UNC Basketball: Tar Heels' 5 Biggest Concerns in ACC Play

It has been a wacky and wild opening to North Carolina's ACC season.

An overwhelming performance against Clemson was followed by a last-second loss to Notre Dame, which itself was followed by a last-second win over the Louisville Cardinals.

Against Notre Dame, the loss essentially came from the three-point line despite UNC's late comeback.

Against Louisville, the win materialized even more surprisingly than the ND comeback, as North Carolina was getting run off the floor in the early moments of the second half.

Despite those games, the Tar Heels must forge ahead and keep their emotions in check. There is still a long road to travel in conference play.

Here are the five things that should concern UNC the most during its remaining schedule.

NC State's 3-Point Barrage Potential

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In vanquishing the previously undefeated Duke Blue Devils, NC State shot 10-of-16 from the three-point line.

The Wolfpack managed to connect on 55 percent of their field-goal attempts, but the precision from three was the scariest thing. Duke itself made seven threes that game, but it took 27 attempts to get there.

This season, Trevor Lacey, Ralston Turner and Kyle Washington are shooting well above 40 percent from distance—although Washington only has nine attempts. The team as a whole shoots 38.1 percent from three.

Compared to North Carolina's 31 percent, it is easy to see why NC State's three-point edge should be a major point of worry, especially considering the two teams play each other twice this year.

For UNC to even manage a split, it will have to salvage that three-point discrepancy somehow.

The Syracuse Zone

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The Syracuse zone this season is fearsome.

It has carried the team to a top-25 ranking in scoring defense, steals per game and blocks per game. After a rocky start, Syracuse has won six straight on the back of its defense, which includes a 3-0 start in conference play.

As opponents are shooting just 36.8 percent against the Orange this season, UNC's inability to connect from outside the paint becomes even more alarming in this matchup.

North Carolina's poor shooting and proclivity for turning over the ball make the game against Syracuse a dreadful defensive matchup.

Louisville's Revenge

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Louisville will not be quick to forget its one-point road loss to North Carolina.

The two teams face off for the second time on Jan. 31, this time in Louisville.

It is hard to explain exactly how Louisville even managed to lose the first matchup. The Cardinals were in complete control of the game after halftime and heading into the game's home stretch.

The only edge in the game for UNC came on the offensive glass (as it often does). There, the Tar Heels had a 17-to-9 edge, leading to a 40-to-30 overall rebounding edge.

The famed Montrezl Harrell was almost a nonfactor, especially compared to teammates Terry Rozier and Chris Jones.

All three will be looking for revenge come Jan. 31—Harrell most of all. He will want to prove he is the best power forward in the ACC, and that label won't come if his team gets handled inside one more time.

The UVA Defense

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The Virginia Cavaliers are scary. They are 15-0 and 3-0 already in the ACC.

They haven't allowed a single opponent to score more than 72 points this season during a regulation game. They held down the impeccable shooting of Notre Dame, as the Irish shot just 33.9 percent from the floor in its loss to Virginia.

The Cavaliers have held down everyone up to this point, and they are on the road to having the best scoring defense in college basketball.

North Carolina will have its hands full attempting to create offense against this opponent.

It could shape up to be UNC's hardest test of the year, as Virginia loves to pack it in and force opposing offenses to execute to perfection. It doesn't gamble and go for steals like other active defenses. UVA forces the other team to beat it, which rarely happens.

Jahlil Okafor

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The voting was close, and it still is relatively early in the year, but it appears as though the ACC media had it wrong when predicting the conference Player of the Year in the preseason.

In that vote, Duke's Jahlil Okafor finished behind the likes of Marcus Paige. If a revote was held, Okafor would surely be the favorite.

He has been simply fantastic in his freshman season.

Okafor is currently first in the ACC in field goals, field-goal percentage, offensive rebounds (tie), points per game and PER, and he ranks second in free-throw attempts.

He is doing it all for Duke on the offensive end. For good measure, he also averages 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

With two contests against Duke on the horizon, North Carolina will have two swipes at doing something no one has managed all season: slowing down Okafor. The freshman has scored in double figures every game even though he's playing fewer than 30 minutes per game.

The Tar Heels have a lot of big bodies to rotate in and out of the paint. It will be a team effort to defend Okafor down low.