What Can Be Learned from Two Opposing Defensive Halves In Berkeley

BERKELEY, Calif. — Continuing its inexplicable defensive woes, North Carolina couldn’t have played much worse in Saturday’s first half. After surrendering 45 first-half points at Stanford on Wednesday, the Tar Heels somehow found another depth in Berkeley — allowing 54 before halftime to a Cal team that scored 56 total in its previous game.

The Golden Bears shot 55.9 percent in the first half, marking the fourth straight half North Carolina allowed an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent. 

When asked if Cal ran anything in the first half that caught UNC by surprise, Hubert Davis was quick to say no, adding: “We knew that from an offensive standpoint, there’s a lot of movement. One of the things that I consistently said to the team was that there’s no time to be able to take a deep breath. Something’s coming, whether it’s a down screen, flare, stagger, duck in, and our readiness to be able to guard their actions wasn’t there at the beginning of the game.”

And despite ranking second-to-last in the ACC in rebounding margin (-1.7), Cal held an 18-14 edge on the glass and scored 13 second-chance points.

The second half told a different story. And while it doesn’t excuse the inexcusable, the historically-bad defense to start the game, the hope is that there is something to be gleaned from the second-half comeback that can be utilized moving forward.

The Tar Heels held Cal to 30 points — the fewest UNC has allowed in a half in ACC play — on 41.7 percent shooting. North Carolina also won the second-half rebounding battle 20-16 and held Cal to five second-chance points.

“We bossed up,” said Seth Trimble about the second half difference. “We manned up. We stopped playing like some boys and sat down in the stance and started guarding like we know we can guard.” 

Using traps, doubles and full-court pressure, North Carolina stifled Cal and ignited a 20-5 run over nearly seven minutes in the second half, cutting the deficit to four. UNC forced six turnovers during the stretch — eight in the second half after generating five in the first.

North Carolina’s typically high-scoring offense went dry down the stretch — going 3:55 without a field goal before Henri Veesaar’s 3-pointer with 19 seconds left — but its defense put the Tar Heels in position to complete the comeback Saturday, something they haven’t been able to say in ACC play.

“These last three games, I don’t know why we’ve been so bad defensively because we know that’s not the defensive team that we are,” Trimble said. “We’ve shown it. So I really don’t know why, but that second half, we were able to crawl out of the deep struggles that we were in the last few games on the defensive end, and we were able to be us.”

Saturday’s storyline at Haas Pavilion felt all too familiar — reminiscent of last year’s Tar Heel team that, time and again, inexplicably dug itself in large early holes. Double-digit halftime deficits against Kansas (15), Florida (12), and Duke (21) last season proved too steep to overcome, as UNC fell short in each spirited comeback attempt — losing all three games by six points or fewer. In the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina trailed Ole Miss by 18 at halftime, then stormed back to cut it to two with 1:09 remaining — before stumbling in the final minute and falling by seven.

Notre Dame comes to Chapel Hill on Saturday with the No. 107-ranked offensive rating per KenPom and the Fighting Irish are averaging 64.8 points through five ACC games, giving North Carolina an opportunity to stack strong defensive halves. 

However, Wake Forest, Stanford and Cal were far from the ACC’s best offenses, and UNC fans don’t need a reminder of how the Tar Heels defended in those three games.

“We have to pick it up,” Derek Dixon said. “At a certain point it’s just about pride and effort.”