UNC takes step back, blasted by Marquette in return of coach Steve Wojciechowski

One game after its biggest win of the season, North Carolina suffered arguably its most disappointing loss. The Tar Heels led for all of 57 seconds as Marquette ran away with an 83-70 victory Wednesday in the Dean E. Smith Center.

It wasn’t just that Carolina (14-8) lost the game, it was how it lost. The Heels came out flat like many of their early season performances. Although they didn’t shoot the ball well early on, they compounded the problem by not showing much fight defensively either.

“We’ve had a couple of good wins and then we turn around and we think we’re a lot better than we really are,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

Carolina’s 99-54 win over Louisville on Saturday could have had something to do with its poor outing. It was the second-largest margin of victory in an ACC win during Williams’ tenure. UNC shot a season-high 60.9 percent from the field and had 29 assists to just 11 turnovers. It looked like a team rounding into shape for the postseason.

On Wednesday night against Marquette, it gave the polar opposite impression.

“We don’t have the attention to detail, it’s bad coaching, bad coaching,” Williams said. “I called a set one time, they got out and they ran another set. They’re not disciplined enough to do what I say. They went out on the court and changed their mind, so it’s bad coaching.”

It’s a bad time in the season to have to question the maturity of the team. Asked what caused Carolina to be so unfocused, senior forward Garrison Brooks didn’t have any answers.

“Truth be told,” said Brooks, who scored a team-high 18 points, “I don’t know.”

There were moments in the game when it appeared evident Carolina was headed for a loss. Freshman guard Caleb Love dribbled in transition down the right side of the court. As he attempted to cross over to the left side, he slammed into Brooks and the collision caused him to lose the ball in the process for one of the Heels’ 19 turnovers.

Carolina’s second-half effort was more like the team that had won three of its past four games. It pulled within 63-55 with 9:17 left when guard Kerwin Walton had a 3-point attempt from the left wing. But Walton, who was just 2-for-7 from 3-point range and finished with eight points, came up short. The Heels’ first-half performance proved too big of a deficit to complete their rally.

Williams hinted that UNC didn’t practice well leading into the game.

“(Tuesday) at practice, our whole attitude, we can’t stand a little prosperity and that’s my take on it,” he said.

The loss could put the Heels in a tenuous position for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with games against Florida State, at Syracuse and Duke remaining on the schedule.

“Everyone’s a little bit angry,” said UNC freshman guard R.J. Davis, who scored 11 points off the bench. “… But now we just got to go back to the drawing board and move forward with positive energy. We can’t just sit back and dwell on this moment.”

Marquette (11-12) wasn’t even added to the schedule until Saturday, when the ACC officially postponed UNC’s game against Boston College. The Golden Eagles were facing a 10-day break between games and were interested in adding one even though it meant playing in a fourth consecutive road game.

Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski, who played at and served as an assistant coach for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, had been a part of big wins at Carolina before, but he said he didn’t mention the past to his team.

“I know it’s a great story line because of my history with North Carolina and Duke, but I didn’t try to talk about that much because this game is about our program and our team and Marquette,” Wojciechowski said. “But it’s a great place to win. Obviously, the history of North Carolina is not lost on our guys, playing in the Dean Dome against a Hall of Fame coach, a lot of talented players. Our guys were abundantly aware of that.”

And they weren’t fazed by it. The Golden Eagles made a little history of their own, handing UNC its biggest deficit of the season when the score was 45-27 just before halftime.

Carolina could not defend Marquette freshman Dawson Garcia, who scored a game-high 24 points and added a game-high tying 11 rebounds.

“Dawson was a man tonight,” Wojciechowski said. “I’ve been around a lot of freshmen that have played in the Dean Dome that have not come anywhere close to what he did tonight. He was a man.”

Here are updates from earlier in the game:

Heels trying to rally

Carolina has cut an 18-point deficit down to just 67-58 with 7:06 left in the game. The Heels have used a full-court press to force the Golden Eagles into nine second-half turnovers.

While trailing 63-55, Walton had a chance to pull UNC within five, but his 3-pointer missed off the side of the rim. Walton has struggled from behind the arc, shooting just 1-for-5.

Brooks remains the lone scorer in double figures for Carolina with 18 points.

Marquette leads at halftime

The Golden Eagles hold a 45-29 lead at halftime, which is the largest halftime deficit the Tar Heels have faced this season. Their biggest rally for a win from a first half deficit is just four points, against both Stanford and Kentucky.

UNC has allowed Marquette to shoot 50 percent from the field, while it has struggled to find any rhythm offensively. Carolina hasn’t gotten much production from its guards as starters Love and Walton have combined to go 0-for-9 shooting and both are scoreless.

Marquette’s Garcia has lit up the Heels defense with 16 points. Greg Elliott has added 13 points including three 3-pointers.

Carolina was led by Brooks, who has nine points.

Photos: UNC battles Marquette in college basketball action

Turnovers killing Heels

The Tar Heels fell behind 14-6 as they got off to a poor shooting start. The bench ignited them offensively and when Walker Kessler knocked down a short jumper, they reeled off a 7-0 spurt to pull within one.

That’s when the Heels got careless with the ball. Four straight possessions ended in four straight turnovers, as the Golden Eagles ran off another 8-0 spurt before a Brooks’ dunk ended their run. Marquette has scored 11 points off six UNC turnovers and lead 24-15 with 7:33 left in the first half.

Starting lineups

North Carolina: Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton, Leaky Black, Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot

Marquette: Greg Elliott, D.J. Carton, Jamal Cain, Theo John, Dawson Garcia