ACC Basketball

North Carolina guard Brandon Robinson was involved in a car accident Sunday morning, the team announced.

According to the university, Robinson didn't suffer any significant injuries, but his availability for practice this week is unclear. 

The Associated Press reported Robinson was traveling in Carrboro, North Carolina, when a driver going in the opposite direction merged into his lane and hit him. Police cited the motorist with driving while impaired.

The 6'5" Robinson is the Tar Heels' third-leading scorer, averaging 12.1 points through 12 games as a senior. He's also collecting 3.4 rebounds and dishing out 3.3 assists per game.

North Carolina's next game is Saturday at Pittsburgh.

Losing Robinson is another setback for the team amid a frustrating 8-8 start. The Heels dropped their third game in a row Saturday, throwing away a 10-point lead in the final two minutes as Clemson forced overtime and eventually prevailed. Robinson scored a career-high 27 points.

The Georgia native didn't make his 2019-20 debut until Carolina's 76-67 victory over Alabama on Nov. 27 after suffering an ankle sprain in an exhibition, setting the tone for a season in which multiple injuries have forced Roy Williams to reshuffle his lineup.

Star freshman point guard Cole Anthony has been limited to nine games, and fellow first-year players Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Harris have been limited to 12 combined appearances. Harris was lost for the year after tearing his ACL. 

Roy Williams has hit rock bottom.

The North Carolina Tar Heels head coach has been running out of words to describe his team's lethargic play lately but could only point the finger at himself after UNC lost at home for the first time ever to Clemson.

With North Carolina up three with 12 seconds left in regulation, Williams said he forgot to tell his team to foul and put the Tigers on the line. Instead, Clemson's Aamir Simms made a three-pointer with three seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

"Had some great moments as a coach," Williams said, per the News & Observer's Luke DeCock. "Right now this is my lowest one. Losing this game is my fault. If I die tomorrow or 20 years from now, that'll be my biggest regret as a coach. These kids really needed a win."

The Heels couldn't hang on in the extra frame, falling 79-76.

Considering Williams has lost multiple national championship games in heartbreaking fashion, that's quite a statement. Then again, this was quite a win for Clemson. The Tigers were previously 0-59 at North Carolina—a streak that dated back to 1926 and was the longest at home versus one opponent in NCAA history.

In recent days, Williams has said on his weekly radio show (h/t 247Sports' Gregory Hall) this is the "least gifted" team he's coached, and the stats seem to back that up.

The Tar Heels are now 8-8 on the year and on a three-game losing streak after dropping four consecutive earlier this year. What once looked like quality losses against the likes of Gonzaga, Virginia, Ohio State and Michigan now seems like the result of a team punching well above its weight class after falling to Georgia Tech, Pitt and Clemson.

Those last three don't exactly make up a murderers' row of ACC opponents, and now UNC has fallen behind all of them to occupy last place in the conference at 1-4 in league play.

It's looking increasingly likely that North Carolina will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010 barring a win in the ACC tournament come March. Even the NIT may be a bit of a stretch if UNC keeps dropping winnable games.

Those developments have clearly taken a toll on Williams, 69, as the longtime UNC coach tries to figure out how to save a season that's fallen further off the rails than it ever has under his watch.

Less than two seasons into his tenure at the University of Pittsburgh, men's basketball head coach Jeff Capel has signed a contract extension.

The school announced Wednesday he has added two years to a deal that will now run through the 2026-27 season.

Capel issued a statement about extending his commitment to the Panthers:

"I am grateful for the commitment Chancellor [Patrick] Gallagher and Director of Athletics Heather Lyke have shown to the Pitt Men's Basketball program and to me. We have outstanding leadership and support at the University of Pittsburgh. I am excited about the direction of our basketball program as we continue to build a sustainable winning culture in the Atlantic Coast Conference. We will continue to give 100 percent of ourselves as we represent Pitt on the court, in the classroom and in the community."

Pitt hired Capel in March 2018 to rebuild the basketball team after it bottomed out with an 8-24 record under Kevin Stallings the previous season.

The Panthers made incremental improvements in Capel's first season, but they still finished 14-19 overall and 3-15 in ACC play.

With a full year under his belt and being able to recruit players who fit his system, the Panthers are 10-4 this season with a chance to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015-16.

Pitt's 2020 recruiting class is off to a solid start with three commitments, including 4-star center John Hugley, per 247Sports.

Given the state of Pittsburgh basketball when Capel came on board, its current standing in the nation's deepest conference speaks to how valuable he's been. The school recognized that performance and ensured the 44-year-old will be a staple of the institution for years to come.

