Hurricanes deliver UNC's second-straight loss in ACC play

For North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, this season has been trying.

He’s dealt with an ongoing media circus surrounding player suspensions and wildly inconsistent play.

After Wednesday night’s 63-57 loss to Miami (9-6, 1-2 ACC), Williams sounded like he was nearing his breaking point.

He spoke to media in a hushed tone, his voice cracking at times, quietly admitting he felt he was letting the team down.

“I’ve got to do a better job,” Williams said. “When you go to school here and you coach here as an assistant and you come back and coach here, it’s a feeling of ownership and it’s a feeling of pride and right now I’m not doing a very good job with this basketball team and that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say.”

UNC (10-5, 0-2 ACC) pulled within five points of Miami in the final minute but couldn’t do enough to overcome an all-around disjointed performance. With the loss, the team fell to 0-2 in the conference for the second consecutive season.

“It sucks to start the league 0-2,” said sophomore Marcus Paige, who matched his season low with eight points for the second consecutive game. “We had some big wins early in the year we felt good about our team, but we’ve struggled.”

In yet another head-scratching outing, UNC struggled in nearly every aspect of the game. Williams stood dumbfounded on the sideline as he watched his team all but self-destruct on the hardwood.

UNC failed to put the ball in the basket, shooting 29.6 percent in the first half and 30.8 percent for the game — the worst in 82 home ACC games in Williams’ tenure.

The Hurricanes’ zone defense befuddled the Tar Heels, forcing the team into taking awkward shots — a troubling sign for a team gearing up for No. 2 Syracuse and its formidable zone defense on Saturday.

Even the return of big man Joel James from an MCL sprain couldn’t buoy a floundering UNC team. James put up four points early but was ejected in the second half after being whistled for a flagrant II foul for elbowing Miami’s Rion Brown in the face on a box-out in the lane.

The Tar Heels couldn’t control the ball when it mattered most, committing two of their 11 turnovers on errant passes with four minutes left in the game.

“(Williams) was disappointed in us, in the turnovers, with the carelessness that we had,” sophomore Brice Johnson said. “Some points we were down four and turned it over twice and that gave them baskets. It’s disappointing. People pointing fingers and stuff. Just got to be better.”

On the other end of the court, Miami picked apart UNC’s defense, using entry passes to the post that caught the Tar Heel post defenders off guard. The Hurricanes were efficient in the paint, scoring 26 points from down low.

“As a coach right now, the last two games, you start questioning everything you do from silly stuff like what coat you wear to what kind of defense you play,” Williams said.

The wear of the roller-coaster season was evident on Williams’ face and showed in his body language as he sat slumped in front of the media following the loss.

“I do feel mentally, probably worse than I’ve ever felt as a head coach right now,” Williams said. “That also shows what a blessed life I’ve had. But I have good kids. I’ve got to do a better job with them.”

sports@dailytarheel.com