Caleb Love admits he wants to see more from Pete Nance

Pete Nance was North Carolina‘s high-profile transfer signing in the portal last offseason, but guard Caleb Love wants to see him step up his game. Nance scored only two points in Monday’s 80-72 loss to Miami.

“We got to get Pete going as far as his confidence and just seeing him be the player I know he can be,” Love said after the game. “Whoever played tonight, we’ve just got to better and we’ve got to step up and make those shots.

Nance is averaging 9.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season on 42.5% shooting and 28.8% from beyond the arc.

But the stretch forward has been struggling over the last few games. He has scored just 15 points over the past four games, including a goose egg against Clemson.

“I would help a lot,” Love said. “If he gets it going, I think it’ll be hard for us to (be) beat. Because that’s another player that’s able to put the ball it the hole appears that other teams are sagging away.”

Nance has the history of being a top performer in a major conference, averaging 14.6 points and 6.0 rebounds last year with Northwestern.

“He’s just got to keep his confidence high, trust his work,” Love said. “He’s made a lot of threes in his career. I’ve been there before. All I could tell him is just don’t lose his confidence, just keep shooting because the tables going turn.”

UNC trying to process loss to Miami

Caleb Love, Pete Nance and the entire North Carolina have to be shocked about how their season is going.

Armando Bacot said after the loss that he didn’t know how to process another defeat.

“I’m honestly just blank right now,” Bacot said. “Not really processing anything. I don’t really know how I feel right now.”

The Tar Heels are a bubble team for the tournament, a far cry from what they thought they would be as preseason darlings.

“We’ve got to figure something out because we’ve got a tough stretch coming up,” Bacot said. “It doesn’t get easier, so we’ve got to figure it out.