Roy Williams did not sugarcoat what he thinks about his unranked 8-6 North Carolina Tar Heels on his weekly radio show, Roy Williams Live, on Monday night. 

The veteran head coach was still processing the Heels' 96-83 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday.

"How long is this show? Williams began (h/t 247Sports' Gregory Hall). "God almighty, they outscored us in the paint, 58-36. They shot 60 percent. We shot 42 (percent). How many different reasons—we sucked. Excuse me, we stunk. We were not very good." 

Willams continued, talking more big picture and calling his 2019-20 squad "the least gifted team I have ever coached" since taking over at UNC in 2003: 

"The crazy thing about it is our team, and we've had some very gifted teams, this is not a very gifted team. It's just not. Two freshmen replace Coby (White) and Nassir (Little) with Armando (Bacot) and Cole (Anthony) and with Cole being hurt right now it's sort of a decent trade, but that's not that bad a trade. But Kenny (Williams), Cam (Johnson) and Luke (Maye), there's nobody to replace those guys.

"So, it's probably the least gifted team I have ever coached in the time that I've been back here. So, if you're going to be like that, you need to bring your A-game even though your A-game might not even be an A-game."

North Carolina opened this season ranked No. 9 in the country and reached No. 5 after going 3-0, but by the seventh week of the season, the Tar Heels had dropped out of the Top 25.

UNC lost four in a row to No. 11 Ohio State, No. 18 Virginia, unranked Wofford and No. 1 Gonzaga in December. Freshman point guard Cole Anthony was unavailable for the 68-64 loss to Wofford on Dec. 15 with a right knee injury that required arthroscopic knee surgery on Dec. 16. ESPN's Jeff Borzello relayed that Anthony was expected to miss four-to-six weeks while recovering from a partially torn meniscus.

Anthony is the team's leading scorer, averaging 19.1 points on 36.8 percent shooting from the field (35.5 percent from three-point range) across nine games.

Matters were made worse on the injury front when freshman guard Anthony Harris suffered a season-ending torn ACL during UNC's 70-67 win over Yale on Dec. 30.

"Harris is one of seven Tar Heels to miss a game due to injury this season and that total doesn't include freshman center Armando Bacot, who has missed significant minutes in two games due to injury," 247Sports' Greg Barnes noted.

It is quite the drop-off for Williams, who led last year's Heels squad to the Sweet Sixteen. UNC has made the NCAA Tournament nine consecutive seasons, winning the 2016-17 national championship.

Williams will need to use everything he has learned during his 32-year coaching career—17 in Chapel Hill—to get the most out of this roster. 

UNC will host the 10-4 Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday. Williams' next win will be his 880th overall, surpassing North Carolina legend Dean Smith and placing him fourth all-time in Division I men's basketball.

No. 2 Duke will have to play a stretch without one of its key players after the team announced Wendell Moore will be out indefinitely with a broken hand. 

"We think everything's going to be good, but he'll be out for awhile...and he will not travel to Georgia Tech," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday.

The injury came in Saturday's win against Miami, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Moore has averaged 7.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in 14 appearances this season.

The injury could be a significant one for Duke, which has proved to be one of the top contenders in the country this season with a 13-1 record overall and 3-0 in the ACC.

However, Moore represents a key depth piece as someone who has both come off the bench and started games this season. He ranks fifth on the team in minutes per game and is a valuable contributor on both ends of the court.

Duke does at least have a deeper rotation than in past seasons, with 10 players getting regular playing time. Joey Baker and Alex O'Connell should see more minutes going forward on the perimeter as the Blue Devils try to stay in front of their competition in the ACC.

On the other hand, this injury could be damaging to Moore as he tries to reach his own high expectations.

The freshman entered the year as a 4-star recruit and No. 29 overall recruit in the country, per 247Sports, one of four 4- or 5-stars in the 2019 Duke class. According to ESPN, he is also the No. 40 overall player in the 2020 NBA draft class.

A broken hand will take away valuable playing time that can cost him in what might be his only collegiate season.

The No. 18 Florida State Seminoles upset the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals 78-65 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

FSU improved to 13-2 on the season with the win and also moved its ACC record to 3-1. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have now dropped two in a row and sit at 11-3 in 2019-20 with a 2-1 conference mark.

The Seminoles benefited from a trio of offensive stars Saturday in guards Trent Forrest, M.J. Walker and Devin Vassell. Also, forward Patrick Williams stood out defensively thanks to his shot-blocking acumen. Conversely, Louisville got little production outside of superstar forward Jordan Nwora.

