UNC takes victory despite late deficit

ASHEVILLE, NC – With North Carolina number 14 behind by five points with seven minutes left in Tuesday’s semi-final with Stanford, Roy Williams relied on a mix of veterans and real freshmen to earn a 67-63 victory and advance to the championship. game at the Maui Invitational.

UNC (3-0) led 53-50 with 10:53 left, although a stunt of turnovers – four, to be exact – sparked an 8-0 Cardinal run to give Jerod Haase’s side a 58-53 lead with 7:08 remaining. Garrison Brooks knocked down a jumper from the left side of the paint 19 seconds later and the remainder of the game would be played as a one-possession affair, at least until Leaky Black’s free throw pushed the lead from Four-point UNC with five seconds to go.

Williams played six players during that home stretch and chose Brooks and Black as his veterans to offset the rookie vibe of Caleb Love, RJ Davis and Day’Ron Sharpe. The Tar Heels were far from perfect – seeing all five turnovers in the 5:15 final – but they were competitive and played with a granularity typically reserved for loaded top-class teams. UNC beat their opponent 14-5, in the final 6:49.

For a program desperately trying to get past the ghosts of last season’s 14-19 campaign, it was moments like these that brought back the hardest memories. UNC have lost five games in which they led in double digits after halftime and were 1-6 in games decided by three points or less. These six losses equaled the record for the most losses of three points or less in school history (1940-1941).

Tuesday’s semi-final was a three-point game until Black knocked out any hope of upset at the last second with his free throw five seconds to go.

“I feel like we’ve been battle tested,” Black said after the win. “I feel like we’ve been through everything we could have been through last year and I feel like we have guys who are ready to learn and fight when the going gets tough. That’s all you can ask for. We listen to Coach and go out there and play hard. Everything else took care of itself.

Last season’s theme revolved around UNC’s inability to make plays when their opponent apparently made them all. Tuesday offered a different take, whether it was the Tar Heels converting 6 of 8 free throw attempts into the stretch or Love knocking down a left elbow jumper to break a 60-60 tie or Black leading to the basket for a critical score for push the lead to 66-63 with 1:02 to go.

“The game was decided in one or two games,” said Williams. “Day’Ron Sharpe, for example, was pushing the ball out of bounds and got a deflection and we got the ball. He also had a blockage once, but I feel very lucky.

In the 6:49 final, UNC made four of their six field goal attempts while keeping Stanford 1 in 9 on shooting. Despite the conversion gap, the Tar Heels passed their opponent, 9-6, when it mattered most. With the CCA preseason player of the year flanked by three five-star forwards, UNC’s strength lies in glass and its 43-23 lead on the boards and its 18-7 margin on points of the second chance was enough to lead the day.

“The 24 turnovers gave them 22 points, but we also beat them by 20,” said Williams. “You have to try to take your strengths and make it a big factor in the game, and your weakness, which today was definitely turning the ball around, and try to make sure that is not the most important factor.”

With a roster built on a talented rookie class and a veteran crew still haunted by last season’s failures, the Maui Invitational is quickly proving to be a foundational piece for the season ahead. After ruling out a 13-point deficit against UNLV on Monday, UNC found a way to win without having to play their best game against a strong Stanford team.

Wednesday will provide another test against Shaka Smart’s defensive Texas Longhorns in the Championship game.