we didn’t stick to our principles, and that is what led us to the score. It’s about effort, plays, and toughness. There are spurts of it, but we need to sustain it for a whole game.”
Carolina had a hard time finding much scoring punch besides Jackson and fifth-year guard RJ Davis. Davis netted 18 points, and Seth Trimble was the only other Tar Heel in double figures with 12 points.
Davis made only 1 of 11 3-point attempts and is frustrated as his shooting struggles continue. Carolina is now 2–7 when he takes at least 20 shots, and he fired up 24 against Alabama.
“Obviously, teams are guarding me differently this year, so I’m going to be taking a lot of tougher shots. So, I think that’s a part of it as well,” RJ Davis said. “They’re putting 6-7 bigs on me. Any time I drive, they’re in the gaps. Teams are doing a really good job of just keying on me. I just have to do a better job of finding my teammates when I’m double-teamed.”
UNC won the rebounding battle 42–40 against the Tide, including rebounding a higher percentage of their misses (31.9%–22.7%). But much of that has to do with Alabama’s perimeter emphasis, which netted a 12–5 advantage in 3-pointers.
Although UNC had an early 2–0 lead, the Tar Heels fell behind by 13 on an Aden Holloway 3-pointer to cap a 19–6 run with 8:20 left in the first half.
A 10–2 Carolina run cut the deficit to five with 4:28 left on an Jackson drive, but Alabama quickly pushed it back to 10 before taking a 43–34 halftime lead.
“We didn’t play our best half, but it’s probably one of the better halves we played in the season,” Jackson said. “So just trying to find what worked, and HD was trying to play around with different things and see what can get us going.”
After a Davis jumper cut it to five, the Tide took advantage of some UNC turnovers to score nine straight points and shove the lead back to 14 on Labaron Philon’s jumper. That prompted a Hubert Davis timeout, even though the TV timeout was coming at the next dead ball.
Houston Mallette’s 3-pointer gave Alabama an 18-point lead, capping a 7–2 run, with 10:17 left. Omoruyi’s dunk with 2:54 left gave the Tide a 17-point lead and UNC never got closer than 10 after that.
NOTES — Carolina opens ACC play at 2 p.m. Saturday (ACC Network) against Georgia Tech (4–4) in the second of three consecutive home games. The Yellow Jackets, who lost their Challenge game 76–61 Tuesday at No. 21 Oklahoma, have a NET ranking of 173, the fourth lowest among ACC teams. … Cadeau’s -1.8 game score was the second negative game score of his career (-2.8 against Wagner in last season’s NCAA tournament.) … The 15-point loss was Carolina’s largest since losing 87-67 to Duke on Feb. 5, 2022. … Carolina has played three top 10 opponents in its first eight games for only the fourth time and first time since 1967–68. … Jackson was the first freshman to score at least 20 points since Walker Kessler had 20 against Florida State on Feb. 27, 2021. … Cade Tyson played eight minutes after logging only six in three Maui games. … UNC wore Michael Jordan-era throwback uniforms. … New England rookie quarterback Drake Maye was at the game. The Patriots are off next weekend. Former UNC baseball star Vance Honeycutt was sitting next to Maye. … UNC fell to 43–28 all-time against top-10 teams in the Smith Center and had its 19-game home non-conference win streak snapped. … Alabama’s third consecutive win over UNC cut the Tar Heels’ lead in the series to 8–7 and was its first win in Chapel Hill in three tries. … Carolina is 0–3 against Alabama under Hubert Davis.
