UNC inconsistent at small forward

Inconsistency has been a plague upon North Carolina this season. The 64-54 loss to Duke was no different, whether you look at the whole roster or just at one spot.

Against the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels received good 3-point shooting and solid defensive play from their small forward — but just not at the same time, and not from the same player.

Will Graves provided the scoring boost the Tar Heels needed. He hit a pair of 3-pointers early to keep the game close and led the team in scoring with 13 points.

John Henson mostly stuck to what he does best: help defense near the rim. He finished with four blocks in just 20 minutes and forced several turnovers in the paint.

But neither was able to contribute on the opposite end. Henson shot just 2-for-8 from the floor, and Graves found himself unable to keep position on defense.

“The big men were going to block shots, and so that leaves their man open,” Graves said.

“And I did a poor job of getting down to box out, and to help them out when my man was on the outside.”

So, despite meaningful performances from each player, UNC (13-11, 2-7 ACC) suffered from Duke’s late run and found itself facing its fourth straight loss.

“Their kids played their hearts out, and unless we got a few buckets there, the game could have gone the other way,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Despite a long quiet stretch in the middle of the game, Graves hit several crucial jumpers to keep the game close. As UNC started to fade in the closing minutes of the second, just as it had in previous ACC play, his 3-pointer from the wing cut Duke’s lead to one and kept the Tar Heels’ chances alive.

And Henson, while still showing his youth with a couple off-target layup attempts, helped Ed Davis (six blocks) establish a punishing presence in the paint early.

With Duke leading 26-24 late in the first, Henson swatted away two of Jon Scheyer’s layups on the same possession. By halftime, enough seemingly open layups at the basket had been cruelly sent back by Henson and Davis that the Blue Devils were thinking about a challenge every time they went to the post.

While Duke (20-4, 8-2 ACC) relied more and more on difficult runners and jump shots, their field goal percentage stayed low — very low. Duke was shooting below 30 percent well into the second half.

But UNC couldn’t do much better. The Tar Heels shot under 40 percent for the fourth straight game, as the No. 1 and No. 3 scoring offenses in the ACC settled into a slow grind.

And after that Graves shot cut the lead to one? A couple of bad possessions and a couple easy layups given up to Duke, and it was all over. Consistency — just for the last five minutes — would have given UNC a shot to win it, but then again, that’s easier said than done.

“I feel like we’re into it, but we’re so anxious,” Graves said. “(We) probably don’t need to use our brain as much — it’s just a matter of putting everything together to get a win.”


Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.