Dewey Andy Tommy Ashley Post Game Talking Points That Actually Led To Tar Heels Lose.
Inside Carolina contributor and former Tar Heel guard Dewey Burke joined host Tommy Ashley on The Postgame show to offer his thoughts on North Carolina’s 84-76 loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament championship game. Here are his five key takeaways from the game.
NEVER ENGAGED DEFENSIVELY
“From the tip, it was a miserable defensive performance. I was very frustrated early and hoped that they would turn it around. I never thought we did on defense.
We were never engaged defensively. DJ Horne got every shot and every look he wanted. DJ Burns is going to back anybody down. I don’t care how big you are.
We didn’t seem to have a plan on doubling him or not. We were disjointed on that end of the floor. We never never found any kind of rhythm. We gave them life early, and they had it the whole game.
There were a couple of chances we could have pushed the ball harder and tried to get to their legs.”
GIVE NC STATE CREDIT
“You have to give them credit. I hate giving them credit for anything, but five games in five nights is impressive. They played with desperation; we played like it was a game in November.
You’d rather win the regular season, but you’re still there, so you might as well win it. It’s a shame. It’s hard to win the league and the conference tournament. You’ve got to tip your hat to State, as hard as that is to say.”
DIDN’T HAVE IT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
“We didn’t shoot it great. We shot too many threes. We probably could have gone to Armando a little bit more and gone to the rim a little bit more.
We stood around a lot and watched RJ. We’re better when we’re in rhythm and the the ball is moving. Even at the end, when we got them to turn the ball over. How many wide-open threes did we miss? It was a weird night.
It never felt like it was going to be our night. We’ve had a great history against State, but this gives them something to brag about, which is frustrating. I was just extremely disappointed defensively. We were lazy. We were just terrible on that end.”
TAR HEELS NEED TO MOVE ON QUICKLY
“That was an out-of-character game based on how this team has played the last six weeks. We’ve been playing really, really well. We’ve been very together and very connected on both ends. We weren’t that against NC State.
Hopefully, this was just one of those nights, and we throw it away and get going next week. We’ve had years where we cut the nets down when we didn’t win the ACC Tournament. This doesn’t mean we can’t make a deep run. They were just flat.”
IF THE TAR HEELS WANT THEIR SEASON TO END, PLAY LIKE THEY DID AGAINST STATE