When taking a look at this team in the beginning of the season, I think we all knew that the range of how well they would do in the NCAA Tournament was pretty wide. Key players to two championship game appearances dictated they could three-peat the Final Four, but inexperience in the paint and a questionable bench made UNC feel like they could possibly lose in the first weekend. Well, the latter happened, and it couldn’t have happened in a worse fashion. Oh wait...we didn’t lose to UMBC as a number one seed? Ok, it could’ve been worse.
There’s really no other way to put this: UNC did not show up to the Spectrum Center tonight. It was a performance that, following the Michigan State game earlier in the season, you almost wondered if the same kind of shooting performance would haunt the Heels in the postseason. The good news is it didn’t happen in the ACC Tournament, despite losing to Virginia. The bad news? It happened against a very good Texas A&M team. The Tar Heels couldn’t buy a bucket, trade for a bucket...I’m not even sure that they could even steal a bucket. UNC at one point was shooting as low as 6% from three, and just couldn’t get anything to drop despite getting a lot of open looks. Unsurprisingly, the Aggies had next to no problem in that department, shooting 52% from the field and 42% from three.
While a lot of what happened tonight seemed self-inflicted, it’s important to give Texas A&M their due. They are a very good team that didn’t buckle under the pressure of playing one of the most historic teams in college basketball in what was essentially a home game for UNC. T.J. Starks had a great night, scoring 21 points with 5 assists to go along with it. Tyler Davis was a load to handle down low, and managed to even give Garrison Brooks fits. He finished the night with 18 points off of 7-9 shooting. If I had to guess, this team’s last victory won’t be against the Heels. We’ll see if Michigan has the recipe for success when the teams head out west.
Truthfully, there’s not a lot else to say about this game. Shooting was awful, and the defense wasn’t enough to contain A&M. These nights happen, and you hate to see them happen in the NCAA Tournament when every possession matters more than the last one. Most importantly, I hate to see this happen for Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson.
Theo and Joel are two of the most important Tar Heel players that will have ever set foot on UNC’s campus, along with current NBA player Justin Jackson. They decided to commit to the program during the NCAA investigation, and put all of their faith in Roy Williams and the school in general. What they were rewarded with were two regular season titles, an ACC Tournament Championship, two national championship appearances, and a national championship victory. You couldn’t ask anymore from a group of players, and despite how this ended, they gave us their hearts, souls, tears, and sweat. I’m not one to tell people how to feel, but we should all be extremely thankful to have enjoyed these two gentlemen for the past four years.
While the season is now done, one cannot help but love the team that hit the court this year. No, everything didn’t go right all of the time. In fact, there were a lot of unbearable nights, but there were also a lot of exciting ones. This team exhibited toughness, cohesiveness, and the desire to make Roy Williams proud, and I don’t know that you can ask for much more. Tonight’s loss hurt, but don’t let it take away from how great it is to be a Tar Heel.
Let’s start with this: there are probably a ton of tickets available for Charlotte today.
Thanks to UMBC taking out Virginia in the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history, Cavalier fans are going to be unlikely to attend today’s set of games, meaning those tickets are out in the world for folks to snap up. If Charlotte is a relatively easy trip for you, you should go and try to catch this team, as it is very likely your last chance to see this team play in person. If they win, they’ll go out to Los Angeles and if they survive that, they’ll go to San Antonio, neither of which are easy trips to take. There’s a real chance here to turn this arena into the Dean Smith Center-Charlotte, but bigger than that, it’s one more chance to cheer Joel Berry and Theo Pinson in person.
That win last Friday in the ACC Tournament just keeps getting bigger, doesn’t it?
That said, not everyone can be in Charlotte. The vast majority of us will be cheering outside the Queen City, and if this is you, here’s how you can catch the action:
Time: 5:15 PM-Carolina is the first game of the session, so this time is set
5:15 PM-Carolina is the game of the session, so this time is set Location: (Still not very well-liked cable company) Center, Charlotte, NC
(Still not very well-liked cable company) Center, Charlotte, NC TV: CBS, check for your local affiliate, Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill, fresh off of calling college basketball history, are on the call.
CBS, check for your local affiliate, Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill, fresh off of calling college basketball history, are on the call. Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network , click for affiliates. Jones Angell and Big Grits Eric Montross with the call.
