North Carolina's Justin Jackson needs to rediscover his shot if the Tar Heels want to return to the NCAA Championship
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson is arguably North Carolina’s most important player. That title is both a blessing and curse for the Jackson, and recently, it’s been more of a burden for the forward.
Jackson has hit somewhat a scoring slump recently, shooting only 37 percent from the floor and averaging only 11 points over the last three games. And that trend continued Friday, when Jackson’s shooting percentage plummeted to 27 percent and he scored 15 points in a 93-83 loss to Duke.
“His last four games, Justin hasn’t been the player he’s been before,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.
Jackson didn’t have the best first half against Duke, but he didn’t need to with the Tar Heels pounding the paint and jumping out to early leads on the Blue Devils. He still scored seven points, and scored a quick eight points in the first five minutes of the second half.
But that’s where his scoring ended for the entire night. After going 6-for-14 with 15 points in the first 25 minutes of the game, Jackson finished 0-for-8 with in the final 15 with one point.
“I think he’s putting too much pressure on himself,” Williams said. “I think he’s trying to do too much and perhaps taking some shots that aren’t as good.”
North Carolina is at its best when Jackson, who averages over 18 points per game, is at lighting it up. But when he’s at his worst, like in Friday night’s loss, the Tar Heels struggle.
And North Carolina needed Jackson’s scoring in a bad way against Duke, especially in the second half.
When point guard Joel Berry III exited the game with his fourth foul just five minutes into the second period, the entire Tar Heel game plan shifted from “win the game” to “don’t lose the game.” Berry didn’t come back into game for almost 11 minutes and Duke took advantage of Berry’s absence. The Blue Devils went on a 29-14 run and flipping the score from a 56-48 Tar Heel lead to a 77-70 Blue Devil lead.
“It had an effect,” Williams said of Berry not playing. “A lot of things got stagnant and our whole defense was bad.”
Instead of dumping the ball off to Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks down low, something the Tar Heels did with ease in the first half, North Carolina looked to its top-scoring threat in Jackson, who failed to deliver.
“We stopped moving,” Hicks said. “And that made a difference in our offense.”
Without Berry’s court awareness and Jackson’s shooting, the Tar Heels crumbled against the Blue Devils, who used a healthy dose of Luke Kennard, Grayson Allen and Jayson Tatum to sink North Carolina, coupled with incredible lock-down defense by freshman Harry Giles in the paint.
Despite the loss, North Carolina is in no real danger of losing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But unless Jackson rediscovers his shot, the Tar Heels could have a hard time making it back to the championship.
“Our final goal was not to win the ACC Tournament,” Williams said. “Our final goal is to play on the last Monday night (in the national championship). Hopefully we’ll be more disciplined and tougher. If we do that, we’ve got a chance.”
