By R.L. Bynum

WINSTON-SALEM — Carolina’s perimeter shooting was as frigid as the temperatures outside Joel Coliseum, and that has squarely put the Tar Heels on the NCAA tournament bubble.

Intent on living or dying by 3-point attempts, the latter led to UNC’s second consecutive one-point loss in a game that wasn’t that close. The Tar Heels continually settled for perimeter shots that — other than a stretch of three consecutive makes in the second half — rarely fell, leading to an ugly 67–66 loss Tuesday night to Wake Forest.

“I don’t think the offense was stagnant,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “I think we had some open shots, and we had some good looks. Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t.”

It was an emotional team after the game, with walk-on Elijah Davis, Coach Davis’ son, weeping in the hallway outside the dressing room after the game. Coach Davis wouldn’t say what his message was to the players other than saying that he loves coaching them, but Ian Jackson said that the coach was reassuring.

“We can do it,” Ian Jackson said, describing what the coach had told them. “He has a lot of faith in us. He sees it, and we all see what we can be. It’s what we see and what we know we can be, adapting and get it done.”

Sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau, who put up a double-double with 13 points, two 3-pointers and 13 assists against only three turnovers, said it came down to not playing good defense and failing to hit open shots.

“I’m definitely not concerned. I feel like all the games we’re losing are by one point, so I’m definitely not concerned,” Cadeau said.

— See more images from the game in this photo gallery.
— Loss doesn’t hurt UNC’s NET ranking. Read more here.

Settling for perimeter shots also led to UNC never getting to the line in the second half, after the Tar Heels probably should have built a comfortable lead when the Deacons were struggling in the first half. Meanwhile, the Deacs were 8 of 11 from the line in the second half.

The one-two punch of Cameron Hildreth (20 points, 6 rebounds) and Hunter Sallis (14 points, 9 rebounds, 10 of 12 at the free throw line) was too much for the Carolina (12–8, 5–3 ACC) as the Demon Deacons (15–4, 7–1) won their sixth consecutive game.

“They were able to keep the score close in the first half because of their ability to get to the free throw line,” Coach Davis said. “Their ability to keep it close and to get back into the game was really Hildreth, his ability to get to the free throw line.”

RJ Davis tried to shoot Carolina to a win with 21 points and three 3-pointers, but didn’t get a lot of other help.

“Obviously, not a great shooting night as a team and we fouled a lot,” RJ Davis said. “That didn’t really help us for our rhythm of the game. We kept putting them on the foul line, and they shot more free throws than us. But then weof just had a lot of self-inflicted plays that just didn’t go our way.”

Jackson, who had a highlight tomahawk dunk in the first half, struggled offensively again, finishing with seven points and making only 1 of 7 3-point attempts.

Carolina was 8 of 32 from 3-point range (25%) despite getting a lot of open shots, tied for their fourth-worst perimeter performance this season. That came one game after shooting 27.8% in Saturday’s 72–71 home loss to Stanford.

Cadeau started a UNC run with a 3-pointer. He then drove for three consecutive layups, completing a three-point play on the third, for 10 consecutive Carolina points in a 13–2 run for a nine-point lead 6½ minutes into the game.

After Jalen Washington and Ven-Allen Lubin picked up two fouls, James Brown and Ty Claude both played in the first half.

Sallis’ first bucket, on a jumper to beat the shot clock more than 10 minutes into the game, came during a 12–5 Deacs run that cut UNC’s lead to two with 5:53 left in the first half. Wake tied it on two Hildreth free throws with 1:33 left. A Hildreth jumper with four seconds left followed four straight Davis points as UNC held on for a 31–29 lead, the seventh time in eight ACC games the Heels have led at halftime.

Wake Forest took a two-point lead 3½ minutes into the second half on a 6–0 run. After two brief two-point UNC leads, Wake Forest scored 12 straight points, taking a 10-point lead on Sallis’ drive with 9½ minutes left. A Drake Powell jumper ended a nearly six-minute drough shortly afterward.

