Tag: North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball

Former UNC basketball target Jarin Stevenson returns home with Alabama

Jarin Stevenson grew up in Chapel Hill, but now plays his college basketball at Alabama.

One of the most highly-touted high school basketball prospects in recent years, Jarin Stevenson, grew up in Chapel Hill and played his high school basketball just down the road in Pittsboro.

The North Carolina Tar Heels were all over Stevenson in the recruiting process, hoping to add yet another homegrown talent to their roster. UNC was one of nine schools recruiting Stevenson, but more importantly, one of three finalists.

Stevenson ended up choosing Alabama in the end – and nine games into his sophomore season, Stevenson made his long-awaited return to Chapel Hill.

After the Crimson Tide dominated North Carolina on Wednesday, 94-79, Stevenson spoke briefly about what it meant to play – against the team he grew up cheering for.

“Tonight was definitely a surreal feeling,” Stevenson said. “I’ve been to quite a bit of their (UNC) games. My mom (Nicole (Walker) Stevenson) played here too. It’s nice being back and it’s always great to get a win.”

Jarin played 16 minutes in his 10th career start, scoring six points on a pair of 3-pointers. Stevenson grabbed three rebounds, dished out one assist and blocked one shot.

Stevenson was part of an extremely tall Alabama starting lineup, with himself, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi all standing 6’11”. The Tar Heels struggled to get into any sort of shooting rhythm against the Crimson Tide’s tall defense, particularly from deep, where the Tar Heels shot just 5-of-28.

Whenever a North Carolina target like Stevenson chooses elsewhere, it always makes me wonder “what if?” Would UNC be that much better if Stevenson was on the roster? Does Stevenson ever wish he stayed a Tar Heel?

It was odd seeing Stevenson in an Alabama uniform, but I’m glad the hometown kid enjoyed his return to Chapel Hill.

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UNC guards suffer ice-cold shooting performance in Wednesday loss against Alabama

UNC’s typically-productive guard trio struggled immensely against Alabama on Wednesday night.

With a lack of experience in the post this basketball season, the North Carolina Tar Heels will need to rely heavily on production from their talented backcourt.

When UNC’s talented backcourt can’t get its shots to fall, struggles are bound to follow.

Such was the case on Wednesday night, as North Carolina’s overall concerns grew in a 94-79 loss to Alabama. Tar Heels (4-4) sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau, junior Seth Trimble and reigning ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis shot a combined 11-of-41 – 28.6 percent – from the field.

Davis, Cadeau and Trimble struggled from deep even more, shooting a combined 2-from-17. Davis made one of 11 attempts, Trimble drained one of four and Cadeau missed both attempts.

“It’s easier to get down on yourself and be negative when things are not going your way,” Davis said in postgame interviews. “Shots are not falling, we’re losing games. Our guards have to do a better job of setting our big men up. I think it’s a two way street we’ve got to connect on. It’s a different year, in terms of guys going to be guarding me a little bit differently. Today I had Jarin Stevenson on me, (Derrion) Reid and (Mouhamed) Dioubate. That’s why coaches been doing a good job putting me in better spots to get better shouts. They’re all tough right now.”

UNC didn’t struggle entirely in its backcourt, as Ian Jackson enjoyed a career-high 23 points (10-of-17 on field goals, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers). Hubert Davis is still tinkering with North Carolina’s lineup – and he might want to consider starting Jackson more.

The Tar Heels struggled shooting over Alabama’s height: Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi are all 6’11”. Georgia Tech is a pretty tall team as well (center Ryan Mutombo is 7’2″), so if UNC’s guards want to rebound from Wednesday’s struggle, they’ll have to find additional ways to generate points.

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Ian Jackson’s breakout game a rare bright spot for UNC in big loss to Alabama

Ian Jackson was the bright light UNC needed in Wednesday’s loss to Alabama.

Seemingly nothing could go right for the North Carolina Tar Heels on Wednesday night, as they lost 94-79 to Alabama in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

UNC (4-4) played great defensively for the first three minutes, then trailed off. North Carolina couldn’t make anything from deep, turned the ball over too many times and struggled against the Crimson Tide’s (7-2) size.

If there was one positive takeaway for the Tar Heels, though, it was a breakout game from star freshman Ian Jackson.

