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North Carolina stars Harrison Ingram and Armando Bacot say the Tar Heels came out a little sleepy ahead of its matchup with Clemson on Tuesday before being beaten on their home floor by an ACC rival.
The UNC duo was quoted after the game commenting on the team’s energy and preparations heading into the midweek meeting – or rather, their lack thereof.
That sleepiness showed over the first few minutes of action as the Tigers jumped out to a commanding 17-4 lead. North Carolina played with a deficit the rest of the way, not once leading in the game.
While they did their best to cut into Clemson’s advantage, the Tar Heels would ultimately fall 80-76. It was just the program’s second loss to the Tigers in Chapel Hill over 62 meetings.
Bacot blamed the team’s motivation and pregame effort, saying that group came out lackadaisical in an important conference rivalry. Here were his postgame quotes as reported by Saturday Down South:
“Just too casual. In practice, we didn’t come out how we wanted to… Shoot-around today, we had a bad shoot-around. Even in warm-ups today, we didn’t get out there on time… It just wasn’t what it needed to be and we got what we deserved.”
Teammate Harrison Ingram echoed that sentiment, going as far as to say his teammates overslept which potentially aided in that slow start.
“Most people will take naps before the game… Some people slept in… I feel like that showed in the game. That was one of the first games we were late. We came out slow, energy in warmups was slow, energy at halftime, everything just wasn’t the same.”
Bad practice, bad shoot around, too bad it wasnt a bad dream. #UNC literally doesn’t wake up for an 80-76 loss to Clemson. Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram explain why the team was late for warmups. pic.twitter.com/kr7KPqcYAV
— Pat Welter WRAL (@PatrickWelter) February 7, 2024
UNC’s hangover from the Duke win
It was a stark change from UNC’s previous game, a 93-84 victory over seventh-ranked Duke. Were the Heels still celebrating that rivalry win?
“We’re a great team, but we’re not talented enough to turn it on and off whenever we want to,” Bacot said after the fact.
This coming after days of national praise following that Top 10 win. Many were calling the Tar Heels the top team in all of college basketball.
North Carolina quickly came back to reality on Tuesday night, losing in front of the home crowd. While they’re still in contention for a No. 1 seed in both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, you can bet they’ll play a little more focused their next time out.