North Carolina is aware that the trajectory of its season is causing some alarm, and another matchup looms large for the Tar Heels when they visit Clemson on Monday night.
North Carolina (14-10, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) has endured a bumpy stretch, but the Tar Heels are coming off Saturday’s 67-66 home victory against Pitt.
“I think you should play like that every day, every possession, whether it’s shootaround, practice, game,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “It’s not a sense of urgency. It’s a sense of emergency.”
Clemson (19-5, 11-2) will be just two days removed from conquering No. 2 Duke, with Saturday night’s 77-71 victory ending the country’s longest winning streak at 16 games.
“Our guys mustered up the spirit and energy,” Tigers coach Brad Brownell said. “… A big one for us and another one coming on Monday.”
Fans stormed the court postgame to celebrate the outcome against Duke. The Tigers are hoping that the enthusiasm expressed from the crowd can be replicated throughout Monday night’s game.
Clemson will be going for a trifecta of sorts on its home court against college basketball’s bluebloods. The Tigers have toppled Kentucky and Duke at Littlejohn Coliseum.
“This place is just special when it’s like this,” Brownell said. “Obviously, it has been like this several times this year now and I’m very thankful for that. I know our players are. It certainly affects the outcome of the game.”
The Tigers covet these situations and are determined to rise to the occasion.
“Knowing we’re built for it,” said guard Chase Hunter, who had 14 points and seven rebounds against Duke. “We’ve been in a lot of close games, big games. Making sure we stay confident.”
Two of North Carolina’s ACC victories are one-point decisions. Other tight games haven’t gone the Tar Heels’ way.
“We feel like we’ve been in that position so many times, and we’ve been on the wrong side of it,” North Carolina guard Elliot Cadeau said. “So it feels good to be on the good side of it now.”
The Tar Heels felt better about their ball-handling after committing six turnovers Saturday. Now it’s a chance for the Tar Heels to generate momentum.
“It’s something we can use to get ourselves rolling,” forward Ven-Allen Lubin said. “Especially since we have a quick turnaround for Clemson on Monday, it gets us on the right path.”
North Carolina guard RJ Davis, who has led the team in scoring in 11 games this season, has 2,505 career points to rank seventh in ACC history.
Clemson showed the versatility of its lineup by shooting 63.4 percent on 2-point attempts against Duke. Viktor Lakhin had 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Ian Schieffelin, who’ll go into the North Carolina game seeking his 10th double-double of the season, has 28 double-digit rebounding outings in his career.
“We’ve got an older group of guys, who’ve been through a lot of games,” Hunter said. “It shows out there when we play. We play with a lot of grit, a lot of toughness.”
Other than defeating San Francisco and Penn State on Nov. 25 and 26, the Saturday-to-Monday turnaround will mark the shortest time between games this season for Clemson.
–Field Level Media
