Baskets hard to come by for UNC men's basketball, but team sneaks out with the win

Safe to say, the North Carolina men’s basketball team hasn’t as bad of a shooting performance as it did against Boston College in a while. 

Since the Tar Heels’ matchup against William and Mary in 1957, they haven’t shot this low of a percentage in the field  in a victory. The previous low for North Carolina was 30.3 percent, but tonight they set a new low mark at 29.1 percent.

Starting the season 11-0 at home, North Carolina usually hits its shots in the Dean E. Smith Center, but Wednesday saw a different story. After struggling to find the back of the net against Virginia Tech, the Tar Heels got off to a decent start, knocking down two early three’s. 

But after taking the early lead, baskets weren't as easy to come by. 

“Shots weren’t falling,” sophomore guard Caleb Love said. “It’s kind of weird because that usually happens on the road and its not supposed to happen at home but it happened.”

Every night is not perfect in the world of sports, but Wednesday was a historically bad offensive night for North Carolina.  

After playing three games in the past five days, the Tar Heels appeared to be a little fatigued at times throughout the game. Senior Forward Leaky Black said it was just one of those nights for him and his team. 

“We’re all battle-tested,” Black said. “I don't think we were really tired today or any specific guys were tired. I feel like we felt great but we just couldn’t get the ball to go through the goal and that's just what it was for the night.”

Some nights the shots just don’t fall and there is not a whole lot you can do about it. North Carolina was relentless in its attack, shooting 55 shots from the field, but they just could not get them to fall with any consistency.  

When things are going like they were for UNC, you have to find other ways to emerge victoriously. 

“As good as we are shooting, there are going to be times throughout the year and particular games where you aren’t shooting the ball well and you’re not finishing around the basket,” head coach Hubert Davis said. “You’re gonna have to get stops and have to rely on the defensive end. Towards the end when we needed a stop we got the stops and when we needed a basket we made a basket.”

Although North Carolina struggled to get things going against a Boston College team they throttled on the road earlier in the season, they were able to make the plays when they were needed to finish their regular-season sweep of the Eagles. 

It wasn’t a pleasant game to watch for many North Carolina fans, but the Tar Heels did what they needed to do, which was getting their sixth conference win of the season. 

Heading into their final matchup of January this weekend against N.C. State, North Carolina didn’t look their best in their tuneup against the Eagles, but they still have time to prepare before the big in-state matchup. 

“We just need to get guys back into the gym and get the confidence back,” Black said. “I feel like it's just a confidence thing. Our guys are really aggressive on the offensive end and they’ll be alright.”

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