UNC men's basketball collapses against Wake Forest, 67-66, in second-straight ACC loss

WINSTON-SALEM — The UNC men's basketball team (12-8, ACC 5-3) collapsed against Wake Forest (15-4, ACC 7-1) 67-66 on Tuesday night at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. 

Costly turnovers and scoring droughts doomed the Tar Heels in the second half. Meanwhile, after shooting 29.6 percent from the field, the Demon Deacons exploded in the second half, improving to 50 percent from the floor. 

“I thought we competed defensively the entire game and our competitive fight was really good, we just couldn’t keep them off the free throw line,” head coach Hubert Davis said. 

Both teams traded baskets for the opening five minutes, until sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau exploded for ten-straight points to push the Tar Heels ahead, 16-7 with 13 minutes left in the half. Starting with a 3-pointer, Cadeau found his rhythm in transition, fighting for three layups and securing a trip to the line for an and-one. 

However, after Cadeau was taken off the court for a rest, North Carolina scored zero points for the next three and a half minutes, allowing the Demon Deacons to creep back into the game. Through double coverage and as the shot clock winded down, WFU's Hunter Sallis knocked down a fadeaway jumper to make it 16-13, with less than ten minutes to go.

A series of explosive plays — first by first-year guard Ian Jackson with a monster dunk over his defender followed by  graduate forward Jae'Lyn Withers sprinting to the other end for a pinning block to hold Wake Forest to free throws — edged North Carolina ahead. Still, the Demon Deacons didn't go away.

Despite shooting 29.6 percent from the field in the first half, Wake Forest held on, knocking down contested shots and getting to the free throw line 16 times. UNC entered the locker room only up 31-29. 

WFU stormed out of the break, shooting 5-8, to tie the score at 39 with 15 minutes to go. Thanks to a nearly five-minute scoring drought for UNC, Wake Forest exploded for a 10-0 run to take its first double-digit lead of the night, 49-39, with nine and a half minutes remaining. 

"I feel like we're getting great looks," graduate guard RJ Davis said. "Sometimes, I think in basketball, you're [either] gonna make it or miss."

A jumper in the paint from first-year forward Drake Powell ended the costly drought with nine minutes to go, and slowly, North Carolina chipped away at the deficit. A 6-0 run in 49 seconds made it a one-possession game, capped off by Cadeau's contested 3-pointer from the top of the key. 

It remained neck-and-neck, until North Carolina struggled to score for two minutes and allowed Wake Forest to execute a 6-0 run. Then, a foul on Cadeau coupled with a goal-tending call on junior center Jalen Washington allowed the Demon Deacons to consolidate a 65-56 lead with a minute to go — the final dagger.  

"I feel like [in the] second half, our defense — especially the pick-and-rolls — slacked off a little bit," RJ Davis. "It wasn't as much pressure on the ball by the guards and then our bigs weren't really up to touch."

Although UNC scored ten points in the final 40 seconds, it was too little, too late. 

The Tar Heels will host Boston College on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center. 

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