Beat up on some bad teams early in the year and then reality hits at the end of the season? I sure hope not. I really thought that this team could make a FF run. Hubert has a ton of things to figure out if we are going to get out of the 1st weekend of the NCAAT.

I am here solo at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Pics and clips coming.

Charlotte and a 1/2 seed is still in the mix.
We will be favorite in our last 4 home games and should win those. If we can split with UVA and Dook on the road that puts us at 24-7 going into ACCT.
THE UVA game is the big one for me. If we win THAT GAME, it catapults us to 5 straight wins heading into HIS. I would love to go into the Dook game with a 2 game lead. Dook still has road games at FLA State, Wake, Miami and NC State and home games vs UVA and Carolina.
Winning at UVA puts us in a strong position to win Reg season.

I finally have completed the acquisition of all Division I team data since 2002, and from that I've seen some fascinating trends and relationships in the data. In this daily series I'll present some of the most interesting data.



We'll start with scoring. The graph shows total points per game, by year, for the last 23 seasons, through this morning (242,432 games in all). Because the NCAA's data only goes back to 2002, we'll start from that point. The grey line shows the annual average for all of Division I, while the green line shows the scoring average for teams that made the NCAA tournament that year. Surprisingly there is little difference in the overall scoring for tournament compared to the national average.

The national average, incidentally, is trending upward at a rate of 0.29 points per game, but it isn't a consistent rise at all.

Unsurprisingly, UNC, shown in blue, has had significantly higher scoring games than the rest of the nation. It's difficult to conclude anything about that, however, without considering Game Tempo, which will be coming at a later date.

Next up: Total Possessions per Game (Tempo)

Just looked this up and trying to figure out if this is crazy or coincidence.

• The Heels have 6 losses this season.
• FOUR of those losses are games on Tuesday nights.
• FIVE of those losses are on weeknights (4 Tuesdays and a Thursday).
• The only Tuesday night win we have this year is at Pitt.

Thankfully, we only have 2 more weeknight games left this season. We play Miami at home on MONDAY, Feb 26 and we play at home to ND on TUESDAY, March 5.

Who were the guys dressed in black that ran onto the field several times when it looked like players might fight after a play? They also ran in on sideline plays to keep any altercations from happening. Several also had shoulder bags. I had never noticed anything like this before.

This team has very obviously arrived at the same cliff the football team fell off the last two years and while they haven't completely fallen off yet they're hanging on by the tip of one finger and it's rapidly slipping. I have no idea what's behind the lack of effort on defense but Hubert and the staff need to fix it now. I said before that the jury is still out on whether Hubert is a good coach. This is his test. If he can right the ship then fine but if this team loses their finger tip grip on the cliff and continues to play like last year's team then it's tough decision time.

SYRACUSE 86, CAROLINA 79
FEBRUARY 13, 2024
JMA WIRELESS DOME
SYRACUSE, N.Y.

UNC Scoring Leader: RJ Davis 19
UNC Rebound Leader: Harrison Ingram 11
UNC Assist Leader: Elliot Cadeau 7
Team Records: UNC 19-6, 11-3 ACC; Syracuse 16-9, 7-7 ACC

• Carolina falls to 6-2 on the road this season (all in the ACC).
• Syracuse shot 63.0% from the floor in the first half, 61.9% in the second and 62.5% for the game.
• It was the highest percentage by an opponent since Pittsburgh shot 64.5% in an 89-76 Panthers win in Pittsburgh on 2/14/2015.
• It was the first time an opponent shot 60% from the floor in both halves since that same game at Pittsburgh in 2015.
• Carolina has allowed 80 or more points in five of its six losses this season (except Georgia Tech).

• The Tar Heels shot 47.5% from the floor, their highest percentage in a loss this season (previous was 47.4% vs. Kentucky).
• UNC had 19 assists on 29 field goals. The 19 assists were a season high in a loss and equaled the second most in any game this season.
• Four Tar Heels scored in double figures. It was the first time UNC lost this season when four or more Tar Heels scored in double figures (had been 14-0).
• RJ Davis led UNC with 19 points, the 19th time this season Davis has been the Tar Heels’ top scorer.
• Davis made four three-pointers, the third straight game he made four or more and the 10th time this season he made at least four 3FGs.

• Davis has 1,838 points. He passed Bobby Lewis (1,836) for 13th place in UNC career scoring.
• Davis scored three first-half points, fewest in a half since he had two in the first half vs. UC Riverside in the third game of the season.
• Cormac Ryan hit four threes and scored 18 points. He equaled his season high with four 3FGs. The 18 points were the most Ryan has scored in an ACC game this season and tied the second most in any game (20 vs. Kentucky, 18 vs. Villanova). Ryan had a season-high five turnovers.
• Ryan’s 13 points in the first half equaled his top scoring half this season (also 13 in second half vs. Northern Iowa).