There was a major discrepancy in efficiency Saturday as well, with Florida State shooting 55.2 percent from the field and Louisville shooting just 38.7 percent.

          

Notable Stats

M.J. Walker, G, FSU: 23 PTS, 3 AST

Trent Forrest, G, FSU: 20 PTS, 5 AST, 3 REB

Devin Vassell, G, FSU: 14 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST

Jordan Nwora, F, LOU: 32 PTS, 10 REB

Steven Enoch, C, LOU: 10 PTS, 4 REB

Lamarr Kimble, G, LOU: 6 PTS, 3 AST

             

FSU's Depth Helps Overcome Nwora's Dominance in Big Win

The Seminoles didn't have an answer for Nwora on Saturday, but with several players finding their offensive rhythm for FSU, it didn't matter.

Nwora was coming off one of his worst performances of the season, as he scored just eight points and shot 20 percent from the field in a loss to Kentucky. As pointed out by Mike Rutherford of CardChronicle.com, he quickly put it behind him:

You can't respond to negative attention any better than Jordan Nwora is responding today. It's not just the offense either, he is a billion times more active on both ends than he was a week ago.

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 4, 2020

The issue for Louisville was the fact that center Steven Enoch was the only other player to score in double figures Saturday.

Rutherford also noted that Louisville appeared to be a tired team, especially late in the first half when Florida State went on a 12-2 run:

Louisville defenders couldn't keep anyone in front of them in the last six minutes there. Looked much more tired than an FSU team that goes 11 deep. That's worrisome. Monster 20 minutes coming up here.

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 4, 2020

With that, the Seminoles led 39-32 at halftime and were dominating the Cardinals in almost every facet, especially in terms of shooting efficiency:

1st half stats:
M.J. Walker with 17pts
Noles shoot 55% from the floor pic.twitter.com/q5ctfkl2KQ

— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) January 4, 2020

It looked at halftime that Florida State was poised for a blowout win, but Nwora took matters into his own hands and started to turn the tide in Louisville's favor.

Near the midway mark of the second half, Nwora scored four consecutive points and shrunk the deficit to just three. At that point, Jay King of The Athletic loved what he was seeing out of Nwora:

Jordan Nwora is putting on a show right now.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) January 4, 2020

That was as close as the Cardinals would get, though, as threes from Vassell and Walker stretched the lead back out to nine.

FSU went on to lead by as many as 15 in the second half, and the Cardinals simply didn't have the juice needed to fight back again, which resulted in the 13-point margin of defeat.

                    

What's Next?

Florida State will return to action Wednesday when it faces the 8-5 Wake Forest Demon Deacons in an ACC road test.

The Cardinals will play next on Tuesday against a Miami Hurricanes team they beat 87-74 to open the season.

Duke guard Tre Jones will reportedly not play in Thursday's game against Wofford because of a foot injury.

Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported the news, noting the setback is considered "minor." 

Jones is only a sophomore, but he is one of the veteran leaders on a Duke team that is loaded with talented but inexperienced playmakers. He returned for a second season when many of his classmates departed for the NBA, and losing him for a significant amount of time would be a difficult blow to overcome for the Blue Devils.

He averaged 9.4 points, 5.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game last season and impacts the game by dictating the pace on offense and guarding the opponent’s best ball-handlers on the other side.

Jones is averaging 15.6 points, 7.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals this season.

Look for Duke to turn toward the combination of Alex O'Connell, Jordan Goldwire and Cassius Stanley for more minutes in the backcourt while Jones is out.

While none of them are the natural leader Jones is expected to be all season, they can keep the team afloat until he is ready to return.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have earned more No. 1 seeds (17) in the men's NCAA tournament than any other program, but they might set a much less flattering tournament record this year if things don't turn around soon.

Following Wednesday night's 94-81 loss to Gonzaga, the Tar Heels are 6-5 overall and mired in a four-game losing streak for the first time since February 2010. Star freshman Cole Anthony is expected to miss at least the next five games following surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus, and at last check, there's no known surgical procedure for fixing everything that's wrong with this offense.

Even before the knee injury that will keep Anthony off the court until at least mid-January, the Tar Heels were struggling something fierce.

During the loss to Michigan in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis, there was a stretch of 12 minutes in which they were outscored 24-4 even though the Wolverines were without arguably their best player, Zavier Simpson, for a significant chunk of that run due to foul trouble.

Back on the mainland, UNC was destroyed 74-49 on its home floor by Ohio State. Granted, Armando Bacot left with an ankle injury early in the first half and Anthony was battling the flu, but the Heels never had much of a chance in that one.

