Butler led UNC by 17 at halftime. Texas led by 13. N.C. State by 19. And in South Florida on Saturday, the Hurricanes entered halftime with a 44-27 advantage.
The problems in each of those games started early. UNC trailed Butler 10-2 at the first media timeout. At that same point in the other three games, the Tar Heels were losing 14-6 (Texas), 15-7 (N.C. State) and 9-2 (Miami).
The troubles aren’t isolated to games against quality competition. UNC fell behind Boston College 8-2 on Jan. 29 and Virginia Tech 12-0 last Saturday. The Tar Heels have trailed by six points or more in the opening 10 minutes in four of their last five games.
When asked about how to correct the slow starts following his team’s 87-61 loss to Miami, UNC head coach Roy Williams replied: “If I knew that, I would have already solved it. That’s the bottom line. When you’re coaching 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds, who knows?”