Someone recently told me they thought the UNC men’s basketball team sold its soul last season to retire Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and the more time passes, the more I think they were right.
The peak of the Tar Heels’ 2021-22 season came during the NCAA Tournament. Entering the postseason as a No. 8 seed, North Carolina rallied to make the Final Four — where they defeated Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils, 81-77.
Following that game, UNC played Kansas for the national title. Despite holding a double-digit lead at halftime, the Tar Heels allowed the Jayhawks to turn things around, and Kansas eventually won the game, 72-69.
That uneven performance has followed North Carolina into the 2022-23 season. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll to start the season and started the year 5-0, but the writing was on the wall in their first few matchups of the season. While most other teams ranked inside the top 10 were all blowing out their first few opponents, UNC’s biggest wins over the first few weeks of the season were a pair of 16-point victories over College of Charleston and James Madison.
The wheels finally fell off the day after Thanksgiving, as UNC lost its first game of the season to Iowa State. The next day, the Tar Heels lost to Alabama in four overtimes. And this past week, the Tar Heels lost two more games to Indiana and Virginia Tech, falling to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in ACC play. UNC is no longer ranked, and the Tar Heels are the fastest team to go from No. 1 to unranked to start a season since UCLA did so way back in 1965-66.
The fall is ludicrous for a UNC team that returns four of its five starters from last season’s NCAA Tournament team. The Tar Heels had a pair of Wooden Award candidates in senior Armando Bacot and junior Caleb Love, but neither have been able to do enough to dig North Carolina out of this early hole.
UNC has struggled mightily on the offensive end, something that has to be attributed to head coach Hubert Davis. In their loss to Virgina Tech on Saturday, the Tar Heels had just six assists on 24 made baskets. For the season, the team is averaging just 10.8 assists per game, which ranks them 327th out of 352 teams nationwide. Last season, UNC ranked 11th in the country with an average of 14.9 assists per game.
As a team, North Carolina is shooting 45.1% from the field and just 29.2% from 3-point range. Guards Love and R.J. Davis, who combined to make 159 3-pointers last season, are currently shooting 27-of-103 (26.2%) through the first four weeks of the season.
The Tar Heels also normally dominate the rebounding categories, but that also isn’t happening this season. Through nine games, UNC ranks 197th in the country with 10.22 offensive rebounds per game.
The only glimmer of hope that should be motivating North Carolina at present is the way last season unfolded. Last year’s UNC team faced similar struggles and started the year 3-2 before rallying to win its next five games.
With ACC play already underway, the Tar Heels will hope they’re able to get back in a groove before too long. If not, UNC could be in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon.