CHAPEL HILL, NC – North Carolina followed its best win of the season four days ago, with its worst loss on Wednesday night. Tar Heels suffered an 83-70 loss to Marquette in a clash outside the conference at home.
It was the 18th defeat outside the UNC conference in the Smith Center’s 35-year history. The 13-point margin also ties the team’s biggest defeat of the season.
This game was officially announced on Saturday, hours before UNC (14-8, 8-5 ACC) demolished Louisville, 99-54. While Tar Heels outperformed the Cardinals in terms of efficiency and energy, the opposite was true against the Golden Eagles (11-12, 6-10 Big East). Steve Wojciechowski’s squad attacked first and maintained their composure until late when UNC tried to race.
Marquette built a 45-27 lead with 1:04 to the end of the first half and took 45-29 to the break. That 18-point margin and the 16-point interval range represented the biggest deficits UNC faced this season.
Tar Heels reached 65-58 with RJ Davis’ 3-point basket with 7:51 to play, but lost by double digits in the last four minutes of the game.
UNC shot 41.7 percent, while allowing Marquette to shoot 51.8 percent. Garrison Brooks led Tar Heels with 18 points from 8 out of 10 shots, while Day’Ron Sharpe added nine points and 11 rebounds.
Return of turnover problems
UNC’s 19 turnovers were the biggest in 11 games and the third most in the entire season. Marquette scored 19 points out of those 19 mistakes. Nine Tar Heels committed turnovers, led by Davis (4), Love (3) and Black (3).
Drive and kick
Marquette is not an elite 3-point shooting team – she’s shooting 33.3 percent this season, good for 195th national – but her ability to repeatedly knock UNC defenders out of dribble has forced defenders to collapse and therefore created many open looks from the perimeter. The Golden Eagles hit 37.5 percent beyond the arc and their nine 3-point shots were two more than the season average.
In eight defeats this season, UNC opponents have averaged 9.9 hits from 3 points, while hitting 42.5 percent in three.
Fullcourt Press supplies second half of collection
UNC used its midfield traps to thwart opponent offenses and take its competitors out of harm’s way throughout the season. Against Marquette, Roy Williams took it a step further, implementing a full court press off like baskets and that coach’s decision yielded several easy turnover dunks, helping to change the momentum in favor of UNC.
Tar Heels scored 12 points from 13 turns in the second half and 21 points from 19 in total.
Start slowly again
It may only take five days until March, but Tar Heels offered a December flashback to open the game against Marquette. UNC basketball was synonymous with slow starts at the start of the season and it took the Golden Eagles about seven minutes to build a 14-4 lead, as Tar Heels missed 12 of the first 14 field goal attempts.
The first wave of substitutions triggered a 9-0 UNC race, which was later answered with an 8-0 Marquette race. An 11-2 spurt at the end of the first half extended the visitors’ lead to 39-23 with 2:43 left.
Marquette shot 50 percent in the first half and averaged 1.25 points for possession, while UNC managed 36.7 percent for shots and 0.81 points for possession.
Next
UNC will stay home for the fourth consecutive game when it hosts Florida State on Saturday (4pm / ESPN). Leonard Hamilton’s team tops the ACC standings with a record of 13-3 (9-2 ACC). The Seminoles won the first meeting at Tallahassee, 82-75.