• Armando Bacot had his 80th career double-double to move into a tie for seventh in NCAA history with Drexel’s Malik Rose. Bacot had 14 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth straight double-double, his longest streak this season.
• Harrison Ingram had 14 points, a game-high 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals. It was his eighth double-double as a Tar Heel and 13th overall. It was the first time UNC lost this season when Ingram had a double-double.
• It was the third time this season two Tar Heels had double-doubles and the first time UNC lost when that happened.
• Elliot Cadeau was credited with seven assists and only one turnover. He had 15 assists in UNC’s two-game road trip at Miami and Syracuse.
• Carolina made 12 of 27 three-pointers. It was only the second time in 16 games this season the Tar Heels lost when making more threes than the opponent (Villanova).

• It was the first time UNC made 10 or more threes and lost since 11/21/2021, when Carolina made 12 and lost to Tennessee in Uncasville, Conn.
• The Tar Heels were 9 for 11 from the free throw line. It was only the second time this season the Tar Heels lost when they shot 80% or better from the line, but the 11 attempts were a season low (previous was 12 attempts in a win at Clemson).

Carolina-Syracuse
with the loss...
• The Tar Heels are 17-7 vs. Syracuse, including 13-4 in ACC play (regular season and Tournament).
• Carolina drops to 12-4 all-time in the JMA Wireless Dome and 34-18 all-time in domed stadiums.
• Carolina is 5-3 against Syracuse in the Dome.

Next Game: Saturday, February 17 vs. Virginia Tech (2 p.m., ACC Network)

Clemson and Syracuse.

What's up with that?

We have 3 more rematch games ahead in which we won the first game.

Miami
NC State
Duke

True, the Miami and State games are at home. Then again, so was the loss to Clemson.

...and I thought this game would NEVER end.

First obvious queston was about getting back to effort and intensity after the last dud, and we took it to Coral Gables. We need it down there for sure:

- can't say enough about Mando's defense --- both inside and on the perimeter --- and toughness on the glass. #15 bullied everyone else but our big fella, and that block to seal it was BIG TIME. He also worked his ass off on offense and got rewarded enough to make key shots.

- got out early with some catch-and-shoot makes by Ingram and Ryan converting iin a first half that gave us no whistle help on drives

- We once again missed Seth, if nothing else for depth. Poor RJ was gassed in the second half (which caused that bad TO when he was trying to pull the ball out in transition). One of the reasons was our little guy really stepped up to bust ass to do a better job checking Pack (after he single-handedly kept them in the game in the first half.

- BTW, good Timeout by Hubert when we were losing a step down the stretch. EC and RJ had played every minute and got us a working lead but pesky Miami was making inroads and our shooters started missing easy looks --- fatigue was definitely a factor.

- On that note, extremely important minutes from Pax after Cormac made some silly fouls. Pax busted ass and ran down contested boards and played solid D.

- from the X-and-O end, we got caught in the habit of too much arc action late in the first half. I was begging to attack at angles and more inside-out, and the staff did just that in the second half. Also, Jimmy's bumper-pool offense was hurting us (at least they called two of many illegal screens), and I loved the second half adjustment of shooting 32 at them on reversals (which stalled their weave action) --- and of course the killer was that beautiful execution of 42 when RJ chased to the high double with Mando and Eliot played Interceptor just like Dean used to teach it for the run-out

- I didn't like taking our foot off the gas a bit too soon, and things certainly got sketchier than they should have, and what a weird ending.

- Speaking of that, I'm sure I'm not the only one here shouting "NO!" when RJ gave up the ball after Mando's last block, especially on a day when he was back to his usual FT proficiency... ... and I'm also pretty sure I wasn't the only one saying "Thank you, Jesus!" when EC knocked down that first 3. He can get that shot any time he wants it and if he starts knocking done open ones the way he's capable, duck...

- Finally, with Mando doing the dirty work inside and on a day when you didn't know what to expect vis-a-vis whistles, our little guys took this big road game home. Despite being banged around on drives with about half the FT attempts he could've had, RJ hit big 3s at key times, and (dumb passive-aggressive troll posts from earlier on here notwithstanding) Eliot carved their physical defense with a knife, created looks for his teammates (the road guy actually counted his 8 dimes right), and finished at the rim --- and ahem, no, he doesn't "always go to his right" --- and defended intelligently but aggressively with 4 steals.

Anyway, kudos to the staff for abandoning the too-early sub pattern in the second half. Keeping EC and RJ together enabled us to storm back and take control after halftime and get the working lead we needed to hold off a tough veteran team and crafty coach. Jimmy is no fool, and attacked us on the perimeter successfully whenever they weren't out there together. Also, kudos to the staff for encouraging Eliot to take the open looks. Much-needed road win at a key time!...

Cincinnati to beat Houston
St Johns to beat Marquette
Baylor to beat Kansas
A&M to beat Tennessee
Colorado to beat Arizona

And as always BC (or anyone) beat Duke

UNC beats Miami and gets back on track to the #1 seed in the South.

ODDS
-8.5 UNC
Over/Under 157.5


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3

North Carolina Tar Heels​

19-5, 11-2 CONF

ESPN
2/13
7:00 PM

Syracuse Orange​

15-9, 6-7 CONF





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Don't think we can expect Washington or Withers to ultimately become Carolina level starters next season.