Shooting troubles doom UNC

ATLANTA — At the end of North Carolina’s loss against Georgia Tech, Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice Jr. had scored a combined 54 of the Yellow Jackets’ 78 points.

UNC had 58.

The Tar Heels couldn’t kick-start any offense in Sunday night’s loss and shot 27.6 percent from the floor, the lowest shooting percentage by a UNC team since 1956 and the fourth lowest all-time.

“That was just a butt-kicking,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

“They were so much more aggressive than we were, and I have to get our guys to be more aggressive, to be more intense and act like it means something to them.”

Like its first two ACC starts, UNC found itself in an early hole. On the Tar Heels’ second possession, Larry Drew II crossed over a defender and then flung a high pass to Tyler Zeller, but it slipped through his fingers — the first of 18 UNC turnovers.

North Carolina was able to fight back from multiple 10-point deficits in the first half to pull within one at 33-32 by halftime.

“This is the third straight game where we just walked through the motions,” Williams said. “We were fortunate enough, twice in a row, we were able to come from behind and I really thought we were going to tonight. I thought at halftime, because I just felt so lucky at halftime to be down one.”

In the second half, it just got worse for the Tar Heels.

Georgia Tech outscored UNC 45-26 in the second half. The Yellow Jackets suffocated UNC on offense and forced the Tar Heels into 13 second-half turnovers, a good number of which were just mishandled passes.

Big men Tyler Zeller and John Henson were rendered ineffective for much of the game. Though they combined for a modest 20 points, they only pulled down eight rebounds. UNC shooting guard Dexter Strickland led the Tar Heels with seven rebounds.

Georgia Tech’s starters outscored UNC’s 64-36 in the game. That disparity was evident from the start. Williams took his five starters out of the game within the first three minutes, and although the bench gave UNC a lift at times, Williams just couldn’t find a group of five players that gelled.

“We didn’t come in freakin’ ready to play. But overconfident? How the crap — and I’m not getting mad at you (the reporter), I’m mad at the world. We stunk. My coaching stunk and we stunk,” Williams said.

“We just weren’t as intense as we need to be to start playing basketball. And again, don’t take it as I’m jumping on you. I’d fight somebody with a chainsaw right now.”

But the Tar Heels didn’t have much time to linger on the loss, and perhaps it’s better for them that way. In the locker room after Sunday’s game, freshman forward Harrison Barnes’ mind was already on tonight’s matchup against Clemson.

“It’s just a mentality,” Barnes said. “We just need to come out with more of the aggressor and not waiting for them to attack us first.

“We need to change that versus Clemson on Tuesday or else we’ll have the same outcome that we did (Sunday).”

Tonight’s game against Clemson will test UNC’s 54-0 unbeaten home record against the Tigers. The game tips off at 8 p.m. and with the short turnaround, it may be difficult to put the Georgia Tech loss out of mind. For junior guard Larry Drew II, tonight’s game is about redemption.

“We have a chance to get this taste out of our mouth and just go play hard and make up for what happened (Sunday) night.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.