Caleb Love evaluates chemistry issues in North Carolina's locker room

The North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team has hit a rough patch in their season after losing their third straight game on Tuesday. Emotions ran high amongst the players after the game, which resulted in star forward Armando Bacot issuing a challenge to the rest of the team. While everyone is trying to figure out what is going wrong for North Carolina, another star player, guard Caleb Love, gave his thoughts on the chemistry issues on and off the court affecting the Tar Heels.

“We’re not talking on the defensive end,” Love said. “On the offensive end, we’re not running our stuff with pace, knowing where guys are at on the floor. One through 18, I just feel like it’s not there. We definitely have to have a conversation because something’s got to change.”

Losing is never an easy thing to swallow, especially when you are competing at one of the highest levels in the game. While North Carolina is currently on a losing streak, those three losses have come in close, hard-fought games. Unfortunately, the last two came against two of the Tar Heels’ most heated rivals, Duke and Wake Forest. North Carolina must quickly find their rhythm because their schedule gets more challenging from here. Four of North Carolina’s next five games will be against the top teams in the ACC, starting with Clemson in a Saturday afternoon contest.

Bacot reveals fiery challenge to teammates following loss to Wake Forest

The Tar Heels came up just short against their in-state ACC rival Wake Forest in their Tuesday night matchup. The Tar Heels fell on the road 92-85 after getting run out of the gym and trailing by 22 at the end of the first half. After the game, North Carolina’s star big man Armando Bacot was in anything but a joyous mood. Following another road loss for his Tar Heels, Bacot threw down a fiery challenge to his team.

In the postgame press conference, the North Carolina senior big man kept his words short and simple following the defeat.

“We came back for a reason… and this is not it,” he said.

Bacot also told his teammates after the game, “if you don’t want to be here, quit,” according to Patrick Welter, local reporter for WRAL.

With the loss, North Carolina falls to 15-9 on the season and 7-6 in conference play. The Tar Heels are essentially mathematically eliminated from the possibility of capturing the ACC regular season title. And if they continue to struggle down the stretch, not even a successful run in the ACC tournament could save their season, unless they won it of course. If they continue to struggle, North Carolina could very well end up missing the NCAA tournament in March.