Florida State dominates UNC

CHAPEL HILL -- New uniforms. Same outcome.

North Carolina donned silver-and-white Wednesday night to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Nike's Jordan apparel brand, but the new look didn't give anyone (except UNC's opponent) anything to celebrate at the Smith Center.

Florida State's 77-67 victory marked the first time the Seminoles have won in Chapel Hill since 2000.

The loss, meanwhile, ends any lingering Tar Heels hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. With three regular-season games remaining, the best UNC can finish in the ACC is 6-10. Since the league went to a 16-game schedule, only one squad - FSU in 1998 - has earned an at-large bid when finishing with only a half-dozen conference victories; and those Seminoles had much better Ratings Percentage Index than UNC.

That means the Tar Heels (14-14, 3-10 ACC) must win the ACC Tournament in order to earn an automatic bid to the NCAAs; otherwise, they're trying to earn a berth into the NIT. And with the way they are playing, even that isn't a given.

"My focus is first getting better, second, coming together as a team, and then third - putting that into a game so we can win," said senior Will Graves, who led all scorers with 21 points. "If we can do all that in practice, then we can bring it over to the game and win. Then we can look at what steps need to be taken to get in [to the postseason]."

The Tar Heels - who aren't used to playing in front of a couple of thousand empty seats this late into the season - were outmanned in the frontcourt and outplayed on the perimeter.

With freshman Travis Wear sidelined for the fifth straight game because of a sprained left ankle, and brother David likely out for the rest of the season with a left hip injury, UNC's depth was thin in the post. UNC was outrebounded by five by the likes of 7-foot-1 Soloman Alabi, 6-10 Chris Singleton and 6-8 Ryan Reid. And it didn't help that Tar Heels starter Deon Thompson managed only seven points and four rebounds.

Meanwhile, FSU made 9 of its 15 3-point shots in the first half alone (and 11-of-24 for the game). Seminoles reserve guard Deividas Dulkys, who had made only 18 of 58 3-pointers from behind the arc in ACC play, was 5-for-11 from there, and finished with 17 points. Singleton, who had made only 20 percent of his preview 3-point tries in league play, made 3 of 6 and finished with 19 points

"We didn't feel like they were a great shooting team, but when you give them open looks like that, they're going to shoot a better percentage," senior Marcus Ginyard said.

Indeed, FSU (20-7, 8-5) pulled away early with a 10-0 run - which included two 3-pointers from Dulkys - to make it 25-12. UNC tried to counter with a jumper from Thompson, and a drive-and-dunk from Graves. But two Tar Heels turnovers resulted in four Seminoles points, stretching the run to 14-4.

"To me, the key in the first half was we turned it over so many times, just careless turnovers," said coach Roy Williams, whose team finished with more turnovers (14) than assists (13). "Throwing the ball from one guy to another, then throwing it out of bounds when there's nobody there."

UNC trailed 48-33 at halftime, and by as many as 23 points early in the second half. Thompson cut his team's deficit to 75-66 with a layup in the final minute, but it was too late to make up for what Williams called "a multitude of errors."

Said FSU coach Leonard Hamilton, whose team put itself in good position for an NCAA bid with its eighth ACC victory: "I thought our guys were sloppy toward the end, but overall I think we played with a lot of intensity, a lot of focus, and I think a lot of that is a s a result of the respect we have for North Carolina. We know that they are a very young, talented team and that they are very capable and that at some point they are going to start maturing and hitting on all cylinders."

David Wear out for season: Freshman David Wear is likely out for the rest of the season because of "loose bodies" - likely cartilage - that are causing pain and a clicking sound in his left hip, a team spokesman said after the game.