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EDITOR'S NOTE: This website is not a money-making venture. In fact, this site loses money. As indicated by the fact that it receives only about 100 unique visitors per week, it is primarily for friends and family and acquaintances. All photographs are courtesy of the UNC Sports Information office. All copy belongs to CB3Media but can be freely used.

Off the cuff: No Carolina fan wants to lose to Duke - ever. No matter the odds. But realistic Tar Heel fans could not have expected a win in Durham. But they also didn't expect not to be the slight bit competitive.

I hate to see Hubert Davis on the coaching hot seat. It's not good. If he ends up being fired at the end of the season, Carolina will be starting over as there would be a flurry of players transferring out and recruits changing their minds. Also, it would be likely that the UNC coaching tree hires would be over.

Dean Smith would be the last Carolina coach not to have gone to UNC but he was an assistant coach at UNC. It's unlikely any of the current assistant coaches would be in line for the job.

Wes Miller is having a so-so season at Cincinnati.

Let's hope Davis, a good man and leader, can turn this season around. To do so, with nine regular season games left, I believe the Tar Heels need to go 7-2 and win a couple of games in the ACC Tournament.

Short of that, the Heels would likely need to win the ACC Tournament which, with a bench that isn't deep, seems unlikely.

Coach Davis said his team needs to stay focused and stay the course. "I love coaching this team and I believe in these kids," he said following the Duke loss.

Carolina is still making changes - with personnel playing time and playing style. For the first time this season, the Tar Heels tried a zone defense in the second half against the Blue Devils - with positive results.

"It gives teams a different look. We might have to find times to sprinkle it in to get other teams out of their rhythm," he said.

It seems certain that if Carolina doesn't find its rhythm, the season - and likely Davis' Carolina coaching career - will be coming to an end early.

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On the oft chance that things could change, I say that the season feels pretty much over after that loss at Pitt. Not necessarily because they lost at Pitt. I predicted that loss at the beginning of the season. But because of the way they lost, combined with other recent losses, and the fact that they still have to play Duke twice.

I sincerely hope the team isn't as down as the fans because it could get really ugly, especially if Washington doesn't come back healthy. Depth was either not developed or just not talented enough to play at this level.

The calls for Coach Hubert Davis' head are increasing. I really don't know if Wes Miller, for example, who was supposedly considered for the job, would have done better. But this team has underperformed like the team two years ago did.

I don't pretend to know the answers but I wouldn't hold out for a win over Duke this time.

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Archives

Click here to go to the football page.
Click here to keep up with the 2008 run to the World Series.

Carolina Football: Golden anniversary of a redeeming 50-0 victory over Duke.

Carolina Football: Excerpts from an article on the history of the Carolina-Duke rivalry.

 

(Photo by UNC Sports Information, Maggie Hobson.)
Duke 87, Carolina 70
Devils put it away early against Heels
No. 2 Duke dominated unranked North Carolina from the start. An early 16-0 early run set the tone in a game that the Blue Devils led by 32 points before settling for an 87-70 win in Durham. Let the Carolina coaching rumors begin. (2/01)

Turnovers hurt the Tar Heels early and often. Carolina had nine turnovers in the first half including three from point guard Eliott Cadeau before the first TV timeout. Meanwhile Duke scored on 11 of their first 13 possessions of the game.

The Blue Devils worked the lead up to 40-13 before Carolina outscored Duke 12-7 to end the first half with a 47-25 deficit.

"Our turnovers again," said UNC coach Hubert Davis, who's coaching seat is now on fire. "They got 19 points off of our turnovers. We can't withstand that. Our turnovers got them going and in rhythm early."

North Carolina played better in the second half but it was too late as Duke's Kon Knueppel scored 13 of his game-high 22 points to keep the Tar Heels from mounting any comeback. In fact, the Blue Devils got their biggest lead of the game at 77-45 on a three-pointer by Isaiah Evans before a late Carolina surge highlighted by 10 points from freshman Drake Powell made the final sore look more respectable.

Even with Carolina's miscues, the Tar Heels probably weren't going to beat the superior Blue Devils on this night. For instance, Carolina started the second half going six of nine from the floor with two steals and the Tar Heels still lost ground on the scoreboard.

"They're good, good players, and I've seen them all since high school. They're playing at a high level," Coach Davis said about Duke. "I was really proud of our fight and our perseverance in the second half. I thought we did some good things on both ends of the floor in the second half that can move us positively forward."

Carolina's shooting improved from 29 percent in the first half to 64 percent in the second half to end the game at 47 percent. Duke shot 53 percent for the game including 10 of 20 from beyond the arc.

Powell and RJ Davis were Carolina's top scorers with 12 points each while Knueppel and Cooper Flagg were Duke's top scorerrs with 22 and 21 respectively.

The Tar Heels, who don't play again until Saturday at home against Pitt, are now 13-10 overall and 6-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Unless there is a late surge, the Tar Heels will likely have to win the ACC Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament.

With the win, Duke moves to 19-2 and 11-0 in the ACC while extending the Devils' winning streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the nation. The last time the Blue Devils won 15 straight games was at the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

Box score

(Photo by UNC Sports Information, ANTHONY SORBELLINI)
Pitt 73, Carolina 65
Tar Heels fade down the stretch at Pitt
North Carolina fans not only saw their Tar Heels fade down the stretch at Pitt but must be feeling that the season is fading away after the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to complete their 73-65 victory. (1/28)

The Tar Heels led all but a few seconds of the first half, shooting 58 percent, and working the lead up to as many as 10 points before going into the half with a mere 44-42 lead. Carolina led 44-34 with 2:10 left in the half but, perhaps as a preview of the end of the game, gave up eight straight points to let Pitt back in it.

