No challenge in Chapel Hill: Three takeaways from UNC basketball’s home loss to Alabama

The ACC/SEC Challenge series might have made for good TV basketball content, but it didn’t prove to be much of challenge, did it?

Certainly not at the Smith Center.

No. 10 Alabama rolled in and punched out a 94-79 victory over the No. 20 Tar Heels, leading nearly start to finish in an impressive display of aggressive and efficient team play.

The Tar Heels (4-4) had the home fans up and roaring with seven minutes left in regulation when freshman Ian Jackson, who had a team-high 23 points, sped down for a fast-break layup. The Crimson Tide lead, 18 points in the second half, was trimmed to 10. There was still hope of a UNC comeback as the Tar Heels employed a full-court press.

But the Tide’s Mark Sears, a senior guard who had 20 points, found Derrion Reid for a lob-dunk, the lead was 12 and Alabama soon out of any further danger. The Smith Center soon began to empty as cheers of “Roll Tide!” were heard.

If the Tar Heels were looking for some redemption for their NCAA Sweet 16 loss to Alabama last season in Los Angeles, they didn’t get it. Instead, it was a third straight loss to the Crimson Tide (7-2).

R.J. Davis had 18 points for the Heels but missed 10 of his 11 shots from 3-point range as the long ball continues to be a struggle. UNC, as a team, was 5-for-28 on 3’s.

“We didn’t do the things consistently to put yourself in a position to win a game like this,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.

It’s not the way the Tar Heels wanted to go into ACC play, which begins Saturday for UNC with a game against Georgia Tech at the Smith Center.

“There are two choices,” Davis said. “You can stay down, you can whine and complain and point fingers and make excuses. Or you can get your tail back up and step forward and start swinging.

“So I told the guys get your Timberland boots on, your overalls, your shoulder pads and your helmet, and tomorrow you’re gonna get dirty and we’re gonna go back to work

Three takeaways from the game:

Defense still work in progress

Davis demanded smarter, tougher, more alert defense from his team after some poor efforts in Maui.

What he got in the first half Wednesday was the Tide often getting the shots it wanted, whether with flashes down the lane or skip passes to the corner or the basic pick and roll.

The Tar Heels were overly aggressive on the first few possessions of the game, getting the crowd revved up, but Alabama shrugged off a few air balls to better run its sets.

“From a defensive standpoint, I didn’t feel like Alabama felt us,” Davis said. “I think they did the first two to three minutes of the game. I felt like we had a defensive presence, a physical presence, on the ball. Our communication was really good. And then, from there, it just dropped.”

The Tide had 43 points at halftime and a nine-point lead, fueled by seven made 3-pointers. Sears, a handful who looked the part of an All-America guard, had 11 points. So did Aden Holloway, who knocked down four of eight shots from 3-point distance.

The Heels opened with 6-6 freshman Drake Powell on the Tide’s Grant Nelson, the big man who as much anyone ushered UNC out of the NCAA Tournament last March with 24 points and a double-double. That gave the Heels some early life.

But the Crimson Tide, despite some rough patches, was the more polished team for 40 minutes.

Photos: North Carolina falls to Alabama in ACC/SEC Challenge

Too many turnovers

Another of the check-list boxes that coach Davis harps on is assist-to-turnover ratio, and with a three-guard lineup expects to have a good ballhandling team this season.

Sophmore Elliot Cadeau has tremendous court vision and the ability to get the ball to open teammates. But the Tide had him and the UNC offensive sets well-scouted, it appeared, denying any easy entry passes.

UNC had nine first-half turnovers and 14 in the game.. Cadeau had just two in the opening half but UNC was too loose with the ball too many times, and the quick hands of the Tide took advantage.

With frequent substitutions and different combinations, the UNC players still are learning each other tendencies in game situations.

RJ Davis 3-point struggle continues

R.J. Davis continues to be vexed at the 3-point line. He air-balled a couple of 3s on Wednesday and doesn’t appear confident or comfortable with his stroke.

Davis missed four of five from the arc in the first half and it didn’t get much better. On one break in the second half, Davis had an open shot from the right week with no defender nearby but his 3-point shot was long and off the mark. A few minutes later, he rushed and air-balled another.

Davis did score on some drives to the basket and some mid-range jumpers, but the 3-ball has been his problem. He was 1-for-11 in the game.