UNC men's basketball gets dominated on the boards in loss to No. 23 Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. — UNC fulfilled the crux of Hubert Davis' game plan for approximately 21 seconds. 

Hope that North Carolina would win the rebounding margin against a more physical Clemson team — the most important of Davis' keys to the game — was let down after the first possession. 

It happened when Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin batted out a loose rebound to Tiger center Viktor Lakhin who promptly drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

In what became a recurring issue in UNC's 85-65 defeat to No. 23 Clemson, these two defensive lapses plagued North Carolina all night. A barrage of made threes buried UNC early in the game, while a lopsided rebounding margin, 41-28 in favor of Clemson, stifled any chances of a Tar Heel comeback.

“Rebounding, I've always said, is the number one determining factor of the outcome of a game,” Davis said.

A dominant stretch midway through the first half — punctuated by Clemson's 6-foot-11 Lakhin — put North Carolina in a double-digit hole early. Lakhin tallied 10 points during a 14-2 Tiger run, doing so at all levels of the court, but most impressively from deep.

He drilled a pair of triples during the run and started the game with four made 3-pointers by the 6:43 minute mark. This paced Clemson's 3-point barrage, ultimately helping the Tigers finish with a total of 12 made triples at a 48 percent clip.

“Their center hitting a couple of threes kind of threw off our coverage,” sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau said. “It was just hard to adjust to that.”

On the off chance Clemson did miss from deep, UNC had issues securing long rebounds. The Tigers more than doubled the rebound total of the Tar Heels in the first half, with one fewer offensive rebound than North Carolina had in total rebounds.

And had it not been for a board UNC grabbed in garbage time from a Clemson miss, North Carolina would have had its worst rebounding margin of the season. Instead, it tied the worst from the Hawaii game, where the Tar Heels finished minus 13 on the boards.

A dismal display of UNC's effort defensively led Davis to echo what he has been saying all season.

“It was the physicality,” Davis said. “It's the will and the want to, the energy and effort. You know, rebounding, I said, it's not dictated by your physical size.”

Despite North Carolina often running with four guards on the floor, it has been able to win the rebounding battles against teams much larger than itself in the post. Both at Kansas and at Duke this season, the Tar Heels eked out a positive rebound margin, despite poorly matching up with either team's size.

Yet, when the prerogative was of utmost importance on Monday night, UNC got pushed around.

“I was really upset with the fact that we got bullied today,” junior guard Seth Trimble said. 

And he has every right to be upset. The 6-foot-3 guard is leading the team in rebounds per game, since North Carolina’s rotation of big men — graduate forward Jae’Lyn Withers and junior forwards Jalen Washington and Ven-Allen Lubin — are all averaging less than five rebounds per matchup. 

For North Carolina to make even a feeble attempt at reaching the NCAA tournament, better production from the four and five positions is critical. And when they struggle, other Tar Heels have to step up in their place. 

“Some guys responded, but it takes 15,” Trimble said. “It takes all 15 of us, and we just didn't have it.”

@cadeshoemaker23

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