The Road Wasn't Kind To North Carolina This Week Because They Lost To Miami In Coral Gables On Tuesday Then Lost To Wake Forest In Winston -Salem Saturday

The road wasn’t kind to North Carolina this week because they lost to Miami in Coral Gables Florida on Tuesday.

In North Carolina’s 57-85 loss to Miami Isaiah Wong scored 25 points, Sam Waardenburg set a career high with 21 points and Miami led by 27 points at halftime en route to an 85-57 win.

Miami concluded a five-game losing streak in the series with their largest margin of victory over the Tar Heels. Miami led 49-22 at the break — matching North Carolina's largest halftime deficit since 2010 against Duke.

Miami scored 14 unanswered points early in the first half, with two 3-pointers by Waardenburg, for a 16-5 lead and the Hurricanes led by at least eight points the rest of the way. Waardenburg had 11 points in the opening nine minutes to match North Carolina's total, and his dunk later in the half made it 39-18 after his sixth straight made basket.

Waardenburg scored 17 points in the first half, Wong added 15 points and Kameron McGusty had 12 as the Hurricanes shot 58.1% from the field, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range. North Carolina was just 7-of-31 shooting (22.6%) in the half with 10 turnovers.

Miami held Armando Bacot, who entered with back-to-back 29-point games, to just three points in the first half after playing 16 minutes due to two fouls.

The lead reached 33 points in the second half.

McGusty finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double this year for Miami (14-4, 6-1 ACC), which has won 10 of its last 11 games.

Bacot had 15 points and 12 rebounds for North Carolina (12-5, 4-2). He landed hard on the court with 5:01 left in the second half and stayed down for a few minutes before gingerly walking off. UNC head coach Hubert Davis was hopeful after the game that Bacot had not suffered any serious injury.

Then North Carolina lost to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Saturday.

This time, North Carolina lost by a score of 76-98.

In North Carolina’s 76-98 loss to Wake Forest Jake LaRavia scored a career-high 31 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbed a season-best 10 rebounds to help Wake Forest beat North Carolina 98-76 on Saturday night.

Jake LaRavia made 12 of 15 from the free-throw line and finished with four assists and three steals. Alondes Williams had 20 points and tied his career high with three blocks and Daivien Williamson scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting for Wake Forest (16-4, 6-3 ACC).

Daivien Williamson scored the first seven points and added a 3-pointer in a 20-5 run that gave Wake Forest a 41-28 lead when Williams hit a 3 with 3:19 left in the first half and the Tar Heels never again threatened.

Brady Manek scored 22 points before fouling out with 5:26 left and RJ Davis added 18 for North Carolina (12-6, 4-3). Armando Bacot had 12 points and 12 rebounds — his ninth consecutive double-double — but made just 4 of 12 from the field and 4 of 8 from the free-throw line.

Williams went into the game as the conference's leader is both scoring (20.3 per game) and assists (5.16) — something no player has done for an entire season since assists have been counted beginning in 1973 — while shooting 54.5% (No. 4 in the ACC) from the field this season.

Wake Forest has won five of six and three in a row, including landmark road wins at Virginia (63-55) and Georgia Tech (80-64), the team's first victories in Charlottesville and Atlanta since 2010 and 2004, respectively. The Demon Deacons — picked in the preseason to finish 13th in the 15-team ACC — are a half-game out of first in the conference standings.

The Tar Heels, who allowed 30 points off their 14 turnovers is an 85-57 loss at Miami last Tuesday, committed just 11 turnovers on Saturday but Wake Forest converted those miscues in 21 points.

Damari Monsanto hit three 3-pointers in a 58-second span 71-52 lead with 11:50 to play. Monsanto, a transfer from East Tennessee State playing in his second game for the Demon Deacons, finished with 13 points five rebounds and three steals in 20 minutes. The Southern Conference freshman of the year last season was expected to miss this season while recovering from Achilles surgery in June.

“according to an article on goheels.com by the Associated Press”

With North Carolina losing on the road this week will returning to Chapel Hill help them get back to their winning ways?

We will find out on Monday as North Carolina host Virginia Tech for their first match up of the regular season.

Tip off is set for 8:00pm from the Dean E. Smith Center!

The game is going to be televised on ACC Network!