Jackson scored a career-high 23 points in 28 minutes off the bench, making 10 of his 17 shot attempts, including a 3-of-5 mark from the perimeter. Jackson led all scorers with his point total, plus he was the only UNC player with multiple 3-point makes.

“I feel like this year, I’ve shot it pretty well,” Jackson said in postgame interviews. “My teammates are great players themselves. They draw a lot of attention. RJ (Davis) draws a lot of attention. That kind of leaves me free to be open to make shots. I put in a lot of work, I’ll be out there shooting and getting shots up. I go out there and make shots.”

Hubert Davis is increasing Jackson’s minutes as North Carolina’s season progresses – and it’s paying off.

Jackson played a career-high 28 minutes on Wednesday against Alabama, breaking his previous high of 21 minutes against Michigan State. Jackson also scored 14 points against the Spartans in Maui, his second-straight game in double-digits – and fourth overall in 2024.

With Jackson’s big game on Wednesday, combined with struggles from RJ Davis, Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau, don’t be surprised to see Jackson in UNC’s starting lineup going forward.

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Cold shooting, turnovers doom UNC against Alabama in ACC-SEC Challenge

UNC struggled throughout its loss to Alabama in Wednesday night’s ACC-SEC Challenge.

Wednesday night presented the perfect opportunity for the North Carolina Tar Heels to press a hard reset on their basketball season.

After a 1-2 result in the Maui Invitational, UNC welcomed Alabama to the Dean Dome for the ACC-SEC Challenge. Here was an opportunity for North Carolina to get a signature win – and prove it could play with the country’s best.

The Tar Heels traded blows with the Crimson Tide and closed their gap to single-digits on several occasions, but largely struggled in an 94-79 loss.

Coming into tonight, I thought UNC’s lack of height was going to play the greatest factor. Instead, North Carolina’s guards largely struggled to make shots. RJ Davis, Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau made just 11-of-41 attempts – a combined 26.8 percent.

3-point shooting, an area North Carolina was supposed to upgrade in this offseason, was the greatest disappointment Wednesday night. UNC drained just 5-of-28 attempts, with Ian Jackson (three), Davis (one) and Trimble (one) having the lone makes.

Turnovers destroyed North Carolina in the first half – and sloppy passing cost it in the second half. UNC turned the ball over 13 times, despite have a couple solid give-and-gos in the post.

What frustrates me the most about tonight’s game: the Crimson Tide didn’t play outstanding basketball, but the Tar Heels played poorly.

Alabama guards Mark Sears led all scorers with 20 points. Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway (15 points each), Cliff Omoruyi and Derrion Reid (11 points), plus Grant Nelson (10 points) all finished in double-figures.

Jackson was a bright spot for the North Carolina offense, scoring a career-high 23 points (10-of-17 shooting).

UNC out-rebounded the Crimson Tide 42-40 and even had a 18-15 advantage in paint points, even with its lack of height.

When the buzzer sounded, though, UNC walked off the Dean Dome court with plenty of questions and its third-straight loss.

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Drake Powell getting first career start against Alabama

UNC’s starting lineup will look a little different against Alabama.

The North Carolina Tar Heels will have a slight change to their starting lineup against Alabama tonight, as freshman Drake Powell will be starting in the place of Jae’Lyn Withers.

Powell has played phenomenal basketball through seven games in his freshman season, including a solid run through the Maui Invitational. He scored a career-high 18 points against Michigan State on 7-of-9 shooting, including a 4-of-6 mark from deep.

Powell has averages of 6.3 points, 3.7 points and 0.7 assists per game, but even when he’s not contributing on the stat sheet, Powell is finding ways to impact the game. He’s a phenomenal defender who hustles after every ball, can deliver some soul-snatching blocks (watch American highlights) and has the ability to make shots from anywhere, whether a highlight-reel dunk or a clutch 3-pointer.

UNC went just 1-2 in the Maui Invitational: coming back to beat Dayton in its opener, before getting blown out by Auburn and losing in overtime to Michigan State. North Carolina is still trying to discover its best lineups – and it got a glimpse of how special Powell can be in the MSU loss.

