NEWARK, N.J. – North Carolina trails 38-30 at halftime of its Elite Eight matchup against Kentucky in the Prudential Center.
The Tar Heels struggled both with fouls and ineffective offense in the first half.
John Henson picked up his third personal foul with 6:39 left in the half, and UNC coach Roy Williams was forced to sit him for the remainder of the half.
Fortunately for the Tar Heels, the Wildcats were only able to expand the lead by one point in that stretch, as they also struggled with hitting open shots.
Tyler Zeller has been effective for the Tar Heels, scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Other than that, the rest of the Tar Heels have not been able to create much, shooting 6-for-23 excluding Zeller.
The Tar Heels hold a 20-17 rebounding edge against the Wildcats, but it has not helped so far.
The famous John Calipari dribble-drive offense has been giving UNC trouble, as the Tar Heels have attempted to trap on ball screens, with limited success.
The look has given Kentucky quite a few open 3-pointers, and the Wildcats have cashed in on six of those 11 attempts.
