Leader of the Atlantic Coast Conference, North Carolina, and struggling Miami will both be aiming for recovery when they meet in Coral Gables, Florida on Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels, ranked third with a record of 18-5 (10-2 ACC), recently suffered a rare defeat at home against Clemson, while the Hurricanes (15-8, 6-6) are at risk of dropping below a 0.500 winning percentage in the league after their disappointing 60-38 loss to Virginia on Monday.
North Carolina’s 80-76 loss to Clemson was only the second time in 62 encounters that the Tar Heels were defeated by the Tigers in Chapel Hill. Despite overcoming a 16-point deficit to tie the game at 70-70, they faltered in the end.
“We just didn’t play well enough,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said postgame. “You really have to compliment Clemson and the way that they played. They’re a really good basketball team and extremely well-coached. They were deserving of winning tonight.”
Just a month earlier, the Tar Heels had triumphed over the Tigers with a 65-55 win at Clemson, and after dominating Duke 93-84 last weekend, they seemed to have everything under control.
However, their lack of readiness was evident when they fell behind by 15-2 early in the game. According to Inside Carolina, several players arrived late for pregame warmups.
“We got what we deserved,” senior Armando Bacot said. “That wasn’t what we wanted. I wasn’t happy with how we practiced and with some of the things we did.
“I guess that is an emotional thing and a lot of stuff goes into it, but at the end of the day, we have a job to do and have to come in and play. Today we definitely learned that lesson. The hungrier team won.”
The Tar Heels haven’t faced consecutive defeats since their back-to-back losses against UConn and Kentucky in December.
“It’s how you react and how you respond,” Davis said. “We’ll go back to work. As I’ve said before, there (are) two things that you can do: You can whine and complain and point fingers and make excuses, or you can get back up and move forward and join the fight.
“For us, it’s never a choice. It’s a requirement for us to get back up and let’s get back to work.”
On the other hand, Miami is coming off a low-scoring game, marking their lowest point total since December 28, 1948 (a 37-35 victory over Princeton), leaving coach Jim Larranaga almost speechless.
“They just outplayed us in every aspect of the game,” Larranaga said after the game. “We didn’t play well. They played really well.”
The Hurricanes shot at a season-low rate of 28.6 percent and went 2 of 20 from 3-point range. With 11 points and 13 rebounds, Norchad Omier was the only Hurricane to reach double figures in scoring.
Omier has secured double-doubles in four of the last five games since sitting out Miami’s loss at Syracuse due to an ankle injury.
“It’s hard to win without him. He’s such an impact player,” Larranaga said recently. “He scores, he rebounds, he sets screens. He does so many things well that when he’s not on the court we don’t really have someone of his size (6-foot-7) and capability right now.”
