In Chapel Hill, UNC has been struggling more and more to secure top recruits, leading to a clear drop in the level of talent joining the team.
Even with its strong history and reputation, the Tar Heels are losing out to other big basketball schools, many of which can offer better opportunities.
UNC, once a leader in recruiting, now faces tough competition from schools with strong basketball programs and more appealing offers.
This makes it harder for them to bring in the high-profile players they used to attract. This situation has raised concerns about whether the program can keep its top status.
While the team still gets attention, the struggles in landing the best recruits are starting to show on the court. The gap is growing, and the Tar Heels are finding it harder to stay competitive nationally.
Hubert Davis has shown this side before—looking troubled, lost for words—but it hasn’t happened in a while. Probably not since his first season, when North Carolina was frequently on the losing side of large blowouts. Then came the surprising run in March 2022 that ended Mike Krzyzewski’s career, and suddenly that early-season Hubert Davis was nowhere to be seen.
Even though UNC has had some tough losses since then—like the 2022 championship game and last season’s Sweet 16 loss to Alabama—Davis hasn’t fully reverted to the way he was back then. He’s been upset at times, yes.
He wears his emotions on his sleeves. But he’s never been completely lost for words, unable to explain what went wrong.
That all changed on Tuesday night.
“It’s very head scratching,” Davis said in his postgame news conference. “I can’t explain.”
How could he explain? His team is now 6-5 for the season, but more importantly, 1-5 against strong teams. The 21-point comeback against Dayton in the Maui Invitational is a win that looks better over time, but it’s the only such comeback UNC has managed this season.
Against teams like Kansas, Auburn, Michigan State, Alabama, and Florida—five teams that are likely to make the NCAA Tournament, and teams North Carolina usually competes with—UNC has trailed by 20, 19, 14, 18, and 17 points, respectively. They lost all five games.
It’s a frustrating pattern for a coach, who might feel like he’s stuck in the same situation every time. “It’s just not sustainable, especially against good teams,” Davis said. “It just doesn’t work.”
And it hasn’t. Consider Tuesday night, when UNC fell behind by 10 in less than six minutes, quickly quieting the UNC fans in the Spectrum Center. By the nine-minute mark, Florida had made more 3-pointers (five) than North Carolina had made total shots (four).
Gators pushed to extend their lead
The undefeated Gators extended their lead from 10 to 14 to 17. With just under six minutes left in the first half, Florida was close to doubling UNC’s score, 35-18. UNC didn’t make its first 3-pointer until almost 16 minutes into the game.
Even then, Elliot Cadeau’s shot only reduced the lead to 12. It was starting to feel like the same thing we had seen in the previous five losses.
But whatever Davis said or did during halftime worked, because UNC came out looking like a completely different team.
Suddenly, they played better defense—like they had extra arms, the way they pressured Florida’s experienced guards. Seth Trimble and RJ Davis were especially key, making seven of UNC’s 11 steals and turning them into fast-break points.
In less than three minutes after halftime, UNC had gone on an 11-0 run and was just one point behind. “If we play the way we played the second half, and apply that for a full 40 minutes,” RJ Davis said, “it would be a different outcome.”
That’s what makes these big early deficits so confusing and frustrating. Neither Davis nor his players have an answer for why they keep falling behind. They know these slow starts are a problem, but it seems to happen every time.
How many more games will it take for something to click? Or, perhaps the scarier question is: What if this is just the way this UNC team is?
The slow starts aren’t the only major issue. They just make the other weaknesses even harder to overcome. For example, UNC’s size problems are well-known; the team starts three guards who are 6 feet 3 or shorter and has only two players in the rotation taller than 6-9.
This makes rebounding and defense harder. UNC’s defensive rotations were better against Florida, but no matter how hard they tried to contest shots, there was only so much they could do.
It was like an older brother shooting over his younger siblings in the driveway—what can you really do to stop that?
The same problem showed up on the boards. Florida is one of the best teams in the country at offensive rebounding, and it was no surprise that the Gators outrebounded UNC 46-36. Most importantly, it was the offensive rebounds that decided the game.
After UNC’s strong second half, the game turned into the exciting back-and-forth everyone had hoped for. UNC briefly took the lead for the first time since being ahead 2-0, after a Trimble and-one with just under eight minutes left.
Four minutes later, Cadeau—who had seven of the team’s 10 total assists—threw two perfect passes to RJ Davis and Jalen Washington, putting UNC ahead 81-77.
Florida called a timeout with 4:03 left. In the huddle, Hubert Davis clapped and said two things over and over: “Get a stop! Get a rebound!”
But that didn’t happen
Coming out of the timeout, UNC had the same momentum shift as before—except this time it went the other way. The key moment came with the score tied at 84 and under a minute left. UNC forced Florida’s Alijah Martin into a tough jumper, but he missed.
Unfortunately, 6-foot-4 guard Will Richard grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on his second attempt, putting Florida ahead.
On UNC’s next possession, RJ Davis missed a 3-pointer, and Florida grabbed another offensive rebound that led to two free throws. The game was effectively over.
In the final 4:03, Florida had seven shots to UNC’s three, four offensive rebounds—turning those into eight points—and made all eight of its free throws. Meanwhile, UNC went just 1-for-4 from the line.
“Who wanted the ball more when the ball got in the air? That was them, kind of the whole game,” Trimble said. “We had stretches where that was us, but that was them the whole game—and especially in those last four minutes.”
Florida finished the game with an 8-0 run, while UNC didn’t score at all in the final 2:13.
“That’s our next step as a team, as a unit, as individuals,” said freshman guard Ian Jackson, who helped spark UNC’s second-half comeback with a 6-0 run of his own. “Figure out how to start and finish the whole game.”
That sounds good. That sounds possible.
But what does the evidence show?
It’s still early, but 11 games in, it’s already clear that this season is well underway. Most of the nonconference games are done, and ACC play has started. There’s still time, but what has UNC really shown so far this season?
Not much, except for their pattern of slow starts, poor finishes, and the occasional moments of good play.
This looks like a team that’s closer to the NCAA Tournament bubble than one with any chance of making a real impact nationally, or even in a weaker ACC.
It’s too early to say that UNC is stuck in this pattern, but they haven’t shown anything to suggest otherwise.
“We’re too far into the season just to continue to show flashes of how good we can be,” Trimble said. “It’s time to do it. No more flashes.”