The Tar Heels brought Powell off the bench in their first six games, when they rolled with a starting lineup of Withers, RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington. Withers has played solid basketball in his first year as a starter, averaging 7.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, but Powell has played better.

What a big moment for Powell, who gets his first start just 20 minutes up the road from where he played high school ball.

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Revisiting March’s UNC-Alabama Sweet 16 matchup ahead of Wednesday’s ACC-SEC Challenge

Do you remember when UNC and Alabama faced off in March’s Sweet 16 battle?

After nine months of waiting, the North Carolina Tar Heels get their long-awaited crack at revenge against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday night.

UNC (4-3) and Alabama (6-2) will face off as part of their new, highly-anticipated ACC-SEC Challenge clash. North Carolina spent Thanksgiving Week in Hawaii, where it beat Dayton before losing to Auburn and Michigan State, while the Crimson Tide lost to Oregon in the Players Era Festival title game.

Back in March, way before the UNC-Alabama ACC-SEC Challenge battle was scheduled, both teams faced off in the Sweet 16.

The top-seeded Tar Heels returned to the Big Dance behind an experienced squad, led by ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis and center Armando Bacot, while the Crimson Tide carried a deep, ultra-talented lineup led by Mark Sears and Grant Nelson.

Unfortunately for North Carolina, March’s Sweet 16 matchup ended in a disappointing, 89-87 loss.

UNC showed a troubling trend in that clash that I’ve witnessed several times recently: entering halftime with a lead, then enduring a cold spell that cost it the game. The Tar Heels were up 54-46 against Alabama, just like against Kansas in the 2022 National Title Game, then the Crimson Tide used a 43-33 second half to advance in the Big Dance.

North Carolina struggled to shoot the ball as a team against Alabama in the Sweet 16, making just 30-of-78 shots for a 38.5 percent mark.

RJ Davis struggled in particular, draining just 4-of-20 attempts – and failing to make a 3-pointer for the first time all season. UNC enjoyed an 85-84 lead with a minute left, then Jae’Lyn Withers took an ill-advised 3-point attempt the Crimson Tide rebounded – and scored on 23 seconds later.

If you’re looking at the Sweet 16 battle from an Alabama fan perspective, it was known as the Grant Nelson game. Nelson shot 6-of-9 from the field, including a 2-for-2 mark from downtown, while he made 10-of-13 free throws.

RJ and Withers are back, as is Nelson. Wednesday night in Chapel Hill is about to be a movie.

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Subpar showing in Maui Invitational drops UNC basketball entirely from which rankings?

Here’s one set of rankings the UNC basketball program dropped from.

I’m sure the North Carolina Tar Heels want to forget all about their trip to the Maui Invitational, which turned them from National Championship contenders into a program with several questions.

UNC (4-3) started its Maui run with a comeback victory over Dayton, which ended its Maui slate by sending UConn to its third straight loss. North Carolina was overwhelmed by Johni Broome and the Auburn Tigers in a Maui semifinal matchup, then the Tar Heels lost in overtime to Michigan State.

With UNC nearly going winless in the Maui and largely struggling to play well against great teams, UNC dropped out of Andy Katz’ Power 37 rankings.

Auburn led the Power 37, Michigan State came in at 26th and Dayton is 30th. It’s a good sign for North Carolina that it beat a Power 37 team, but losing to two others shows the possibility UNC isn’t amongst the country’s best teams in 2024.

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On Wednesday, the Tar Heels have another Power 37 test against Alabama, which slotted in at 11th this week. The Crimson Tide (6-2) advanced to the Players Era Festival title game over Thanksgiving Week, losing to undefeated Oregon on Saturday.

Unlike UNC, Alabama has a pair of victories over ranked teams: Illinois (15th in Power 37, 19th in AP Poll) and Houston (17th in AP Poll). The Crimson Tide are led by Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, the latter of whom took over against North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.

After facing the Crimson Tide, the Tar Heels will open ACC play against Georgia Tech on Saturday.

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UNC basketball unveils throwback uniform for Alabama showdown

UNC basketball will wear throwbacks against Alabama on Wednesday.

After a tough showing at the Maui Invitational last week, the North Carolina Tar Heels are looking to get back on track. But it won’t be easy as they are facing another tough week.

