Tar Heels' Struggles Worsen With Durant Still Sidelined

Since a thumb injury ended Durant's season on Oct. 12 against Virginia, the Tar Heel offense has managed just 13 points in 10 quarters.

Prior to Durant's injury, UNC had scored 161 points in 26 quarters. That's an average of 6.17 points per quarter.

That number has plummeted to 1.3 points per quarter since the injury.

Even though he's missed the last two and a half games, Durant remains third in the ACC in total offense and passing yards, first in total offense per game and passing yards per game.

When Durant was North Carolina's quarterback, the team at least had a shot to win most games, because Durant ensured it could get in the end zone often enough to potentially overcome its defensive deficiencies.

That has not been the case under Durant's replacement, C.J. Stephens.

"There's no doubt about it that Darian Durant is pretty doggone good," said UNC coach John Bunting at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "Darian had it going, there's no doubt about it, guys. I mean he's pretty special, I've told you that. There is no doubt that he's performed magic for us out there. Arizona State clearly, doing some great things against N.C. State, had a couple of bad plays in that game, but rebounds right back again against Virginia.

"So I think our players obviously gather around him, but at the same time, they like playing for C.J. Stephens. I'll promise you that, they like being out there with C.J."

Unfortunately for Stephens, the Tar Heels' defense doesn't seem to like being out there at all since Durant went down.

In that same 10-quarter period, during which UNC scored 13 points, its opposition racked up 113 points.

A 31-0 loss to Wake Forest and a 59-7 throttling at the hands of Maryland, not to mention Virginia's 37-point second half, are evidence enough that many Tar Heels are playing without the kind of confidence they had during the Durant era.

It's not as if the opposition has gotten more difficult. Sure, Wake and Virginia are respectable, and Maryland is downright good.

But no better than Texas, Arizona State or N.C. State, three teams North Carolina played much more respectably.

But Bunting doesn't blame Stephens for the drop-off.

"(Stephens) has done some good things, but some of these penalties, that he's not involved with, have hurt us on offense in particular," Bunting said.

Watching his team struggle, Durant can't help but feel frustrated.

"It's tough," he said after the Wake Forest game. "You just can't help it when you wish you could (help). It's just an unfortunate situation.

"We're not playing with a lot of fight, the kind of energy we had at the beginning of the year. I don't know if it's because of confidence or because a lot of guys are going down."

The one guy who's gone down that has hurt UNC the most is undoubtedly Durant himself.

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.