CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina’s search for an uplifting victory led to another deflating loss on Tuesday night.
The Tar Heels fell just short of unbeaten Florida 90-84 in the Jumpman Invitational at Spectrum Center, after summoning a second-half surge and fighting spirit that had the partisan crowd rocking with approval.
RJ Davis delivered 29 points and eight rebounds, but UNC (6-5) barely missed picking up what would’ve registered as its best victory of the season, an all-important Quad 1 win in the NET rankings that could’ve supplied the Tar Heels’ non-conference résumé with a significant boost.
Will Richard’s 22 points and Alijah Martin’s 19 points topped No. 7 Florida (11-0). Richard grabbed an offensive rebound and his put-back with 57.1 seconds left broke a tie, jumping the Gators ahead to stay at 86-84. Florida closed the game on an 8-0 run.
UNC also got 11 points apiece from Seth Trimble, Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson. The Tar Heels trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, before jolting to life and roaring back during the second half.
Ven-Allen Lubin grabs a rebound Tuesday night. (Photo: Jim Hawkins / Inside Carolina)
Tar Heels face another climb back from steep deficit
UNC trailed 46-34 at halftime, after falling into a first-half deficit as deep as 17 points. When Florida’s Will Richard hit a 3-pointer to put the unbeaten Gators ahead 16-6 about 5½ minutes into the game, the Tar Heels faced yet another double-digit deficit and were stuck with more ignominy. That meant, with Georgia Tech excluded, UNC had trailed all of its major-conference opponents this season by 10 points or more. And Georgia Tech led the Tar Heels by eight points at one juncture.
Carolina showed up here in Charlotte with abysmal shooting during Tuesday night’s first half. UNC missed 16 of its first 20 shots from the field and 20 of its first 26, while effectively wandering the wilderness in search of a successful 3-pointer. The misfiring Tar Heels started 0-for-11 beyond the arc, before Elliot Cadeau finally broke the streak of goose eggs with 4:04 remaining prior to halftime.
Davis’ 13 points paced UNC during the first half. Carolina was shooting a rough 29.7 percent from the field (11-for-37), including an awful 12.5 percent from 3-point range (2-for-16) by halftime. Meanwhile, Richard’s 13 points, Aberdeen’s nine points and Martin’s eight points were fueling Florida.
Earlier, the Tar Heels had used 10 players less than seven minutes into the game, and there simply were no answers to be found. The Gators scored seven straight points to zip ahead 23-10, as UNC started just 4-for-19 from the field, including 0-for-9 beyond the 3-point arc.
Next on the schedule
From one spotlighted non-conference matchup to another four days later, UNC squares off against No. 18 UCLA on Saturday in New York City at Madison Square Garden. The Tar Heels and Bruins open this weekend’s CBS Sports Classic doubleheader in what makes for a battle of traditional college basketball powers — the blue bloods have combined for 17 NCAA championships — before No. 4 Kentucky and Ohio State play in the second game of the event.
The CBS Sports Classic has been played every year since December 2014, and UNC owns the best record of the group at 6-4 across the history of the event — 3-0 against Ohio State, 2-0 against UCLA, 1-4 against Kentucky. The Tar Heels have a seven-day break between games on their schedule after taking on UCLA, with Campbell’s visit on Dec. 29 the last remaining non-conference assignment for the Tar Heels prior to full-on ACC league play.
UCLA is 9-1 on the season entering Tuesday night’s game against lowly Prairie View A&M, one of the worst-rated teams nationally on the Division I level. The Bruins are looking for their ninth straight win, and recently have picked up narrow victories against Oregon (73-71 on the road) and Arizona (57-54 in Phoenix). Carolina leads the all-time series 11-3 against UCLA, and has won 10 of the previous 11 meetings, including the last six in a row. The previous five matchups between UNC and UCLA have been played at neutral sites. UNC last faced UCLA in the Sweet 16 round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, with the Tar Heels winning 73-66 on the strength of former guard Caleb Love’s 27-point eruption during the second half. Love poured in 30 points altogether that night in Philadelphia, as Carolina marched on, ultimately reaching the NCAA championship game.
