UNC Basketball: Tar Heels Find a Way in South Bend

The UNC basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive on Wednesday night.

Well, it wasn’t pretty, but the Tar Heels did just enough to escape a road trip to Notre Dame with the “W”.

Both teams started off Wednesday’s game incredibly cold from the field, as Carolina held Notre Dame scoreless through nearly the first six minutes of action.  Unfortunately for UNC, the Heels had only scored four points themselves (all courtesy of Pete Nance).

Over the course of the rest of the first half, the Irish heated up from the field while the Tar Heels did not.  When D’Marco Dunn’s last-second basket was waved off, it was Notre Dame taking a 27-19 lead into the locker room.  Yes, it was that ugly.

The Tar Heels were 0-11 from deep in the first half and had eight turnovers, five total field goals, and zero assists.  It was one of the ugliest halves of Carolina basketball I’ve ever seen.  Not ideal for a team that needed a win to keep its NCAA Tournament at-large bids alive.

However, whatever Hubert Davis said at halftime gave the team a jolt to start the second half.  The Heels reclaimed the lead quickly after the break, thanks to an emphasis on feeding Armando Bacot, some defensive intensity from RJ Davis, and a big three-pointer from Caleb Love (one of just two the Heels made).

Unfortunately, as usual for this year’s Tar Heels, they were not able to pull away on the road.  Carolina continued to struggle shooting the ball and the teams would go back and forth with the Irish up by one at the final media timeout.

The story in the game’s final moments would be the offensive glass.  The Heels scored three straight baskets on second-chance opportunities (including two from Bacot) to cling to a one-point lead with the ball in the last minute of game time.  RJ Davis hit a massive turnaround jumper to extend the lead to three, but the Irish answered with a quick basket of their own to cut the lead back down to one again.

With the game on the line, Caleb Love hit four clutch free throws to seal the victory.  Carolina executed the strategy of fouling up three late successfully, and the junior guard came through for the team from the line.

In terms of what this means for the Heels, it is pretty simple.  There is obviously still a ton to fix, and Carolina doesn’t have much time to clean it up.  Shooting 2-23 from deep isn’t going to win many games, but it was enough for UNC on the road against a bad Notre Dame team.

At the end of the day, when a team is on the bubble-like Carolina is this year, it ultimately comes down to stacking as many wins as possible.  Carolina had lost five of six entering this game, so they will take any victory they can get (especially given how bleak things looked at halftime).

Even with Virginia’s loss to Boston College tonight, the Heels should still have two “quad one” opportunities left on the schedule.  UNC will need to win at least two (and probably all three) of their remaining contests to get back on the right side of the bubble prior to the ACC Tournament.

It feels like “survive and advance” territory for the Heels already, and up next is a matchup with a Virginia team that likes to slow the tempo and win ugly.  The Tar Heels got plenty of practice in that regard tonight in South Bend.

Follow us @KeepingItHeel on Twitter and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of UNC basketball news, updates, and recruiting.