After opening the season 6-0 for the first time since 2016, the Tar Heels finally suffered a loss thanks to an aggressive Michigan State team that came into today’s game on a mission. Both teams fought
hard for all 40 minutes, but ultimately poor three-point shooting and defensive lapses doomed UNC to leave Florida with a salty taste in their mouths.
The Spartans started the first half with their hair on fire. They went on a 5-0 run thanks to a three-pointer from Trey Fort, followed by an insane dunk from Coen Carr. Caleb Wilson responded with a thunderous dunk, and from there it was off to the races. Both teams threw blows at each other up and down the floor, keeping things nice and close for the first half. Michigan State rapidly ended up putting UNC in the bonus, and eventually that paid off in the form of a seven-point lead with a little more than seven minutes to go in the half. However, Henri Veesaar picked up his second foul with 7:13 left in the frame, and everything went downhill rapidly. Without Veesaar’s presence in the paint, the Spartans went on a huge run to go into halftime up 28-33.
Despite Veesaar and Caleb Wilson returning to the lineup with two fouls apiece, things continued to deteriorate for the Tar Heels. Veesaar did what he does best and started to catch fire in the second half, but Michigan State responded to most of it immediately. UNC tried climbing out of it by launching a number of three-pointers, but ultimately they might as well have been turnovers. The Spartans were like a boulder barreling downhill, and things got particularly ugly around the seven-minute mark when they went on a 12-0 run to pull away for good. Caleb Wilson tried to take over the game by getting to the rim with a couple of nice plays, but by then it was it was too little too late.
Let’s start with what went wrong in this game, and then we will discuss some positive takeaways. First, the three-point shooting was really what broke the Heels’ backs the most. They finished the night shooting 4-23 from the arc, which is good enough for 17%. Luka Bogavac and Kyan Evans were the most egregious offenders, as they continued to launch three after three despite the fact that their shots weren’t going in. Seth Trimble’s presence was sorely missed in this game, because neither of the other guards seemed willing to get to the rim as often as they should. Evans overall had a pretty poor outing, finishing with a plus/minus of -24.
The other issue that the Tar Heels had was their defense in the second half. They did a respectable job against the Spartans in the first half, holding them to 41.9% from the field going into halftime. But Jeremy Fears Jr. had his way with the Tar Heels in the second half, which ultimately led to them shooting 62.1% from the field in the final 20 minutes. Again, this is where Trimble was missed, because he almost certainly would’ve been assigned to Fears if he was available to play.
While this loss was a frustrating one, one positive takeaway is what was already said twice: if Seth Trimble played in this game, this wouldn’t have gotten as out of hand as it did. That isn’t to say that they would’ve won, but his ability to get to the rim and also take care of guys like Fears would’ve put them in a much better position to come away with a victory. The other positive takeaway is that even with how bad things got at times, the Tar Heels did put up a respectable fight for most of the game. They have to find a way to clean up things on offense, though, and Hubert Davis needs to utilize Derek Dixon when Kyan Evans is hanging out there struggling. It’s hard to convince me that Dixon would hurt things anymore than Evans was at times, so coaching Evans during the game while letting your freshman point guard get some valuable minutes would probably be the move in the future.
Overall, this was a fun game for college basketball fans, but a frustrating one for us as fans. Next up is a big-time matchup against Kentucky on Tuesday at Rupp Arena.
