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Off the cuff: It's no real surprise that Michigan beat North Carolina. But for the Tar Heels to just roll over after a decent first half of action is disconcerting.

From the last minute of the first half through the fourth minute of the second half, the Tar Heels were outscored 18-4.

Not only that but late in that stretch and even over the next five minutes, the Michigan players posed and taunted and celebrated in the Tar Heels' faces. There was plenty of time for Carolina to make a comeback but the Wolverines were acting as if the game was already over - in essence it was.

Carolina's 11-0 run to cut the deficit in half at 73-62 ultimately didn't hurt much as the Heels were outscored 11-5 the rest of the way.

Andrew Platek, who only played three minutes in the game, had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits but he passed up an open three from the corner and chose to drive closer for a floater than didn't have a chance.

At the first of the year, most of us felt the Tar Heels had plenty of scorers and than if one had an off night someone else would do the scoring. Problem is that most are having off shooting nights at the same time.

I understand that it doesn't matter how much you score if you don't play defense well but Carolina has to get more consistent on offense as well.

Coach Williams' emphasis is on defense as it should be but the Heels hit only one of 12 shots at one point. Of course they were getting dunked on and shot over for threes on the other end.

We knew Carolina had a tough stretch here and would be hard pressed to win them all - particularly at a streaking Michigan - but there needs to be more fight in this team.

My guess is we'll see that in the future but there still could be two or three more losses even before the tough ACC schedule begins.

Michigan 84, Tar Heels 67
Nothing positive to say after Heels loss

UNC coach Roy Williams said he had "nothing positive to say" about his Tar Heels after an 84-67 defeat at Michigan as part of ACC/Big Ten challenge. (11/28)

North Carolina, which led by as many as 10 in the first half, still held a 35-33 lead with a minute left in the half before the Wolverines drained a pair of threes to take a 39-35 lead. Carolina would never lead again.

Michigan, which hit 10 of 20 from beyond the three-point line, worked the lead up to 12 at 51-39 by the first TV timeout of the second half. Upset at his starters, Coach Williams put reserves in for more than four minutes of game action. By the time the starters were put back in, Carolina trailed by 18 at 63-45.

"They (the starters) stunk it up and so did I," Coach Williams said. "I've coached for 31 years - right now my coaching sucks."

Down 73-51, the Tar Heels did have a little life left as they outscored Michigan 11-0 to cut the lead to 73-62 with 5:27 left. Kenny Williams hit a pair of threes during the run but the Wolverines came right back on a 7-0 run to end any thoughts Carolina had for a comeback.

"This is the most frustrated I've ever been," Coach Williams said, pointing to numerous defensive failures by his team.

Offensively, the Tar Heels shot well in the first half, hitting more than 50 percent of their shots but then shot only 32 percent in the second half.

Two of Carolina's biggest scorers - Cam Johnson and Luke Maye - were a combined six of 19 from the floor.

Coby White led the Tar Heels with 12 points and four assists while Maye and Williams scored 11 each. Garrison Brooks added 10 to round out the double-figure scorers.

Freshman Ignas Brazdeikis led Michigan, now 8-0, with a season-high 24 points.

Carolina, 6-2, return home to face UNC-Wilmington Wednesday night.

Box score


UNC's Seventh Woods works against a Michigan defender. (UNC Sports Information photo)



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