When a high intensity contest is underway, it’s easy for little things to highlight themselves as the differences in the game, positive or negative. Saturday night, small things that were negative showed to be the difference as UNC fell to Eastern Washington 68-64 in the first of two big games against teams leading the Big Sky ahead of the conference tournament.
A handful of turnovers, a change in intensity rebounding and missed free throws did in the Bears, though UNC’s recent stretch of strong shooting efforts was turned around by strong Eastern Washington defense as well.
A look at the numbers shows the differences:
- While UNC committed 10 turnovers–right at their season average–Eastern Washington turned it over only six times.
- The Bears missed eight free throws
- The Eagles shot 48% for the game, 50% after halftime. UNC had shot 57% percent over it’s five game winning streak, but managed only 39% in the loss
With the loss, UNC’s bid for a Big Sky regular season title is likely done for as the Bears no longer control their own destiny, with two games remaining. Northern Colorado falls a game off the pace set by Montana and Eastern Washington. A win at Montana would serve more to help the Eagles towards the title while boosting UNC into a possible second seed for the tournament in two weeks. A loss likely sets the Bears up for the third seed.
HC Jeff Linder’s Post-game Interview
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