'A shit show': UNC men's basketball's first half struggles continue in loss to Florida

CHARLOTTE — Hubert Davis trailed off. Words left him, and more did not come. He sat at a table up above a collection of media in the Spectrum Center’s press room. The North Carolina head coach stared forward in a trance, his head held low, appearing almost defeated and helpless, searching for an explanation.

A few seconds passed. Then he found the words. Not, however, an answer.

“I can’t explain.”

It was a theme of the 10 minutes Davis spent with the media. He would pause, the room quiet as he attempted to understand and articulate why his team continues to get off to bad starts.

“That’s been the consistent theme for us this year,” he said. 

First-year forward Drake Powell knocked down a tough mid-range fadeaway for the first points of the game Tuesday night against Florida. It was the only lead the Tar Heels had in the first half. After the opening bucket, the Gators went on a 10-0 run and led by as many as 17 in the first half.

Despite a second-half comeback sparked by an 11-0 run out of the locker room, UNC could not overcome its sluggish and lackluster opening act to capture a signature non-conference win. The Tar Heels led by four with 4:03 to go but ran out of gas late and fell, 90-84, to No. 7 Florida in the Jumpman Invitational. North Carolina is now 6-5 on the season — 0-5 against Power Five non-conference opponents. It’s the worst start to a season for the Tar Heels since 2019. In the first 11 games, UNC has trailed by double digits at halftime three times.

“We can’t keep having these performances in the first half where it’s just a shit show,” junior guard Seth Trimble said. “We’re just not being who we know we can be.”

Tuesday night’s game was almost a carbon copy of the game UNC played in early November against Kansas. The Tar Heels got off to a poor start and trailed by 15 at the break. They rallied to take the lead in the second half but ultimately came up short.

In the Maui Invitational opener, North Carolina got away with a bad first half. Dayton led 51-33 at half, but the Tar Heels stormed back to win. The next two games in Hawaii, they trailed Auburn and Michigan State by eight and nine respectively after 20 minutes. Though they took the Spartans to overtime, both games were losses. 

Again, against Alabama, the halftime deficit was nine. The Crimson Tide won by 15 in the Smith Center.

Each case has left Davis scratching his head. Frustration has grown for him and his team. And with each case except one, the starts have doomed the Tar Heels. Despite inspired efforts when their backs were against the walls, they have been too much to overcome. 

“Playing the way we want to play for one half,” Hubert Davis said. “It’s not sustainable. It’s just not. You may be able to get away with it one time against Dayton, but it’s just not sustainable, especially against good teams. You have to put a full 40 minutes together.”

Davis said the two days of practice leading up to the Florida game were the best practices of the season. He was encouraged. He thought his team might have turned a corner. He said the great practices translated to the second half. But not the first.

One specific struggle on Tuesday night was shooting the ball from the outside. The Tar Heels missed their first 11 3-point attempts and were 2-16 from beyond the arc in the first half. Florida was 7-16.

“Like, I just, I don’t know,” graduate guard RJ Davis said. “It’s frustrating because it’s my last year, and I want things to go the way I know it can be.”

The UNC coach talked in his press conference about his team playing like their backs are against the wall all the time. Their backs are now against the wall if they want a big non-conference win. One more opportunity awaits on Saturday against UCLA.

When Hubert Davis was asked what his team needs to do moving forward to better prepare and get off to better starts, he took another long pause. The air in the media room was still and hung on what he would say next.

“When I say ‘a back against a wall,’ that’s just who I am, and that’s my personality,” he said.

Another pause.

“Obviously disappointed with tonight.”

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