UNC vs. Clemson - Player of the Game: Day’Ron Sharpe

The Tar Heel Blog staff writers use a Slack channel to communicate with each other. We bounce around story ideas, muse on the state of college basketball, and after the games we discuss what we’ll write about in the articles posted to this site.

After last night’s loss to Clemson, we sat in stunned disbelief at the putrid performance the Tar Heels put out. Clemson, having just been pounded by a sub-par Duke team, was there for the taking. But after an open weekend, UNC came out flat and could never recover, only ever having led in the game’s opening minute, 2-0.

When a team only scores 50 points in a college basketball game, it’s tough to pick a “Player of the Game.” Carolina was generally awful across the board. Armando Bacot, having earned the honor last time out against Pitt, scored a single point (1) in 19 minutes of action. R.J. Davis and Anthony Harris were scoreless. Caleb Love and Garrison Brooks both took 10 shots and scored in the single digits.

Folks, this is bad, bad news. Instead of riding high on a four-game win streak, the Heels head to Hansbrough Indoor Stadium having just laid an egg the size of a refrigerator. We can’t even laugh at Duke anymore about this:

By default, I’m going to go with Day’Ron Sharpe. He led the team in scoring (16 points, 6-8 shooting, but ugh, 4-10 from the FT line) and was one the most proactive player on the court. Sharpe made some familiar errors that most fans would forgive him for. A steal that he couldn’t quite control and take in for a dunk, became a turnover (probably erroneously). He grabbed a tough rebound from Sims, but landed just out of bounds. Brooks and Sharpe took turns missing putback attempts off an R.J. Davis missed layup that was eventually cleared by Clyde Trapp.

Day’Ron Sharpe frustrates fans because he is oh so close to making huge plays on a consistent basis. It’s easy to see where his mind wants to put the ball, but his body moves too fast, or his passes come too hard. It’ll just take time. We’ll see if he sticks around for another season to put it all together before heading off to the NBA.

But rather than dwelling on a bad game, let’s pause and reset. I only want to feel good vibes before the dook game. So without further ado, please enjoy these pictures of Tar Heel Blog pets!

These are Al’s cats. The big ball of fluff on the left is Ezra, and that’s Thumbelina on the right standing guard

This is Akil’s hedgehog, Athena, playing for a bit outside her cage. Unfortunately, the picture keeps coming out sideways.

This is Tanya’s dog, Roxy. Queen of all things, especially belly rubs.

These are Jake’s pugs. Jake doesn’t particularly enjoy pugs, but his wife does. Olive is doing her best Raphael impersonation. Thor is not impersonating Michelangelo, as he is a bona fide party animal.

As for me, I do not have dogs of my own, so I have to borrow my neighbors’. Lola and Roxy are shown here repping John Henson and Harrison Barnes. I truly envy them because they have no idea that Carolina lost to Clemson again. They just bark like crazy when I knock on the door and lick my face because to them, I’m the nicest guy in the world who never disappointed anyone.

Please feel free to post pics of your dogs in the @TarHeelBlog tweet for this article, and let’s get ready to beat Duke!