Despite a strong effort in the second half, the North Carolina men’s basketball team (6-5, 1-0 ACC) suffered a 90-84 defeat to No. 7 Florida (11-0, 0-0 SEC) during the Jumpman Invitational at the Spectrum Center on Tuesday night.
The Tar Heels faced a challenging first half, trailing by as much as 17 points. However, they made a significant push at the start of the second half with an 11-0 run, largely driven by graduate guard RJ Davis, who led the team with an impressive 29 points. Unfortunately, North Carolina couldn’t maintain the momentum in the final minutes to close the gap created by their rough start.
This loss marks North Carolina’s fifth consecutive setback against Power Five non-conference opponents, raising concerns about their performance against high-caliber teams.
“Playing the way we want to play for one half,” said head coach Hubert Davis, “it’s not sustainable.”
The game kicked off with first-year forward Drake Powell scoring an early basket, but Florida quickly responded with a dominating 10-0 run. The Gators displayed strong shooting right out of the gate, going 9-15 from the field and 5-8 from beyond the arc in the opening eight minutes. Heading into the under-12 timeout, Florida led 23-10, while UNC struggled offensively, missing their first 11 three-point attempts before sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau finally connected with one just before half-time.
As the first half drew to a close, junior guard Seth Trimble made a key layup through contact, bringing the score to 46-34 at halftime. Reflecting on their performance, Trimble acknowledged the challenge posed by Florida, stating, “We got down so much because Florida hit shots. Florida executed, and we didn’t.”
The Tar Heels’ resurgence in the second half was evident in the first three minutes, with Davis starting things off with a three-pointer. Trimble followed up with a steal leading to a fast-break score, and junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin contributed with a putback slam after a defensive block. This sequence allowed North Carolina to cut Florida’s lead to just one point after a midrange jumper from Davis after a Gators timeout.
In summary, while North Carolina’s performance showed promise, particularly in the second half, they will need to find consistency and improve execution if they want to compete effectively against top-ranked teams moving forward. The resilience displayed in their comeback efforts offers a positive note for the Tar Heels as they prepare for upcoming challenges. Fans can hope for continued development from the team as they work to turn their season around.