By R.L. Bynum

PITTSBURGH — How North Carolina is losing has changed since the New Year, but the common maddening pattern remains — the Tar Heels rarely put two good halves together and have trouble finishing games.

In November and December, UNC (13–8, 6–3 ACC) routinely fell behind by double digits in the first half and, in most cases, surged in the second half to make a game of it, with varied results, the latest a 73–65 loss Tuesday at Pittsburgh.

The results have still been mixed since the loss of New Year’s Day at Louisville, but the route to get there has reversed from the early-season pattern. Also reversed has been Carolina’s NCAA tournament resume, which has gone from solidly in the field in December to battling to stay on the bubble. (Get a rundown in this story of where UNC stands in this story.)

Except for the one-sided home victories over California (79–63) and SMU (82–67), Carolina has built its biggest lead in each of the six other games during solid first halves, only to let the lead fritter away with sloppy play, bad shooting, poor decisions or all of the above.

“One of the things that we always talk about is, we can get there,” Coach Hubert Davis said, “but can we stay there with that level of attention to detail and consistency? I wouldn’t point toward just the end of the game; I would say throughout the entire game. We’ve done a good job of building the lead, and then we have those stretches throughout the entire game.”

In first halves, the Tar Heels led Notre Dame by 12 (8:42 left; won 74–73), Pittsburgh by 10 (2:11 left; lost 73–65) N.C. State by nine (24 seconds left; won 63–61), Boston College by nine (10:25 left; won 102–96 in overtime), Wake Forest by nine (13:28 left; lost 67–66) and Stanford by seven (8:07 left; lost 72–71).

Carolina led all six of those games at halftime but only won half of them, with the three wins coming either by one point or in overtime. Two of the losses came by one point, with Pitt winning by eight. UNC is a collective +1 in those games.

Finishing has been an issue. The Tar Heels led Pitt by four with 6:32 left but scored two points the rest of the game, missing 10 of 11 shots. Carolina has been outscored in the second half of eight of the last nine games (all except Cal).

The Pittsburgh loss is the latest of five in which UNC led with fewer than three minutes left, after that happened at Kansas (92–89), against Michigan State (94–91 in overtime) in the Maui Invitational, against Florida (90–84) in the Jumpman Invitational and against Stanford.

“It’s kind of like the same movie over and over again at this point,” RJ Davis said. “Just not executing, not finishing plays, simple plays here and there when we had a lead.

“One little mistake leads to another — a big three or big play by the opposing team,” Davis said. “So, it’s kind of just like the same thing over and over again at this point.”

Three more victories would have built UNC a decent NCAA tournament resume. As it is, UNC faces a challenging fight to make the field.

Frustrating to fans, players and coaches has been Carolina’s inability to make the right plays at the end of games. That continued Tuesday when the Tar Heels went scoreless with two turnovers over the last 3:21 following an Elliot Cadeau layup.

“[We need to] continue to watch film,” Seth Trimble said. “Continue to hear what our coaches are telling us. Because what they’re telling us, if we can translate it into the game in crunch time, we can win these games. I don’t know what it is, but we’ve got to figure out how to translate what we learning here in the film room to the court.”

Coach Davis’ frustration is obvious when he tries to explain his team’s play after recent losses, and it was no different around midnight in a Petersen Events Center hallway as reporters gathered around him.

He’s trying to be positive despite many negative results, hoping that his team will learn from the games.

“I love these kids,” he said. “I love this team. It’s a great lesson for this group and this team. It’s a great lesson for life. I really believe that there is no choice. The choice is to get back up and step forward and continue to competitively fight and prepare and continue to improve. I just don’t even think there is a choice.”

The fight must be at the highest level at 6:30 Saturday night (ESPN) as UNC faces a decidedly better opponent in No. 2 Duke (17–2, 9–0).

UNC season statistics

ACC standings

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 3 Duke	0–0	10–0	2
SMU	0–0	9–1	29
California	0–0	8–1	59
No. 11 Louisville	0–0	8–1	12
No. 14 North Carolina	0–0	8–1	14
No. 24 Virginia	0–0	8–1	17
Miami	0–0	8–2	25
Virginia Tech	0–0	8–2	54
Clemson	0–0	7–2	26
Stanford	0–0	7–2	118
Notre Dame	0–0	7–3	69
Wake Forest	0–0	7–3	64
Georgia Tech	0–0	6–4	209
N.C. State	0–0	6–3	42
Syracuse	0–0	5–3	76
Florida State	0–0	5–4	117
Boston College	0–0	5–5	178
Pittsburgh	0–0	5–5	164

* — Through Sunday games
Saturday’s results
No. 3 Duke 66, No. 7 Michigan State 60
No. 11 Louisville 87, Indiana 78
Boston College 67, New Haven 63
Georgia Tech 79, Monmouth 67
Miami 88, Southern Miss 64
No. 24 Virginia 86, Dayton 73
N.C. State 75, UNC Asheville 63
Virginia Tech 73, George Mason 62
California 67, Pacific 61
Wake Forest 75, West Virginia 66
No. 7 Houston 82, Florida State 67
Sunday’s results
No. 14 North Carolina 81, Georgetown 61
Hofstra 80, Pittsburgh 73
UNLV 75, Stanford 74
SMU 94, Texas A&M 80, OT
Tuesday’s games
Clemson at No. 10 BYU, 6:30, ESPN
Maryland Eastern Shore at No. 24 Virginia, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Dominican at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Wednesday’s games
Idaho at Notre Dame, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Liberty at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ACCN
Massachusetts at Boston College, 7 p.m. ESPNU
Thursday’s games
Western Carolina at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saint Joseph’s at Syracuse, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday’s games
Massachusetts at Florida State, noon, ACC Network
Louisiana-Monroe at Miami, noon, ACCN Extra
South Carolina Upstate at No. 14 North Carolina, 2 p.m., The CW
Evansville at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Mercer at Clemson, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Memphis at No. 11 Louisville, 3:30, ESPN
Hofstra at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Pittsburgh at Villanova, 4:30, TNT
Northwestern State at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 19 Kansas at N.C. State, 5:30, ESPN
Stanford at San Jose State, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
SMU at LSU, 8:30, SEC 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. 19 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	2 p.m.	vs. USC Upstate	The CW
16	Tuesday	8 p.m.	vs. East Tennessee State	ACCN
			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. 24 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