Syracuse had tangible energy Wednesday in its 81-53 win over UNC. As for the Tar Heels, whose season ended in that second-round ACC Tournament loss? “We don't know,” Armando Bacot said. “Coach was asking us why. I don't know. Like I said, I think that's the story of this season.”
For the third straight game, Cole Anthony struggled mightily, recording more turnovers (six) than points (five) and missing five of six 3-point attempts against the Orange’s vaunted zone. After the game, he was not made available for comment.
In the last game of the ACC Tournament played in front of fans, the North Carolina men's basketball team (14-19, 6-14 ACC) fell to Syracuse (18-14, 10-10 ACC) on Wednesday night, spelling the end for the 2019-20 Tar Heels and putting a finishing touch on the worst season of the Roy Williams era.
Armando Bacot and Cole Anthony said it felt like a home game. Garrison Brooks and Brandon Robinson laughed and whispered to each other, out of range of their mics, at the postgame podium. Head coach Roy Williams opened his news conference with a joke about the poorly lit staircase that nearly “broke my dadgum neck” as he walked up it seconds earlier.
“I’m here,” Robinson announced — here, as in in the zone; or here, as in Greensboro; or maybe here, as in this moment, right now, ready to help the Tar Heels in a quest for an automatic NCAA Tournament that could be only just beginning.
North Carolina men’s basketball ran past Virginia Tech, 78-56, in a first-round ACC Tournament matchup on Tuesday that extended its 2020 postseason until at least tomorrow night.
“I’ve said this several times before, and I’m gonna keep on saying it: Garrison’s a beast," Cole Anthony said. "Straight like that, he works super hard, he’s really just coming into himself. He’s a beast.”
Saturday night’s regular season finale against the No. 12 Blue Devils brought a different kind of pain. While the Tar Heels trailed by single digits for virtually all of the game, they tied it just twice and never led in an 89-76 loss.
A deflating loss to the Blue Devils right before the ACC Tournament means that UNC will have to have a quick memory before playing as the No. 14 seed.
The North Carolina men's basketball team takes on Duke Saturday to end the regular season. The Blue Devils won the first matchup in overtime, 98-96, in a heartbreaking last-second finish; here's what members of our sports desk think will happen in the rematch.
With large postseason implications and North Carolina playing its best basketball, the Tar Heels could ride their current momentum into a huge victory over Duke this Saturday.
“After the game, the next day I said, ‘Guys, they made plays,’” Williams said. “We had some opportunities to make those plays not be as big as they were, but we didn’t do it.” Despite a devastating overtime loss to the Blue Devils in February, the North Carolina men's basketball team isn't feeling sorry for itself ahead of its rematch with Duke on Saturday.
Just as one leak gets patched up for these Tar Heels, two more pop up. Doug Halverson’s job is keeping the proverbial ship airtight; suffice it to say that this year, it hasn’t been easy. “It’s absolutely been a trying season, as anyone from the outside would expect,” he said. “It’s tough when you have to come into the office every day and deliver some bad news.” “It’s stressful because I want us to be successful,” Halverson continued. “My priority is the health and safety of our players, but after that, it’s to try to help our team be successful.”
The North Carolina men's basketball team needs to win five games in five days if it wants to get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Anything less and its season is over.
If only the moment could have lasted a little bit longer for Brandon Robinson, the lone four-year scholarship senior on this UNC roster who scored 18 points on the Senior Night he always felt was so far away until it came.
“If you guys have been keeping up with us, we have been playing really well the past few games,” said first year guard Cole Anthony. “We’re getting everybody back healthy, things have been clicking, and practice is going well. We’re just really starting to play well together.” Anthony was a dominant force in establishing North Carolina’s success on the offensive end. After finishing the Tar Heels' first matchup against Wake Forest shooting just 5-19 from the field, the point guard’s second time facing the Demon Deacons was a stark contrast.
For the Tar Heels to pick up a win in Tuesday night's rematch against the Demon Deacons, they'll need to rely on Christian Keeling's recent strong form to prevent the early deficit that plagued them in last month's meeting with Wake Forest.
The case for Cole Anthony playing another season at UNC is stronger than you think.
After the North Carolina men's basketball team defeated Syracuse on Saturday evening, here are three takeaways about the team's performance with only two games left in the regular season.
Without junior center Janelle Bailey, UNC struggled to get into any kind of rhythm offensively or defensively, contributing to a blowout loss at the hands of a sub-.500 team.
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