UNC Basketball: Biggest Takeaways from Back-to-Back ACC Showdowns

Your schedule is what you make of it. Once it's revealed months before the season, there's no excuse for being unprepared.

Yet following its toughest two-game stretch of the 2014-15 campaign, North Carolina not only came out with two humbling losses, but also a fresh new set of concerns about what this year's team is made of.

Following an overtime loss Saturday at Louisville, a game in which the Tar Heels led by 18 points in the second half, UNC played Virginia hard at home for one half and then once again fell apart. When the dust settled Monday, the 75-64 setback put the Heels (17-6, 7-3) on their first losing streak of the year and dropped them to fourth place in the ACC.

Opponent quality was only one piece of the many contributing factors to the rough weekend. More concerning were the things UNC did—or didn't do—that made facing back-to-back ranked opponents more difficult than it already was. It was the 11th time this season that an ACC team has faced consecutive ranked foes (and second time for Carolina) but the first occasion where a member of the league's upper-half failed to win at least one game.

"It will help us to get some practice time," UNC coach Roy Williams said after the game, per GoHeels.com.

The opportunity to go back to the drawing board does exist now, as after playing twice in three days (and 10 times in 31 days), the Heels play once between now and Valentine's Day. This break can also be used to reflect on what just went down, and what can be learned from this recent skid:

No team effort

Marcus Paige is the unquestioned leader of North Carolina. His production and efficiency might be down, but he remains the player his teammates turn to for leadership, direction and clutch plays. The junior guard expects reciprocation, though, and he said Monday he's not seeing as much of that as he'd hope from the Tar Heels.

"It is February, you know," Paige told Andrew Carter of The News & Observer. "The season's rolling. Great teams at this time are meshing together. You don't have to keep preaching effort, keep preaching buying in, not worrying about your individual self."

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Though Paige wouldn't single anyone out, Carter wrote that it's evident he was saying there were certain players who don't seem to be working well together or heeding Williams' instructions. It's not likely the freshmen, as a whole, since Theo Pinson and Joel Berry II have both been out for a while with injuries.

Carter suggested Paige's comments might be directed toward fellow juniors Brice Johnson and J.P. Tokoto, two of the more up-and-down players on the team. During the skid each had a stinker of a game, with Johnson scoring just two points (along with 10 rebounds) and fouling out during regulation against Louisville, while Tokoto had a single point in 30 minutes against Virginia.

Yet Paige also went 30 minutes without a field goal in the second game but still finished with a team-high 15 points.

When UNC was playing its best, there was balance and consistency. That didn't happen over the weekend.

Sloppy and sluggish

On Jan. 24, North Carolina committed only five turnovers, the fewest in Williams' tenure with the program. Since then, the Tar Heels have given it away 52 times in three games, including 32 in the back-to-back losses.

If taking care of the ball was the only performance issue, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But while without possession, UNC has spent far too much time sitting back and letting opponents dictate not just the tempo but the intensity. Both Louisville and Virginia made their comebacks by turning up the heat and becoming more aggressive, without much pushback.

"Virginia's sense of urgency was so much greater than ours," Williams said. "I'm disappointed that we gave in."

UNC almost looked resigned to letting the Cavaliers come back and take control, just like Louisville had, as if it weren't capable of stopping it. Contrast that to the Cavaliers, who seemed far more interested in bouncing back and moving forward than dwelling on the past.

Virginia had also lost two days earlier, falling at home to Duke, yet never looked like a team resigned to a potential losing streak.

"We just wanted to get back at it," Virginia forward Anthony Gill told Mike Barber of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "It was good that we had a quick turnaround like we did so we couldn't hang our heads too much."

UNC set Williams-era records against Louisville for fouls committed and opponent free throws, while Virginia didn't allow a fast-break basket until two minutes were left. Both were examples of UNC not being the aggressor, going against type for much of this season.

Depth becoming an issue

Ten players are averaging at least nine minutes per game, but mounting injuries and other health concerns have drastically whittled down that rotation. Berry has missed the last seven games with a pulled groin, leaving Paige and Nate Britt without anyone to spell them at the point, while Pinson's foot injury has kept him out for four contests.

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The instant-energy guy, Pinson's absence has directly contributed to Tokoto's struggles as he has had to play more minutes and has worn down.

And Adam Lucas of GoHeels.com wrote that sophomore foward Kennedy Meeks had a 101-degree temperature the day Monday while Johnson "stood behind the bench whenever he left the game" in an effort to keep his back from stiffening up.

UNC's depth issues aren't nearly as bad as some teams, but after becoming accustomed to a certain level of balance in the minutes (and scoring) when someone isn't available, the able-bodies aren't filling in the gaps.

Statistics are courtesy of GoHeels.com. Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.