Editor's note: Scroll down to watch video highlights from the game.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- North Carolina’s 73-64 victory against Miami here on Wednesday night was another one of those gritty kind of games, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said – the kind that won’t produce a lot of material for highlight reels but one that could help a team grow, anyway.
“It was one of those wins that you have to have to have a fantastic year,” said Williams, who watched the Heels shoot 38.2 percent while winning with timely baskets and defense. “It was a tough win. It was an ugly win in some ways.”
The Heels trailed 35-30 at halftime. Williams, like he has during so many other moments this season, challenged his team. It wasn’t the effort that bothered him during the first half, but instead the execution. Williams took aim especially at his guards, who went scoreless during the first half and missed all seven of their shots.
Harrison Barnes, the sophomore forward, wasn’t necessarily the target of Williams’ ire but he took the message to heart nonetheless. Barnes said later that Williams talk was “motivating.”
“[It was a] nice little fire-up speech,” Barnes said. “He’s good at those.”
Barnes scored 14 of his game-high 23 points during the second half, when No. 8 UNC (22-4, 9-2) overcame an eight-point deficit to win with relative ease. After Durand Scott put the Hurricanes ahead 44-36 with 15:37 to play, UNC went on a 19-9 run over the next six minutes that gave the Heels the lead for good.
Scott led Miami (15-9, 6-5) with 13 points.
A pair of Kendall Marshall free throws gave UNC a 55-53 lead with 9:07 to play, and then Barnes scored five consecutive points to push the Heels’ lead to seven. It was at times ugly, as Williams said, and UNC missed plenty of perimeter shots.
Yet Marshall, at least, was in no mood to talk about the negatives.
“I don’t want to focus on the negatives all the time,” said Marshall, who had nine assists. “I feel like when we win it’s why didn’t we win by more. And when we lose, it’s everything that we did wrong to lose … We were able to come in here and play well in the second half and win the game.”
With its offense stalling – especially from the outside, where UNC made 5 of its 18 3-pointers – the Tar Heels relied on their defense to spark their second-half rally. After falling behind by eight early in the second half, the Heels forced four consecutive Miami turnovers that helped UNC tie it at 44 with 13:39 to play.
Defense and Barnes’ scoring helped the Heels stay in the game and eventually take it over. And Reggie Bullock’s 3 with 1:42 to play helped UNC seal the victory. Bullock scored all 10 of his points in the second half and that 3 gave the Heels a nine-point lead with less than two minutes to play.
“We’ve just got to suck it up and be able to bring something else to the table if it our shot’s not falling,” said Bullock, who missed his first three shots before making the first one he took in the second half. “… Basically we just say, ‘Keep getting shots up, keep getting shots up.’”
Eventually they did start falling. UNC, which trailed by nine during the first half, tied its largest comeback victory of the season. It also overcame a nine-point deficit to win at Maryland.
And, like some other times this season, the Heels also prevailed on the road despite missing more shots than Williams cared to see.
“I told the guys in the locker room, when we start making some shots, we’re going to be really a good basketball team,” Williams said. “… I really do believe we’re good shooters. We just don’t show it during the game.”
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While this is a big week for the UNC and ECU baseball teams, which begin NCAA play Friday in Chapel Hill, it’s turning out to be anything except that for some of the two programs’ best former players.
The Tar Heels will host fourth-seeded Cornell on Friday at 6 p.m. East Carolina will face St. John’s in the afternoon matchup at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill.
One day after their 12-inning pitchers’ duel captivated the largest crowd to watch a college baseball game in state history, North Carolina and N.C. State received news both teams had likely expected: Both will host a four-team regional in the NCAA tournament.
The Tar Heels outlasted the Wolfpack in 12 innings in UNC's 4-0 victory at NewBridge Bank Park on Saturday night. UNC and Miami both finished with 2-1 records in pool play, but the Hurricanes, who beat the Heels on Thursday, will meet Georgia Tech today at noon for the conference championship.
Adam Griffin's bases-loaded single in the 12th inning sparked a four-run burst that lifted North Carolina past North Carolina State 4-0 on Saturday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament.
Former North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall is training for the NBA draft at the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, and he has some good news: He has nearly fully recovered from the broken wrist he suffered during the Tar Heels’ victory against Creighton in the NCAA tournament.
North Carolina’s 5-3 defeat against Miami on Thursday ended after the Tar Heels left the bases loaded, and it ended with UNC’s best hitter, Colin Moran, standing motionless in the batter’s box, stunned at a third called strike. He wasn’t the only one in disbelief.
UNC's Harrison Barnes (40) drives to the basket against Miami's Kenny Kadji (35) during the second half on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Barnes led the Tar Heels with 23 points in the team's 74-63 victory over the Hurricanes.
North Carolina's John Henson (31) dunks over Miami's Raphael Akpejiori (10) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, in Coral Gables, Fla.
UNC's James Michael McAdoo (43) works on his shot prior to the Tar Heels' game against Miami on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
