After back-to-back road losses against Florida State and Virginia in early January, Roy Williams made the first major lineup change of the season: he swapped freshman big man Garrison Brooks for swingman Cameron Johnson, who had recently returned to full health. UNC rattled off four straight wins after that, including a nail-biter at Notre Dame.
But then the wheels came off with consecutive losses at Virginia Tech, in overtime at home against NC State, and at Clemson. UNC righted the ship a bit with a blowout win against ACC-winless Pittsburgh, but the job doesn’t get any easier with Duke visiting the Dean Dome on Thursday coming off a harsh loss to unranked St.