In a game of runs where the Tar Heels' offense disappeared for three or four minutes at a time, Carolina blew a 49-42 lead as BC scored eight straight to go ahead 50-49.

It went back and forth the rest of the way - well almost the rest of the way. Carolina took a 65-64 lead on a scoop shot high off the backboard by Eliot Cadeau with just 3:20 to go. But the Tar Heels never scored again.

Just as it looked as if Carolina would extend the lead as Ven-Allen Lubin broke free to the basket, Cadeau's pass was low and Lubin developed stone hands and Pitt came up with the loose ball. Seconds later, Pitt's Zack Austin sidestepped Cadeau and drilled a three from in front of the Panthers' bench for a 67-65 Pitt lead.

A lay up by Lubin that would have tied it rimmed out and a shot by Ian Jackson that could have give the Heels the lead was blockd by Austin. After Cam Cohren scored in the lane for Pitt for a 69-65 advantage with a minute to go, the drained Tar Heels never really threatened again.

"We missed three or four layins and other shots around the rim that didn't go that would have tied it or put us up," UNC coach Hubert Davis said. "Turnovers were costly. The timing of the turnovers was costly and their conversion of the turnovers was costly. It's very difficult to overcome something like that."

Carolina's 21 pints in the second half was the lowest scoring period of the year for the Tar Heels. Key stats include the Tar Heels' 14 turnovers compared to just six for Pitt and the Panthers' nine blocks and eight steals. Pitt scored 22 points off those Carolina turnovers.

With Carolina's Jalen Washington sitting out due to a leg injury suffered at the end of the previous game, Lubin played 32 minutes which is almost double his season average and he looked tired down the stretch. Only six Tar Heels had over four minutes of playing time but that was true of the Panthers as well.

The Tar Heels' shooting percentage plummeted to 31 percent in the second half. Seth Trimble scored 10 points and hauled in 12 rebounds for a double-double despite missing all five of his three-point attempts. RJ Davis led the scoring with 16 points, hitting half of his attempts. Cadeau was the only other Heel in double figures with 11 points but he was in foul trouble much of the game and turned the ball over four times while missing five of his six three-point attempts.

The Tar Heels, who play at rival Duke Saturday evening, are now 13-9 overall and 6-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Jaland Lowe led four Panthers in double figures with 18 points as Pitt, which gets another crack at Carolina Feb. 8, improves to 14-6 and 5-4 in the league.

Box score

 

2024-2025 UNC Season Preview

Read about any UNC basketball game since 2007-2008
Other old archived headlines:
2012-2013 UNC basketball season preview
2010-2011 season began with Late Nite with Roy

ESPN blows it - What were they thinking?
Read about UNC's 2010 football bowl win
Readers weighed in on Tar Heels' 2009-2010 troubles
Shorthanded Heels get big game from freshmen in opener
Season Review: UNC baseball had one of its best years in 2008
Carolina basketball's run ends after comeback falls short
Tar Heels run out of gas against Fresno State
Season Review: Carolina ends season where it wanted - in Omaha

Flack does it in the clutch again as Tar Heels fight on
Federowicz heroics keep UNC alive in College World Series
Carolina in the College World Series again
UNC is one win away from third straight trip to the World Series

Carolina baseball advances to host Super Regional starting Saturday
Heels defeats UNC-Wilmington 7-3 with five-run inning
UNC's wins over Miami vault Heels to No. 1 in the nation
Carolina baseball reaches 40-game win mark
Tar Heels take two of three from Florida State

Also, check out my articles for the UNC alumni Web site on Carolina's 8-4 win over LSU, the 5-3 loss to Fresno State, the 7-3 win over LSU, the 4-3 victory over Fresno State and the season-ending loss to Fresno State.

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Barnes

Heel Prints reviewed each UNC game
As a student sports editor years ago, prior to the season, Clifton Barnes predicted a national championship for the Tar Heels and indeed they won. In fact he wrote his lede paragraph for the national championship game almost a year early. He regrets that he didn't keep a journal after each game. He kept a journal after each game of the 2007-2008 season and you can reach them here. At the request of readers, he has kept up his journal of each game ever since. He also has written about UNC baseball and wrote an analysis after each 2008 UNC football game.

 

Editor's Note: HeelPrints chronicled the UNC basketball, baseball and football seasons for 2008 and 2009. Since the vast majority of comments I get about the site relate to basketball and since this isn't a paying job for me, I decided to limit my coverage and analysis to basketball. Baseball and football will remain archived and if I have comments or opinions I want to make on those or any other sports at UNC, I will make them here on the front page and then archive them in the corresponding sports section. Thanks for all the positive comments I have received about the site. Should I get sponsorship in the future, I will reconsider adding baseball and football again. Ironically, my favorite sports to watch in person are baseball and football. But my first connections to UNC came from watching Dean Smith's basketball teams on TV or listening to them on the radio in the days before all the games were televised. It should come as no surprise that people pay more attention to the basketball coverage. Thanks for your interest in this site.