Four days later, they went to Charlottesville and shot 1-of-14 from three-point range while losing 56-47 to Virginia. If the Cavaliers weren't dealing with substantial offensive woes of their own this season, that probably would have been another blowout by at least 25 points.

And then without Anthony (and Leaky Black) this past weekend, North Carolina lost at home to a Wofford team that is nowhere near as good as last year's squad after losing three of its best players and its head coach.

The Tar Heels have shot below 46 percent from the field in every game this season, haven't hit 37 percent from three-point range since the season opener against Notre Dame and have only had three games with a success rate of 62 percent or better from the free-throw line.

At least with Anthony, who is still leading the team in points, assists and steals despite missing the past two games, there was realistic hope that someone would eventually do something heroic to save this offense from itself.

Without him, it's going to be a nightly reminder that this team lost all five of its leading scorers from last season. It also lost key reserve Seventh Woods as a transfer (South Carolina) and will not have Sterling Manley at all this season due to knee injuries, which means it's actually adjusting to life without seven of last year's top nine guys.

Graduate transfers Justin Pierce (William & Mary) and Christian Keeling (Charleston Southern) were supposed to come in and give the Tar Heels some semblance of veteran leadership, but they have been almost unplayable.

In UNC's six games against major-conference opponents (excluding Wednesday night against "mid-major" Gonzaga), those two seniors have shot a combined 16-of-65 (24.6 percent) from the field for 43 points (3.6 per player per game) with seven total assists.

Granted, six games apiece isn't a colossal sample size, but it certainly seems as though the transition to the ACC is a bit much for either former minor-conference star to handle. And if not those guys, to whom can the Tar Heels turn for help?

Bacot and Garrison Brooks have been solid in the post, each averaging double figures and better than eight rebounds per game. But that's nowhere near enough for a team that had averaged at least 81.6 points per game in each of the last four seasons.

Plus, with Anthony out, who makes the entry passes to get the ball to those big men? Who keeps the defense honest as a three-point threat, preventing the opposition from collapsing on Bacot and Brooks? Facing constant double-teams against Wofford, Bacot shot just 2-of-14, and he's going to see more of that for the immediate future.

The loss to Wofford was an "All Hands on Deck" attempt to solve the unsolvable. Junior K.J. Smith and freshmen Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis each played more minutes against the Terriers than they had in the first nine games combined. The result was a combined nine points on 14 field-goal attempts, eight assists and a perimeter "defense" that allowed 40 three-point attempts and forced just five turnovers.

Not great.

Maybe Brandon Robinson is at least a partial-credit answer to both questions about entry passes and three-point shooting, as he is having a breakout senior year since returning from the ankle injury that kept him out of the first four games. However, he's nowhere near the Trae Young type of one-man offense that head coach Roy Williams needs running this show.

If Anthony comes back on the early end of his injury timeline and looks no worse for wear, maybe the Tar Heels will be fine.

They only have five games between now and Jan. 18, and all five—UCLA on a neutral floor, home against Yale, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Clemson*—are winnable, even without the star freshman. And in spite of their struggles, they do have an impressive neutral-site win over Oregon and plenty of opportunities in February and March to pick up quality victories.

*North Carolina has a 59-0 all-time record at home against Clemson, and the Tigers are currently 2-5 against teams in the KenPom Top 300. If the Heels lose that one, you know this season is devolving into a nightmare.

But what if it takes Anthony longer than expected to recover and he never quite looks 100 percent? Worse yet, what if he makes the business decision so many people thought Zion Williamson should have made last year and just shuts it down rather than risking further injury and a depleted draft stock?

In that scenario, North Carolina might have the worst season by a reigning NCAA tournament No. 1 seed in men's college basketball history.

Let's begin that discussion by noting that going from a No. 1 seed to missing the tournament happens more often than you probably think.

There have been 41 NCAA tournaments since seeding was added in 1979. Let's call it 40 by excluding 2019, though, since we do not yet know the fates of the No. 1 seeds from last year's tourney. In those 40 tournaments, there were 160 No. 1 seeds. And of those 160 teams, 23 (14.4 percent) failed to make the Big Dance the following season.

It has only happened once in the past five years—Xavier missed last year after earning a No. 1 seed in 2018—but 11 of the 48 No. 1 seeds from the 2003-14 NCAA tournaments had to watch from home the following March, including two each from 2007 (Florida and Ohio State) and 2009 (North Carolina and Connecticut).

These things sometimes happen when you have a great season and subsequently lose a ton of seniors and early entrants to the NBA draft. And not to toot my own horn, but I did warn you back in April that this was a possibility for the Tar Heels.