, click for affiliates. Jones Angell and Big Grits Eric Montross with the call. Streaming: On your computer at the NCAA website , will need a cable username/password to use, note the boss button in case you aren’t supposed to be doing so. Download the app for your phone , same deal.
On your computer at the , will need a cable username/password to use, note the boss button in case you aren’t supposed to be doing so. , same deal. Hulu
https://www.hulu.com/live-tv CBS All Access https://www.cbs.com/all-access/live-tv/
(subject to regional availability)
Fubo
https://www.fubo.tv/lp/collegebasketball/?bgvideo=marchm.mp4&title=Watch%20College%20Basketball%20with%20fuboTV&subinfo=Follow%20the%20Road%20to%20the%20Final&irad=454884&irmp=482924&utm_source=SBnation_NCAAB&utm_campaign=SBnation
Note, again, that the THSN is no longer available on TuneIn and GoHeels, as the NCAA controls all the radio streams. You can check the local affiliates to see if the person responsible for turning off the call for their on-line stream is asleep at the switch.
Go Heels! Let’s get to LA!
Fans are outpouring their love for you guys and thanking you for the years that you played. Marcus Paige just tweeted that, you know, he remembers you guys coming in as freshman, dancing and yelling and arguing 24/7. He thanked you guys for what you've done for UNC. What do you say to fans as your last time playing ball for UNC?
JOEL BERRY II: "I wish it wasn't my last time. I've had so much fun here and I really felt like coming to North Carolina really turned my life around and changed me into a young man. And I think that's the most important thing, and just thinking about coming freshman year and, you know, with a short haircut and not looking good on the court and then to now. I mean, I just got to thank my teammates and thank my coaches for believing in me and having the confidence in me. And like I said, just been a lot of fun.
"But, you know, everybody sees what happens on the court, but, you know, the biggest thing for our program is to -- well, for coaches to develop players and make -- get the best out of them, but also, at the same time, make sure that he's continuing the morals and values that our parents taught us when we were in high school. And that was the biggest thing that my mom wanted Coach to do, and I think that he did that for me. And so more than anything on the basketball court, I appreciate Coach for doing that."
THEO PINSON: "I don't really know what to say. I didn't take any of this for granted. I came in every day with a smile on my face, wanted everybody to have a smile on their face, even on the lowest of lows when we were going through stretches where we losing and always came in to try to be that spark as far as putting a smile on everybody's faces. I know we don't have that right now, but that's because the three up here are competitors. Everybody knows me, I'm -- I'm always smiling and stuff, but like this is tough but it's life."
Joel, you guys got off to a strong start and I believe was up 20-13. What changed after that and brought on the stretch ?
JOEL BERRY II: "Yeah. At the start of the game, we were getting to the basket, being aggressive, and that's what we wanted to do. And then we just started settling for outside shots and, you know, the 3 wasn't going in, but every time like we got the ball inside, we were getting some productive. And then on the offensive end, on the defense end for us, their big guys got going and it was just tough. It was tough to stop them and go shoot and outside shot and miss and come back down and get the ball inside and shoot it right at the basket. I think we just stopped being aggressive after we got the lead, and that's why everything turned around."
I was asking your teammates, they all said it feels less like the end of a season and more like the end of an era with you guys walking out. Does it feel that way for you as well?
THEO PINSON: "Just tough because me and Joel, we're the type of guys who really try to bring joy to everybody and we hope we did that. It wasn't like we was trying to. We just being ourselves. I want people to know that. It's like I hope nobody thinks this was an act. This is me. I want everybody to have a good time, enjoy the moment. Probably the main reason I'm not crying right now is because I've enjoyed every single moment I had with Coach, Joel, and all my teammates in the past, teammates in the locker room right now, just -- that's the hardest thing. I won't be able to get on a plane with them, five hours to L.A. to spend more time with them. It's over. That's the toughest part. It's tough."
Just in the locker room talking to Andrew and Brandon Robinson, Kenny, and some of the guys. They were talking about what they learned from you guys, seeing you kind of grow -- some of them just one year, some two years, seeing you guys grow and develop to become what you were going into this weekend. Do you guys have an understanding of how much you've taught these other guys, how much you passed on to them these last couple of years from work ethic to competing and all that kind of stuff?
