WINSTON-SALEM — When North Carolina stepped foot in the painted area below each basket at Joel Coliseum Sunday night, the chances were there.
On multiple occasions, UNC had more than one opportunity on single possessions to head down the floor after connecting on an easy basket.
But in No. 19 UNC’s (10-4, 0-1 ACC) 73-67 loss in its ACC opener to Wake Forest (11-3, 1-0), it was just one of those nights.
An evening during which the simplest part of the game — finishing — evaded the Tar Heels.
And despite outrebounding the Demon Deacons 53-34, including a 24-8 advantage on the offensive glass, UNC finished the night with only 17 second-chance points.
“We all had great looks,” said freshman center Kennedy Meeks. “But the ball just didn’t go through the basket.”
Coach Roy Williams said he anticipated his team would have a solid game on the boards, but he could not attribute one reason for UNC’s struggles to convert on second-chance opportunities following the loss.
“We kept hanging around because we were doing a good job rebounding the ball, but we weren’t finishing the plays when we got the offensive rebounds,” Williams said. “We weren’t tough enough, physical enough, strong enough, explosive enough to finish the plays.”
UNC dominated the Demon Deacons on the glass from the tip, pulling down 36 rebounds — just five shy of its season average — in the opening 20 minutes alone, compared to Wake Forest’s 14 first-half boards.