After UNC had missed 19 of its first 22 3-point attempts, Davis, Cadeau and Jae’Lyn Withers made consecutive attempts outside the arc to cap an 11–2 run and take a one-point lead with 5:21 left.

Wake responded by putting the game away with a 12–2 run to go up by nine with 1:17 remaining during a stretch when the Deacons’ 1-3-1 zone threw off the Tar Heels’ offense. Carolina made it interesting with Davis’ jumper cutting it to five with 24 seconds, Washinton’s 3 trimming it to four with 11 seconds left, and Davis hitting a 3 at the buzzer.

NOTES — UNC returns home for a 2:15 Saturday home Quad 4 game (The CW) against Boston College (9–10, 1–7), which lost 74–56 Tuesday night at Virginia for its fifth consecutive loss … UNC’s nine one-possession games tied with the 2010–11 season for the most in the 3-point-shot era, which began with the 1986–87 season. Carolina is 5–4 in those games. … Claude hadn’t gotten into the previous five games, last playing three minutes at Louisville on Jan. 1. … Wake Forest shot 29.6% in the first half, the third time in five games UNC has held an opponent under 30% in the first half. … UNC has lost by a single point in consecutive games for the first time since 1968 (since losing to South Carolina on Feb. 28 and Duke on March 2. … UNC has won 14 of the last 19 meetings with Wake Forest and leads the series 165–70, including 15–14 at Joel Coliseum. … This was the eighth consecutive win by the home team in the series. UNC was the last visiting team to win, beating the Deacs 95–57 win on Feb. 11, 2020.

Wake Forest 67, UNC 66

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 3 Duke	0–0	11–0	2
California	0–0	10–1	63
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	10–1	15
No. 23 Virginia	0–0	9–1	21
Miami	0–0	10–2	33
Virginia Tech	0–0	10–2	58
No. 11 Louisville	0–0	9–2	17
SMU	0–0	9–2	43
Stanford	0–0	8–2	98
Clemson	0–0	9–3	32
Notre Dame	0–0	9–3	65
Wake Forest	0–0	9–3	59
N.C. State	0–0	8–4	34
Georgia Tech	0–0	7–4	189
Syracuse	0–0	7–4	96
Pittsburgh	0–0	6–6	154
Boston College	0–0	5–6	177
Florida State	0–0	5–6	148

* — Through Wednesday games
Tuesday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 77, East Tennessee State 58
No. 3 Duke 97, Lipscomb 73
No. 20 Tennessee 83, No. 11 Louisville 62
Dayton 97, Florida State 69
Clemson 68, South Carolina 61
Miami 98, Florida International 81
Georgia Tech 87, Marist 76
Wednesday’s results
N.C. State 108, Texas Southern 72
Pittsburgh 103, Binghamton 6
Syracuse 76, Mercyhurst 62
Wake Forest 71, Longwood 68
UT Arlington at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Friday’s games
Mississippi Valley State at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Morgan State at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saturday’s games
Montana at No. 11 Louisville, noon, ACCN Extra
Lafayette at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Elon at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Ohio State vs. No. 12 North Carolina at CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta, 3 p.m., CBS
Northeastern at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Maryland at No. 23 Virginia, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 3 Duke at No. 16 Texas Tech, 8 p.m., ESPN
Stanford at Colorado, 8 p.m., ESPNU
Sunday’s games
Penn State vs. Pittsburgh in Hershey, Pa., noon, Big Ten Network
Ole Miss vs. N.C. State in Greensboro, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., The CW
Purdue Ft. Wayne at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Central Arkansas at SMU, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cincinnati vs. Clemson in Greenville, S.C., 3 p.m., ESPN
North Florida at Miami, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Columbia at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday’s games
American at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Jacksonville at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Stonehill at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Fairleigh Dickinson at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
East Carolina at No. 12 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 17 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. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at 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. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte