What went wrong in UNC basketball's loss to Clemson and what it means for the ACC race

CHAPEL HILL – Armando Bacot could feel it in the days leading up to UNC basketball’s loss to Clemson on Tuesday night at the Smith Center.

The post-Duke-win hangover reared its ugly head with a bad start to practice on Monday, Bacot said, and bled into a bad shootaround Tuesday. Then, Bacot added, several Tar Heels showed up late for warmups.

“I didn’t particularly enjoy or like our practices leading up to the game (against Clemson),” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.

It all added up to an 80-76 loss to the Tigers and the second defeat in the last three games for the third-ranked Tar Heels (18-5, 10-2 ACC), who remain in control atop the ACC standings but look vulnerable after Tuesday’s performance.

“Just gotta get more, gotta do more,” said Bacot, who finished with a team-high 24 points and 13 rebounds against the Tigers.

“We’re a great team, but we’re not talented enough to turn it on and off whenever we want to. We have to go into every game playing with that grit, that hunger, playing hard, listening to the coaches, defending.”

HOW CLEMSON BEAT UNC: How UNC basketball lost to Clemson in Chapel Hill for 2nd time in nearly 100 years

SETH TRIMBLE INJURY: UNC basketball’s Seth Trimble out with injury vs. Clemson

UNC'S TEMPO: Armando Bacot, UNC basketball overwhelm Duke with a vintage trait of the Tar Heels

Always candid with his thoughts, Bacot went on to say Davis and the coaching staff “tried to warn us” ahead of the game.

“Ever since Sunday, they told us this team’s coming in hungry and the way we’re playing, we’re gonna lose,” Bacot said. “Coach Davis told us that and it happened.”

Here’s what went wrong for UNC in its loss to Clemson and what needs to change for the final eight ACC games.

UNC basketball’s Hubert Davis, Tar Heels point to energy, effort

UNC, as former coach Roy Williams would often say when the Tar Heels were rolling before falling flat, looked “fat and happy” coming off an impressive performance against Duke.

That was clear from the start as Clemson scored 15 of the first 17 points in the first four minutes and Hubert Davis called a timeout.

“It’s not about X’s and O’s. There’s nothing from a basketball standpoint we can talk about until the energy, the effort and the enthusiasm rises,” Davis told his team.

“If that would rise, then things would change and then we could start talking about basketball. In order to win a game like this, we just didn’t play well enough.”

Bacot and RJ Davis also spotlighted UNC’s lack of energy and effort at the start.

“They were definitely the more hungry team,” Bacot said of Clemson. “They played harder, they got all the loose balls. They were more physical, tougher, smarter.”

The Tar Heels “didn’t battle,” RJ Davis added, and “I don’t think I’ve ever seen us just go out there without any energy or effort. It wasn’t there on both sides.”

“The hungrier team won. That’s as simple as it is – straight and direct,” he said. “We just didn’t come out and play our best basketball. We didn’t have the energy that was needed in order for us to win this game. That’s unlike us, and that’s gonna change moving forward.”

With road games at Miami, Syracuse, Virginia and Duke remaining on the schedule, UNC can’t afford to ease into the rest of its schedule.

Rebounding was a major problem against Clemson

UNC won the rebounding battle, 43-42, but Clemson snagged nine of its 11 offensive rebounds in the second half and turned those into 13 second-chance points.

The Tar Heels also had a single-digit margin in their loss at Georgia Tech, and were out-rebounded by 10 in each of their losses to UConn and Kentucky. If UNC is going to win the ACC, it has to get back to dominating the boards.

“All year we’ve been a great rebounding team,” Bacot said.

“We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds (against Clemson) and we didn’t have a wide enough margin in the rebounding battle, in general. We know going into our games, our keys are to defend and win the rebounding battle. We’d like to win it by at least 10.”

Defenses are keying in on RJ Davis

With defenses starting to throw a lot of extra attention at RJ Davis, the ACC’s top scorer, secondary scoring will be paramount for UNC moving forward.

Overall, Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram have been consistent at contributing as scorers. But the Tar Heels need more from the supporting cast around the "big three." Fellow starters Elliot Cadeau and Cormac Ryan combined for seven points on 3-for-16 shooting against Clemson.

The Tar Heels have had three or fewer double-digit scorers in their five losses. They don’t necessarily need four players to reach double figures, every game, but they have to get more balance in order to take some stress off RJ Davis.

UNC showed it was capable of filling in the gaps against Duke. It needs more of the same the rest of the way.

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at @rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What went wrong in UNC's loss to Clemson and what it means for the ACC