North Carolina came into the season ranked #1, and subsequently became the fastest team to go from #1 to unranked after starting the year 5-4.
It’s not that North Carolina didn’t look like a good team. At times they did look like a pre-season #1 team. They have a 16-point win against 10-1 College of Charleston. They had late leads against Iowa State and Alabama, but they couldn’t close those games out.
They simply didn’t do the little things consistently to finish off quality teams. It would be a missed FT here or there, a failed extra pass or turnover, or a loose ball 50/50 battle they didn’t win.
It left the Tar Heels playing with a bit of fire. They were talented, but with dangerously thin OOC resume. Sure they won their last two games against the Citadel and Georgia Tech but wins over that caliber opponent don’t resonate.
Saturday they showed their talent again at times against a pretty good Ohio State team but got behind by 14 in the second half.
Then North Carolina started to show why they were a pre-season top 5 team. They dug in hard defensively and made timely shots, and yet they found themselves down 2 with 1.2 seconds – then this happened.
WE’RE HEADED TO OT IN MSG
@UNC_Basketball pic.twitter.com/qEOStWJA1W
— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) December 17, 2022
North Carolina went to control the OT and won 89-84.
It’s the kind of win that could be a catalyst to being the team many of us thought they could be.
On December 21, North Carolina faces Michigan in Charlotte, NC in a home-away-from-home game.
Michigan is 6 points from being 9-1 with wins over Virginia and Kentucky. They’ll be a good opponent with strong computer numbers, but I like how the Tar Heels are trending especially after Saturday.
When they play to their potential, they are as good as anyone in the country and we saw some real flashes of that against the Buckeyes.
Now Hubert Davis and Heels need to build on that and take care of Michigan later this week.
I think they turned the corner Saturday, but we’ll find out for sure against the Wolverines.
