UNC was handed their second loss of the season Saturday afternoon in a 97-83 defeat against SMU. There was simply not enough defense on the part of the Tar Heels to stop the onslaught from the Mustangs.
SMU was able to contain Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson, which had been a huge part of Carolina’s successes so far this season. Both still made it into double figures, even with Veesaar in foul trouble again, but it was not the performance from them we are used to seeing. Veesaar finished with 14 points and six rebounds while Wilson had 13 points and seven boards. Seth Trimble was the team’s leading scorer with 22 points and five assists. Jarin Stevenson was effective off the bench with 16 points.
The game was tied 39-39 at halftime before SMU turned the jets on in the second half. They shot an absurd 71% from the field and made nine of their three-point attempts on their way to 58 second half points. UNC shooting 48% from the field is going to be good enough in a lot of situations, but they had no answer for Boopie Miller and Corey Washington, who combined for 50 points.
SMU turned the ball over seven times to UNC’s 10. The Mustangs scored 13 points off those turnovers. Carolina getting beat on points in the paint, 36 to 28, was a big sign that things were not going well with the normal game plan. The Heels, who haven’t shot the three very well this season, actually did pretty well from long distance in this one, but it wasn’t enough to overcome what was happening on the other end of the court.
It’s a disappointing loss for a Carolina team that has been on a roll, but not an inexcusable one. SMU came into today averaging over 90 points per game, so they are no strangers to the kind of offense we saw today. The bigger issue is that it exposed some of the flaws with the team when Veesaar and Wilson are not able to pour on the points. That is something they will need to figure out sooner rather than later.
UNC takes on Wake Forest in Chapel Hill next Saturday.
