The North Carolina Tar Heels are in Trouble

The North Carolina Tar Heels have looked like a terribly mediocre basketball team this season. They are 4-3 on the road this season, losing conference games to Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech along with losing a nonconference game to Wofford. North Carolina’s brightest star, Cole Anthony has been sidelined since December 10th. In six games without him, the Tar Heels are 2-4 with both wins being single-digit wins against UCLA and Yale.

In short, the Tar Heels have struggled to start this season. They are 8-7 this season. Though they have played a relatively tough schedule, (#2 Gonzaga, #5 Virginia, #6 Ohio State and #11 Oregon) are just 1-3 in conference play. Roy Williams has called this North Carolina team the “least talented” team he has ever had. Although there might be some truth to that, they need to kick it into gear if they want to compete. Especially in a relatively top-heavy Atlantic Coast Conference.

Struggling to Shoot the Three

The North Carolina Tar Heels have a very talented frontcourt. Though without Cole Anthony there’s a lack of backcourt production. They struggle to free up space inside for guys like Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks. Cole Anthony is shooting nearly 36 percent from three this season (22/62). The rest of the team is shooting 62 for 217 behind the newly changed three-point line. That rounds up to 28.6 percent and a total percentage of 30.1 percent with Cole Anthony on the floor. That ranks 304th in all of NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball, out of 374 teams that qualify.

To put that into perspective, the Virginia Cavaliers, the team that won the National Championship last season, shot over 39 percent from three. While Cole Anthony is sidelined, for however long, someone has to step up and hit shots from long distance. If they don’t, both Bacot and Brooks will constantly be bottled up.

Only Getting Tougher From Here

Each day that goes by the Tar Heels get closer to bringing Cole Anthony back. However, when the calendar month of January changes to February the going gets tougher for this Tar Heel team. In their last 10 games of the season they play, Florida State on the road, Virginia for the second time, Louisville on the road, and of course the Duke Blue Devils both home and away. Those top four teams in the ACC make up 50 percent of UNC’s remaining games come February 3rd.

Although I have seen Roy Williams coached teams do some pretty incredible things throughout his tenure. A combination of lack of depth, with both Sterling Manley and Anthony Harris already lost for the season, Cole Anthony out for an undetermined amount of time, and a lack of three-point shooters, this team certainly doesn’t have the makings of an NCAA Tournament team midway through January.