The Tar Heels are in a slump-and not the kind that gets fixed with a quick timeout or a hot shooting night. North Carolina has dropped two straight and is now in the middle of one of the most troubling defensive stretches the program has seen in years.
Over their last four games, UNC is giving up a staggering 90 points per contest. That’s not a typo.
Ninety. And it’s not just the scoring-opponents are torching them from deep, averaging 14.5 made threes per game during that stretch.
That’s not just a cold spell. That’s a defensive red flag waving in Chapel Hill.
UNC legend and NBA champion Danny Green isn’t mincing words about what’s going wrong. On A UNC Basketball Podcast with host John Henson, Green broke down the issues with the kind of insight you’d expect from someone who’s been through the wars in both college and the pros. And he didn’t sugarcoat it.
“We are ranked No. 337 in turning teams over,” Green said. “We’re not getting extra possessions.
We’re shooting terribly from the free-throw line. We’re not looking like a great rim protection team.
If we’re not doing all that, we can’t let teams kill us from three.”
That’s a lot to unpack, and it paints a clear picture: this isn’t just about effort. It’s about identity.
Right now, Carolina isn’t doing the little things that championship-level teams do-things like forcing turnovers, protecting the rim, and capitalizing at the line. And when you’re not checking those boxes, you better be elite somewhere else.
But the Tar Heels aren’t. Instead, they’re getting shredded from beyond the arc.
To be clear, this is still a talented roster. The pieces are there.
But the defensive connectivity, the urgency, the discipline-it’s all been missing in ACC play. When you’re giving up nearly 15 threes per game, it’s not just about a hot hand here or there.
That’s a systemic issue. Whether it’s slow rotations, poor closeouts, or a lack of communication, something’s off.
Green’s assessment is coming from a place of both experience and expectation. He’s worn that jersey.
He knows what it means to defend it. And right now, he sees a team that’s not living up to the standard.
The good news? There’s still time to fix it.
The Tar Heels return home to face Notre Dame on Wednesday-a chance to reset, recalibrate, and maybe, just maybe, start building the kind of defensive identity that’s been missing. Because if they don’t, the ACC grind isn’t going to get any easier.
This stretch has been a wake-up call. Now it’s on Hubert Davis and his team to answer it.