UNC men's basketball drops first game of season in road loss to No. 13 Indiana

After its best start to a season since 2008-09, the North Carolina men’s basketball team looked disjointed for 40 minutes in Assembly Hall, dropping its first game of the season in a 76-67 loss to No. 13 Indiana (5-1).

The No. 3 Tar Heels (7-1) struggled to keep up from the opening tip, ceding a 17-point lead to the Hoosiers after the first 10 minutes of action.

North Carolina recovered out of the halftime break, but UNC struggled to come closer than eight points away for the duration of the second half.

The Tar Heels cut Indiana’s lead to four with just under five minutes left before the Hoosiers pulled away. And while both teams fared similarly across the box score, Indiana boasted five double-digit scorers while UNC shot less than 40 percent from the floor.

Frontcourt falters

Coming into the game, UNC’s biggest strength was its size advantage in the post. But Indiana smothered the Tar Heels in the paint, and North Carolina struggled to adjust.

The Hoosiers attacked the boards and doubled UNC in the post for much of the first half. North Carolina’s four frontcourt players — Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks, Tony Bradley and Luke Maye — combined for 10 points in the opening period, as Indiana built a 41-29 lead heading into the break.

By the time the Tar Heels’ big men got going, the Hoosiers held a comfortable lead. Late in the contest, UNC’s top post players succumbed to foul trouble and struggled to keep Indiana from scoring inside.

Berry disappears

The Tar Heels’ most dependable scorer was anything but that on Wednesday.

Joel Berry — who entered the game averaging 17.1 points per contest — went 1-for-6 in the first half and didn’t look much better in the second. The junior point guard finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting, including 1-for-6 from the 3-point line.

With a neutralized frontcourt, North Carolina needed Berry to steer the ship when Indiana seized control. And while Justin Jackson carried the scoring load with a game-high 21 points, desperate 3-point attempts from him and Berry late in the game weren’t enough to match the Hoosiers’ offensive attack.

Kentucky looming

After drawing praise from many as the best team in the nation, North Carolina returns to Chapel Hill as a vulnerable squad.

The Tar Heels will have three homes games — starting on Sunday with a 2 p.m. tip against Radford — to regain its dominant form before facing No. 1 Kentucky in Las Vegas on Dec. 17.

North Carolina has earned its place among elite company through the first month of the season, even outpacing its runner-up predecessors at this point last year.

But a loss to the top-ranked Wildcats would give the Tar Heels losses in the two toughest tests of their nonconference schedule before a brutal ACC slate.

@CJacksonCowart

sports@dailytarheel.com