North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis didn’t stop his frustration after the Tar Heels let a commanding lead slip late, allowing a 37-14 Syracuse run that suddenly turned a comfortable night into a questionable finish. While UNC ultimately survived, winning 87-77, Davis made it clear that the way his team closed the game was nowhere near the standard he expects.
Davis pointed directly to the breakdown in focus over the final stretch, adding that finishing has been a season-long issue for his team.
“I put a lot of stock in it. We always talk about finishing possessions, finishing halves, finishing games, and that’s just unacceptable. I thought we were playing really well on both ends of the floor. I felt defensively, we were getting better throughout the game, especially in the second half.
“I thought we responded and came out on both ends of the floor. We were on point, and Syracuse is a great basketball team. Coach Autry is a fantastic coach, and you can see they’re extremely talented. But the last nine minutes and 32 seconds, just a departure of what allowed us to get the lead — taking good shots, taking care of the basketball, executing defensively, defending without fouling. Execution wise, defensively, boxing out, just different stuff like that, and they got it to six. And so we’ll watch the film and learn from it,” he said, per On3.
For much of the night, North Carolina looked to be fully in control. UNC built its lead by doing the little things right, limiting fouls, finishing possessions, and continuing to play decent defense. UNC had to feel good as it held a 46-32 lead at half time.
However, once Syracuse got going, UNC rushed shots, turnovers became an issue, and it led to easier offensive possessions.
For a team with national championship aspirations, letting execution slip for nearly ten minutes is a red flag. We can look at the win as a positive while also recognizing that if UNC wants to be the team it needs to be, plenty needs to be cleaned up moving forward.
Had UNC played how it was early on for the whole game, we’d all be happy, but this was an ugly final 10-plus minutes.