UNC will play two games this week hosting No. 12 Alabama and then their first Atlantic Coast Conference game, hosting Georgia Tech. Before we look ahead at the matchup with the Yellow Jackets to start ACC play, they first need to handle business against the Crimson Tide.

When UNC does hit the court for the ACC/SEC Challenge, they will do so in style with throwbacks. The program announced on Monday that they are going with the Michael Jordan-era throwbacks, taking it back to the 80’s with the all-white uniform combo.

Check it out below:

North Carolina’s uniforms are among the best in college basketball year after year, including during that era. It’s a crisp design, basic, but also at the same time iconic.

UNC has worn these in the past for other games but with the hype leading into this game for Wednesday, this should add just a little more excitement  for the matchup.

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UNC-Alabama named a Top 10 Game of the Week by famed college basketball analyst

All eyes will be on the highly-anticipated, UNC-Alabama basketball rematch Wednesday night.

After a disappointing result in the famed Maui Invitational, the North Carolina Tar Heels are very happy to be playing basketball again at the Dean Dome.

There’s just one problem for UNC: its next opponent is a National Championship contender.

On Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7:15 p.m., North Carolina will face Alabama in a rematch of April’s Sweet 16 battle. The Crimson Tide (6-2) have two wins against Top 25 opponents, while the Tar Heels have lost to both ranked opponents they faced.

When UNC and Alabama tip off Wednesday, they’ll be doing so in one of college basketball analyst Andy Katz’ Top 10 Games of the Week. Katz ranked Wednesday’s ACC-SEC Challenge clash third in his Top 10, between Marquette-Iowa State (second) and Baylor-UConn.

North Carolina beat Dayton in a thriller to open up its Maui Invitational run, then trailed for the entirety of its semifinal clash with Auburn. The Tar Heels forced a solid Michigan State team into overtime, but lost 94-91.

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The Crimson Tide started 2024 with five straight wins before losing their first game, an 87-78 defeat at Purdue on November 15. Alabama beat ranked Illinois (#25) and Houston (#6) squads in its next two games, topped Rutgers 95-90, then lost to Oregon in the Players Era Festival Championship.

UNC plays significantly better at home, where it is already 2-0 in 2024 games against Elon and American. I’m willing to bet Tar Heel Nation will show up in full force – and if fans don’t have their tickets already, they’ll be hard-pressed to find available ones.

If North Carolina beats the Crimson Tide on Wednesday, we’ll all feel significantly better about the direction of its current season.

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UNC basketball continues fall in USA TODAY Sports coaches poll

Here’s how far the UNC basketball program fell in the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll.

The North Carolina Tar Heels left the Maui Invitational with a 1-2 record, and very well could have been 0-3 as they needed a late comeback to avoid an upset to Dayton.

With a 4-3 overall record, UNC has a tough week upcoming as they host a top-15 Alabama team and then their first conference game of the season against Georgia Tech. North Carolina has to find a way to stack some wins or they could be in danger of getting below .500 with some tough non-conference games ahead.

With that poor week in the Maui Invitational, the Tar Heels continued their fall in the updated USA TODAY Sports coaches poll. UNC fell nine spots from No. 13 to No. 22 in the poll released on Monday afternoon. It’s the lowest ranking for the Tar Heels all season long.

Below is the full coaches poll for the week:

Rank Team Record Points
1 Kansas 7-0 760 (19)
2 Auburn 7-0 755 (12)
3 Tennessee 7-0 694
4 Marquette 8-0 646
5 Iowa State 5-1 629
6 Kentucky 7-0 628
7 Purdue 7-1 535
8 Gonzaga 7-1 517
9 Duke 5-2 472
10 Oregon 8-0 457
11 Wisconsin 8-0 450
12 Alabama 6-2 441
13 Florida 8-0 427
14 Cincinnati 6-0 376
15 Memphis 6-1 265
16 Baylor 5-2 262
17 Illinois 6-1 234
18 Houston 4-3 221
19 Pittsburgh 7-1 213
20 Ole Miss 6-1 139
21 Oklahoma 7-0 111
22 North Carolina 4-3 96
23 Michigan 6-1 90
24 Texas A&M 6-2 86
25 Michigan State 6-2 73

The Tar Heels return to action on Wednesday night hosting No. 12 Alabama in the Dean Dome.

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