For the most part, though, those teams barely missed the cut. Xavier still won 19 games last year and went to the NIT. Twenty of the 23 posted winning records. And even the biggest disappointments—Purdue went 15-16 in 1988-89; Florida went 16-17 in 2014-15—were only one shot away from winning records.

Thus, if North Carolina goes 15-17 or worse, it would set a notorious NCAA record for the lowest winning percentage the year after earning a No. 1 seed. And without Anthony, it's not a stretch to envision the Tar Heels losing at least 17 games.

KenPom.com currently has UNC projected for a 17-14 finish (excluding the ACC tournament). However, there are still preseason projections baked into those numbers to a certain degree—UNC was No. 6 on KenPom to start the year—and they don't account for Anthony's absence.

In their current state, I can't imagine the Tar Heels getting to 11 conference wins, even in a down year for the ACC overall. Saturday's game against UCLA in Las Vegas feels like a toss-up at best considering the Bruins rank top-15 nationally in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage and only particularly struggle against teams that can stroke it from deep. In case you've forgotten, North Carolina cannot.

The 6-5 start to this season is North Carolina's worst since going 8-20 under Matt Doherty in 2001-02. Don't expect things to get that out of hand, but this is quickly shaping up as a year to forget in Chapel Hill.

                                  

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

One day after undergoing a procedure to treat a partially torn meniscus in his right knee, North Carolina star Cole Anthony was up and walking, per Brant Wilkerson-New of Sports Illustrated.

His father, former NBA star Greg Anthony, posted a video of Anthony walking on his Instagram account. He was also doing strength exercises for his legs in another video.

The school announced the expected timeline of four to six weeks before Anthony can return to the court.

North Carolina suffered a 68-64 home loss to Wofford in the team's first game without Anthony this year. It was the squad's third loss in a row and fourth in the last five games.

When healthy, Anthony has proved to be a true difference-maker on the court with an average of 19.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He set the tone of the season with 34 points in his first career collegiate game.

The No. 4 overall recruit in the 2019 class, per 247Sports, has lived up to expectations in his first nine games.

However, the Tar Heels have lacked offensive firepower outside of Anthony, with the squad failing to reach 80 points in any game this year. Garrison Brooks ranks second on the team with 12.1 points per game, while only two other players average more than six points per game.

North Carolina will need alternative options to step up while the star freshman is unavailable.

Still, the fact that he is already making progress is certainly a positive for Anthony as he tries to return for the bulk of the ACC season.

The North Carolina Tar Heels announced Tuesday freshman sensation Cole Anthony is going to miss four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery Monday on a partially torn meniscus in his right knee.

"Obviously not having a player of Cole's caliber will be a tremendous challenge to our young team, but we have to play," UNC head coach Roy Williams said. "No one player is going to replace the production Cole Anthony gives us, so it's up to everyone who puts on a North Carolina jersey to raise his game and help our team play better."

Anthony has averaged 19.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals across nine appearances for the Heels during the 2019-20 season. The guard already missed one game, Sunday's upset loss to the Wofford Terriers, because of the injury.

North Carolina has dropped four of its past five games since a 5-0 start. Its sluggish offense, which currently ranks 317th in field-goal percentage, is the main culprit. UNC has failed to reach 65 points in any of its losses, including two games below 50.

Anthony, the team's leading scorer, hasn't been immune to the team-wide shooting struggles, as he's connected on just 36.8 percent of his attempts from the field, but he's been one of the few Tar Heels who has showcased the ability to create his own offense off the dribble.

The 19-year-old son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony set the highest possible bar for himself coming into his first, and likely only, collegiate campaign.

"At the end of the day, from what the projections are saying, I feel I can do more than that," he told reporters in November. "I don't want to just be First Team All-ACC. I want to be Player of the Year."

Although the injury is a setback to those ambitions—though the Duke Blue Devils' Zion Williamson showed last year it's possible to capture the Naismith Trophy despite missing time with injury—it shouldn't completely derail UNC's season.

The timetable suggests Anthony should return some time between mid-to-late January. The Tar Heels face just one currently ranked opponent during that stretch (No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs on Wednesday).

They start a stretch of three out of four games against ranked foes when they take on the No. 19 Florida State Seminoles on Feb. 3, which is a realistic target for the guard's return, if he's not back before that.

If Anthony returns to the lineup on schedule, he'll be available for the most important stretch of the regular season, the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament.

In the meantime, K.J. Smith could become a stalwart member of the starting lineup after taking Anthony's spot against Wofford, and Garrison Brooks will become the team's go-to scorer.