JOEL BERRY II: "For me personally, I just tried to get them to understand that you got to put in the time and the work to be able to get what you want out of being at this program. And, you know, it's hard coming in as a freshman and trying to adjust to being on your own and trying to just being away from home and learning how to be an adult. Not everyone can do that. And, you know, you got freshman year I kind of took it for granted a little bit. Once I started realizing that I had to put in the time and it's what I love to do, I had to put in time for it. And that's when everything turned around for me. Hopefully more than anything, I just hope I can leave for those guys that, you know, if they want to get the best out of what they want to do, you have to put in the time and the effort out of anything. That's what I want to leave here and hopefully they can take that from me."
THEO PINSON: "Yeah. Like I said before, Coach -- like I said on senior night, he let me be me. Learned how to -- as far as when it's game time, I know the time and place when I need to be serious and the time where I can play around little bit just to keep everybody loose. I mean, that's not -- hasn't been that way since I've been here. As y'all say, we always loose. We won a national championships last year, probably as loose we've ever been. Just have fun playing the game. That's the biggest thing I try to teach the young guys, have fun playing the game and play for each other and the coaching staff."
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In a NCAA Tournament where everything needed to go right for North Carolina, everything went wrong at the Spectrum Center on Sunday.
Any hopes for a third straight Final Four and back-to-back national titles relied on UNC’s ability to control the backboards, play effective defense and make shots. The Tar Heels were capable of withstanding the absence of one of those variables, although the margin of error this season has always been too thin if two of the three failed to materialize.
When all three factors work against Roy Williams’s squad, as they did in the Queen City, an 86-65 blowout becomes the end result.
Give credit where credit is due. Texas A&M was bigger, longer and more assertive on both ends of the court. UNC executed early, building a 20-13 lead against Billy Kennedy’s man-to-man defense and forcing the Aggies into too many jump shots. The Tar Heels held a 12-4 advantage in points in the paint with 11:37 to play before halftime.
It was then Texas A&M switched to a zone that flummoxed the Tar Heels unlike any other they have faced this season. And it was then that Tyler Davis imposed his will on UNC in the paint, cracking the door for his teammates to see a path to the program’s sixth Sweet Sixteen appearance.
"Davis was a man on the boards and a man inside,” senior guard Joel Berry told reporters in a solemn UNC locker room after the loss. “There was just nothing we could do about it. I think that if we could have hit some of the threes that we usually make, it would have been a closer game. They were getting shots right by the rim and we were trying to shoot shots from outside. High percentage shots are always going to end up winning."
From that point forward, UNC shot 28.8 percent from the floor and was manhandled down low, as evidenced by lopsided differentials in points in the paint (34-22) and rebounds (41-23).
“We just stuck to the game plan, played to our strengths,” said Davis, the Aggies' 6-foot-10, 264-pound center. “We know we have the advantage on the inside with most teams. We did what we do everyday; go to war on the inside and eat glass.”
Those words ring true, especially given how similar comments have been spoken by Tar Heels for decades. UNC won the 2017 national championship when Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks elevated their play on the interior and became too tough of a matchup for opponents to overcome. That dynamic has been lacking all season long for this group of Tar Heels.
“We've beaten people up over the years and the tables were reversed today,” Williams said. “We've been able to mask the problem all year long by making enough jump shots and getting to the free throw line, doing some things. We weren't able to do that today. I'd say this is probably the only game where somebody just dramatically handled us inside or maybe at a higher level, but they were good.”
To offset the disadvantage in the post, the Tar Heels had to counter from the perimeter, and those shots refused to fall. UNC shot 33.3 percent for the game (third lowest of the season), and converted just 19.4 percent of their three-point attempts (second lowest). Its 31 three-point attempts are the most in a NCAA Tournament game in school history.
“It was one of the worst performances we've had from three all season,” Luke Maye said. “We shoot so many threes, sometimes we die by the three. Hate it that we lost like that today. It is disappointing."
Admon Gilder’s three-pointer on Texas A&M’s first possession after halftime pushed the lead to 45-28 and that’s as close as UNC would get the rest of the game. Every attempt at a run was answered by the Aggies, who shot 51.7 percent, slowly demoralizing the Tar Heels as their fate came into focus.
All of those miscues added up to a 21-point defeat, which is the largest for UNC in a NCAA Tournament game since a 96-73 loss to Arkansas in 1990 in the Midwest Region Sweet Sixteen.
Misery loves company, and never has that been more clear than in a chaotic NCAA Tournament that has lost a quarter of its top-four seeds in the opening weekend. The reigning national champions were just as susceptible to an upset as everyone else.
