Turnovers doom UNC in loss at Syracuse
North Carolina has a turnover problem that, with one game left in the regular season, has little chance of being rectified before the postseason begins. That could mean the Tar Heels have little chance of having a long March and the end could look a lot like Monday’s 72-70 loss at Syracuse.
The Tar Heels committed 20 turnovers against an Orange 2-3 zone defense that it handled fairly easily during their first meeting. UNC committed just 11 turnovers in an 81-75 win on Jan. 12. But on Monday, Syracuse scored 28 points off those turnovers to win for just the second time in the past 12 meetings in the series.
‘Make the easy play’ was one of the Heels’ three points of emphasis written on the dry erase board in the locker room prior to the Heels taking the court. But the reminder continues to go unheeded.
“I haven’t been able to get them to do it,” UNC coach Roy Williams said in a postgame video conference. “They can read it up on the board, but I haven’t been able to get them to understand it and just make the easy play.”
Carolina’s turnovers are trending at the wrong time of the season. The Heels had 19 turnovers in their loss to Marquette and 21 in their win over Florida State.
There isn’t an easy solve for Williams, who called it “equal opportunity,” because just about every player is responsible. Guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis combined for seven against the Orange. The frontcourt trio of Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe had at least three apiece, too.
And they came in just about every manner. Love attempted an ill-advised lob pass to Brooks over the top of the zone in the second half. It was a live ball turnover that led to a Buddy Boeheim 3-pointer in transition.
Davis had an in-bound pass from the baseline under UNC’s basket that was thrown well-short and easily taking and converted in transition.
There were passes too low for players to make a clean catch. There were passes too high that ended up deflected. There were dribbles knocked loose from behind, there were balls stripped while being held too low. And Williams added there were turnovers that came from lack of movement.
Taking care of the ball has probably been the major point of emphasis throughout the season for the Heels. In practice, Love said they’re made to run sprints as punishment for every turnover after their second one.
“It’s just on us,” Love said. “It’s not really a drill or, or anything else that coach can do for us not to turn the ball over, we just got to stop turning the ball over.”
They’ve got to stop taking so many 3s too. UNC shot 4-for-20 from 3-point range — and that included one that Jesse Edwards was called for goaltending, and another from R.J. Davis that slammed dead between the basket and backboard before it dropped through the nets. UNC’s Kerwin Walton, who entered the game shooting 44 percent from 3, missed all seven of his attempts.
Carolina made up for those misses, by grabbing 26 offensive rebounds — a whopping 52 percent of all its missed shots from the field and free throw line. But it didn’t make up for the fact that the Heels got away from what was working.
“Early in the game I thought we were attacking in the lane area quite a bit better than we did late in the game,” Williams said. “We just did not attack it at all late in the game and attack it successfully.”
If Carolina just had a few of those possessions back, it could have been a different outcome.
The Heels’ trailed 63-49 with 5:18 left, but attempted a furious rally at the end. They twice benefited from a four-point possession in which they made a free throw, rebounded a miss and made a 3-pointer.
When Love got a steal and basket with 18.6 seconds it pulled UNC within 72-70. But Joe Girard III made a free throw for the Orange and fouled instead of letting Love get a 3-point shot off with 11 seconds left.
Love missed both free throws — UNC shot 14 of 22 from the line overall — and Girard made one of two more to clinch the win for the Orange.
The loss will make it harder for Carolina (15-9, 9-6 ACC) to finish in the top four of the ACC standings. The Heels entered the game tied for fifth with Clemson, just percentage points behind Louisville in fourth. The top four seeds earn a double bye into the ACC tournament quarterfinals.
Bacot, who led the Heels with 18 points and 15 rebounds, hopes the team finds a little bit more urgency by then.
When Carolina led 28-23 with 3:22 left in the first half, it resorted to settling for perimeter shots. The Heels frontcourt accounted for 24 of their points in the first half, yet for the next five possessions before half their bigs didn’t attempt another shot. That allowed Syracuse to close out the half on an 11-0 run to take a 34-28 lead.
“I just feel like as a whole we’re just too lackadaisical, I mean even including myself,” Bacot said. “I just feel like we just went out there tonight expecting for the game to be handed to us and we just lost.”
