I’m not sure the Tar Heels could have played much better, except for that two-minute stretch when Wisconsin went on a 9-0 run and never trailed again.
After a backdoor play that put the Badgers up by a point with six minutes to go, UNC probably should have called a timeout. I know how Coach Williams likes to hold on to those timeouts. But, in hindsight, perhaps Carolina could have ended the run. Instead, Wisconsin scored four more points to go up by five.
The Tar Heels could never catch up.
I thought that if the Tar Heels could avoid turning the ball over and stayed out of foul trouble, they had a decent shot to upset the Badgers. And Carolina only committed four turnovers the whole game but the Heels didn’t stay out of foul trouble.
They also missed too many free throws and allowed an 8-0 run in the first half and that 9-0 run in the second half.
Had Brice Johnson, who was in foul trouble, been able to play 30 minutes rather than 22 minutes and had the Heels hit just a couple more free throws, they could have still won.
When Carolina went small, as much by necessity as anything else, the Badgers controlled the boards. One big offensive rebound late led to a kick-out three that took the lead from 65-64 to 68-64 with just over three minutes to go.
We couldn’t finish on defense in key possessions (in the second half),” UNC’s Marcus Paige. “But we played intense the whole game.”
Carolina needed some help from Wisconsin at the end but the Badgers hit all eight of their free throw attempts in the last 42 seconds.
The three-point shot kept Carolina in it throughout including two big ones late by Paige.
“We made some big plays,” Coach Williams said. “We just didn’t make enough of ’em.”
He feels good about the fact that, unless someone foolishly turns pro or transfers or something, all the key players from this year’s team will be back next season.
“They can use this as fuel,” he said of the loss. “If we can take care of those little lapses (referring to late runs by Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament and by Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament), we have a chance to be one of those teams that has a chance to win it all.”