[ad_1]
When North Carolina's two top scorers, Cam Johnson and Luke Maye, struggled to play Texas on Thursday, rookie goaltender Coby White regained consciousness at Greenfield High School.
He dropped buckets.
White scored 33 points and was 7-in-10 from behind the 3-point line. He had the best match of his young university career. In the final six minutes of the game, he scored 10 consecutive points and reduced what was once an 11-point lead in Texas to two points with about two minutes remaining.
But even his feats were not enough and the Tar Heels fell into the hands of the Longhorns 92-89. It was their first defeat of the season.
After the match, White was visibly helpless. He said there was nothing different in his preparation than in the other games.
"I was just hitting today," White said.
But he added that the message that the UNC coach, Roy Williams, had conveyed to the team after the match was his motto.
"We played softly," White said. "In the first half, we let them hit us in the mouth. We did not play very hard, and for us (coach Williams), we should all be hurt. I know it hurts me. Because it's something I'm growing up on. I try to play hard and hard at every game. We just have to play harder. We have to bring the two halves together and play better. "
The UNC # 7 (5-1) had won its first five games averaging 30.6 points per game. His closest win was his opening match against Wofford 78-67. But since then, the Tar Heels have easily manipulated the rest of their opponents.
Against Texas (5-0), a team with a lot more talent and a coach with the experience of the Final Four, it was not planned. The Longhorns would be the first true tests of the Tar Heels season. They wanted to see how they would play against bigger, bigger opponents they could face in the NCAA tournament.
The Tar Heels took the first punch Thursday, getting a 17-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game. White had two points, while Maye had one in that period.
But Texas finally settled, with the help of the UNC. The Tar Heels returned the ball 14 times in the first period and the Longhorns took advantage by converting these turnovers into 24 points.
Five of those points came in the last 49 seconds of the first half. UNC returned twice, and Texas converted it to five points, including a three point indicator located on the ringer to go up one point at halftime.
Turnovers were one of Tar Heels' biggest problems, if not the worst of the season. The UNC averaged 13.8 turnovers per game and had a season-high 18 goals against St. Francis on Monday.
"It's the same thing," said top UNC official Kenny Williams. "And that's what the coaches said. They can not continue to talk about the same thing and we will not change our behavior. "
The Tar Heels were more effective in basketball in the second half. They returned it three times. But Texas stayed ahead as it shot 63 percent of the ground in the second half.
The Senegalese guard of Texas, Kerwin Roach II, is unraveled with the Tar Heels. He scored 32 points, was 12 to 15 from the ground and 3 to 3 behind the 3-point line.
"We gave them too many easy chances on the edge," said fellow winger Cam Johnson, who scored 16 points on Thursday night. Texas had 34 points in the painting, while the UNC was 30 points.
When asked what the most important lesson his team could learn from the loss, coach Williams said, "We'll have to wait to see if they've learned anything."
"If you have a brain, you will learn that you do not spin the ball more than 14 times in one half," he added. "You have to stay in front of basketball and the most important thing is that if you try to come back, you have to make good shots. I said take five more seconds to make a better picture. We took three bad shots in a row. "
UNC will play UCLA No. 17 (4-1) on Friday at 4 pm UCLA lost Thursday against the state of Michigan 87-67. The Bruins shot 36% of the field Thursday and 29% against 3.
[ad_2]
Source link
