{"id":607322,"date":"2026-02-17T01:55:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/607322\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T01:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:55:40","slug":"north-carolina-basketballs-fatal-flaw-that-will-cost-it-in-acc-conference-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/607322\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina basketball\u2019s fatal flaw that will cost it in ACC conference title race"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina basketball\u2019s fatal flaw that will cost it in ACC conference title race<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

North Carolina basketball<\/a> boosted its national championship hopes in landing five-star Caleb Wilson. The College Basketball Recruiting<\/a> move sparked visions of an Atlantic Coast Conference title too. Except now the Tar Heels\u2019 season is in trouble amid Wilson\u2019s stunning hand injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Does Wilson\u2019s setback rise as the fatal flaw that could cost UNC the ACC title?<\/p>\n

Credit to Hubert Davis<\/a>, as he\u2019s built a team capable of offsetting the Wilson injury. The Heels are 20-5 overall and ranked No. 16 despite Wilson being out.<\/p>\n

But still, UNC has its work cut out for itself heading into the conference tournament in March. Time to dive into the flaw that could cost UNC outside of the prized freshman\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

This defensive flaw could doom North Carolina\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

UNC struggles with defending the three-pointer.<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels currently sit at No. 14 among 18<\/a> ACC teams in three-point defense. Only Florida State, North Carolina State, Miami, and Pittsburgh have fielded a worse unit behind the arc.<\/p>\n

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Teams that make the three at a high rate have the potential to end UNC\u2019s March Madness run early. Yet NC State, SMU, Cal, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame could apply pressure on UNC come ACC tournament time. All five schools are the five best at three-point shooting percentage.<\/p>\n

Perimeter containment rises as a big reason behind this UNC weakness. Opposing teams have successfully penetrated the paint, only to execute wide open kick-out threes. Davis\u2019 defenders often look out-of-place and overcrowded in the paint, then realizing they left a shooter open.<\/p>\n

North Carolina will need to hope it faces a team struggling to shoot from long range. That even includes the team that upset them recently Miami<\/a>, as the Hurricanes still present three-point flaws.<\/p>\n

Can North Carolina make a run without Wilson?<\/p>\n

Wilson displayed an elite motor with the basketball in his hands. His speed and court vision started to open up the UNC offense. But his defensive disruption rose as another strength in turning turnovers into points.<\/p>\n

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Although he was another who struggled from three-land \u2014 more so on the shooter side.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the only major injury here either. Top big Henri Veesaar is questionable versus NC State on Tuesday. Yet the Estonian talent likely won\u2019t miss significant time compared to Wilson. The center will be greatly needed for down the road as he can pound the paint with his 7-foot, 225-pound frame.<\/p>\n

North Carolina needs Seth Trimble to step up for what it\u2019s worth. The senior has flashed some big scoring moments \u2014 notably dropping 19 points against Pitt on Valentine\u2019s Day. But he also got bottled to four points against Miami. Stanford and Cal even limited him to 13 and 12 points, respectively, in upsets over UNC.<\/p>\n

North Carolina looks like an NCAA Tournament qualifier. But its health and three-point defense could get the Heels falling short of the ACC title.<\/p>\n

Related: Duke\u2019s Isaiah Evans\u2019 alley-oop has fans going wild<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Former Kansas State basketball HC Jerome Tang fighting for cause firing with Trinidad Chambliss\u2019 lawyer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Carolina basketball\u2019s fatal flaw that will cost it in ACC conference title race appeared first on ClutchPoints.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[4473,7,7146,315,217,16866,80836,14168,231,772,1544,14520,1072,333],"class_list":["post-607322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-atlantic-coast-conference","tag-basketball","tag-caleb-wilson","tag-carolina","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-recruiting","tag-fatal-flaw","tag-hubert-davis","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-north-carolina-state","tag-tar-heels","tag-unc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116083487903028610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}