Caleb Wilson injured as UNC has win streak snapped in Miami

When UNC beat Duke on Saturday, you could almost predict how their game against Miami on Tuesday would go. Unfortunately, if you guessed the Tar Heels would not be sharp enough to win, you’d be correct. Carolina never led in the 75-66 loss to the Hurricanes.

The first half and second half issues were very different from each other. Carolina shot 55% from the field in the first half, but still found themselves down by three at halftime. They turned the ball over eight times and allowed Miami to shoot 58%. Even though the Heels hit seven three-pointers, it wasn’t enough to pull ahead at any point.

Both teams cooled off in the second half, but UNC only managed to shoot 27% from the field after halftime. They shot 14 threes and made just one of them. Caleb Wilson missed time in the second half before returning with his left hand heavily taped. Despite the fact that it wasn’t his shooting hand, it still clearly affected his play. Wilson struggled in the first half with just three points and finished the game with 12. Henri Veesaar also struggled with just two points in the second half. He was saddled with foul trouble and struggled to get going. Jarin Stevenson was the team’s leading scorer with 13 points. Kyan Evans scored eight points off the bench.

It was another game in which Carolina was just abused on the boards and in the paint. Miami out-rebounded them 41-35 and held a 46-28 advantage on points in the paint. So many of the Hurricanes’ points simply came too easy for them. It’s hard to win when your best players are all struggling at the same time and that was definitely the case for Carolina tonight. The Heels did manage to clean up their turnovers at halftime, giving it away just three times in the second half, but they could not muster enough offense to actually take a lead at any point.

The emotional letdown after Duke is probably to be expected, and playing a good team on the road isn’t easy in any circumstance. Still, it was a very frustrating loss that felt like it could have been avoided if a couple shots here or there went a different way. The big thing now is hoping that whatever was going on with Wilson’s hand is not serious. This team is much, much worse when he isn’t able to be superman.

Carolina takes on Pitt in Chapel Hill on Saturday.