Mack Brown at the half: 'We'll play much better in the second half'

The North Carolina Tar Heels and Mack Brown find themselves in a tightly contested battle with the Virginia Cavaliers at halftime. The Tar Heels entered Saturday’s contest undefeated with a 6-0 record. At the same time, the Cavaliers are 1-5 after barely picking up their first win of the season in week seven against William and Mary University.

Still, as expected with all rivalry games, Virginia has played North Carolina close, with UNC barely leading 17-14 at the half. Just before his team headed into the locker room at halftime, Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown shared his thoughts on his team’s performance in the first half.

“I told you we had to get a fast start, and we didn’t,” said Brown. “We got a penalty on the kickoff, got backed up, didn’t stop the run, had a couple of trick plays early. Everything we could have done was awful, had very poor, poor field position throughout, their punters done really a good job.”

“So we’ve got to settle down and start the game over. They get the ball to start the second half. I think we’re settled; we’re playing better defense. I took a risk I shouldn’t have taken at midfield there. But our defense bailed us out; we gotta turn over. I think we’re ready to go now. So we’ll play much better in the second half.”

As Brown pointed out, UNC’s offense started off slow but has since found the rhythm. Star quarterback Drake Maye has completed 12-25 pass attempts for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Omarion Hampton has also had a solid first half with 14 carries for 76 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Where North Carolina will likely have to step up is on defense, particularly their rush defense.

The Tar Heels have done an excellent job containing Tony Muskett through the air, as the Virginia quarterback has gone for 11-19 passing with just 92 yards and one interception. However, on the ground, Virginia has 21 carries for 90 yards and two rushing touchdowns.

As Brown highlighted in his comments, his North Carolina squad has performed much better in the second quarter than they did in the first. And once North Carolina exits the locker room after the half, the Tar Heels head man fully anticipates his team continuing their strong play, especially if they want to remain undefeated and have a chance at the ACC title at the end of the season.