No. 10 Alabama 94, No. 20 UNC 79
UNC lineup combinations
| Score | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Segment score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 20:00 | Cadeau | Davis | Trimble | Powell | Washington | 2–0 |
| 2–0 | 17:44 | Lubin | 0–1 | ||||
| 2–1 | 16:39 | Jackson | Withers | 5–10 | |||
| 7–11 | 15:07 | Davis | Trimble | 7–10 | |||
| 14–21 | 11:40 | Cadeau | Powell | Tyson | Washington | 0–2 | |
| 14–23 | 9:45 | Davis | Claude | 4–8 | |||
| 18–31 | 7:59 | Cadeau | Davis | Trimble | Powell | 4–0 | |
| 22–31 | 6:37 | Jackson | Lubin | 3–2 | |||
| 25–33 | 4:35 | Trimble | 3–5 | ||||
| 28–38 | 3:19 | Davis | Withers | 0–0 | |||
| 28–38 | 2:43 | Claude | 2–0 | ||||
| 30–38 | 1:50 | Cadeau | Davis | 4–6 | |||
| 34–43 | Half | Trimble | Powell | Washington | 4–9 | ||
| 38–52 | 16:48 | Lubin | 0–0 | ||||
| 38–52 | 16:13 | Jackson | 4–7 | ||||
| 48–59 | 13:43 | Davis | Trimble | 0–4 | |||
| 48–63 | 13:01 | Claude | 2–0 | ||||
| 50–63 | 12:13 | Withers | 2–7 | ||||
| 52–70 | 9:44 | Powell | Lubin | 1–0 | |||
| 53–70 | 9:55 | Cadeau | Davis | 2–0 | |||
| 55–70 | 9:06 | Tyson | 5–4 | ||||
| 60–74 | 7:46 | Claude | 4–3 | ||||
| 64–77 | 6:25 | Washington | 0–0 | ||||
| 64–77 | 6:00 | Trimble | 4–5 | ||||
| 66–82 | 4:27 | Cadeau | Davis | Trimble | Jackson | 8–7 | |
| 74–89 | 1:42 | Lubin | 0–5 | ||||
| 74–94 | Final |
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 11–1 | 22–2 | 3 |
| No. 15 Virginia | 10–2 | 21–3 | 18 |
| No. 20 Clemson | 10–2 | 20–5 | 33 |
| N.C. State | 9–3 | 18–7 | 29 |
| Miami | 8–3 | 19–5 | 36 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 8–4 | 18–6 | 14 |
| No. 11 North Carolina | 7–4 | 19–5 | 25 |
| SMU | 6–5 | 17–7 | 34 |
| Virginia Tech | 6–6 | 17–8 | 50 |
| California | 5–7 | 17–8 | 63 |
| Syracuse | 5–7 | 14–11 | 68 |
| Stanford | 5–7 | 16–9 | 69 |
| Florida State | 4–7 | 11–13 | 95 |
| Wake Forest | 3–8 | 12–12 | 66 |
| Boston College | 2–9 | 9–15 | 150 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–10 | 11–14 | 158 |
| Notre Dame | 2–10 | 11–14 | 88 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–10 | 9–16 | 124 |
* — Through Thursday games
Tuesday’s results
Miami 75, No. 11 North Carolina 66
No. 15 Virginia 61, Florida State 58
SMU 89, Notre Dame 81
No. 4 Duke 70, Pittsburgh 54
Wednesday’s results
Virginia Tech 76, No. 20 Clemson 66
Syracuse 107, California 100, 2 OTs
Wake Forest 83, Georgia Tech 67
Stanford 70, Boston College 64
Saturday’s games
No. 20 Clemson at No. 4 Duke, noon, ESPN
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, noon, The CW
California at Boston College, noon, ACC Network
Pittsburgh at No. 11 North Carolina, 2 p.m., ESPN
Florida State at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Syracuse, 2 p.m., The CW
No. 24 Louisville vs. Baylor in Fort Worth, Texas, 4 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Stanford at Wake Forest, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Miami at N.C. State, 4 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
No. 15 Virginia vs. Ohio State in Nashville, 8 p.m., Fox
Monday’s game
Syracuse at No. 4 Duke, 7 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday’s games
Boston College at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACC Network
No. 11 North Carolina at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ESPN
No. 24 Louisville at SMU, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 22 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 9 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 10 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at No. 25 Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 15 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 4 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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