CLEMSON, S.C. – In their first ACC road game, the North Carolina Tar Heels are in major trouble at halftime. They were down 23 midway through the first half and trail 50-32 at halftime to No. 24 Clemson.
UNC’s best source of scoring so far has been with guards Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II driving straight to the bucket. Strickland leads UNC with 8 points.
The Clemson came full-court press is causing serious problems for No. 12 UNC. After the tipoff, the next four Tar Heel possessions had to go the full ninety-four feet with the Tigers right in their face the whole way. While UNC did get it down the court each time, they were still out-of-sync with three turnovers on their first four tries.
Oliver Purnell’s full-court defense is forcing plenty of turnovers, but it hasn’t been the only problem. More than once, the Tar Heels have gotten into scoring position only to throw the ball into the stands. UNC has 15 turnovers to Clemson's nine.
The team finally got a good defensive possession after coach Roy Williams called a timeout about eight minutes into the first half, leading to an Ed Davis block with the shot clock winding down. But it didn’t last long, and Clemson kicked it out for an open 3-pointer on the very next trip down the court to make the score 30-12.
Trevor Booker and Demontez Stitt each have 11 points for the Tigers.
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