No. 17 North Carolina didn’t quite match the dominant pitching or hitting Wednesday that it delivered in a 25-1 spanking of Princeton the day before.

With a bit of St. Patrick’s Day luck, though, the Tar Heels (14-4) still had plenty to put away the Tigers for a 12-5 win.

When Deon Thompson made a mental error on the first play of the second half, the senior knew exactly where to go.

He ran straight up to UNC coach Roy Williams and pleaded, “Don’t kill me.”

Williams only said he’d think about it at the time, but after Thompson led UNC to an 80-72 win in the opening game of the NIT, he had nothing but compliments for his big man.

When his coach shouts instructions in broken, elementary English, former North Carolina guard Bobby Frasor usually doesn’t have a clue what he’s saying.

He just hops in the back of the line and does whatever everyone else is doing.

Fortunately for Frasor, and for BC Levski Sophia, the Bulgarian team he now plays for, basketball is a language he speaks well.

Billy Bitter didn’t resemble an All-American at all Tuesday night.

North Carolina’s star junior lacrosse player looked frustrated, confused and indecisive against Princeton.

Despite a down season, North Carolina still managed to hang on to the top spot of the Harris Poll’s annual rankings of the most popular men’s college basketball programs.

But joining UNC at No. 1 is a familiar foe just down Tobacco Road. Duke tied in popularity with its rival in the survey of 2,320 adults.

Around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, when the National Invitational Tournament gave North Carolina a No. 4 seed and a home opener, there were two buzz words in the Tar Heel locker room: relief and surprise.

Wide smiles, hearty laughs and soaring chest bumps could be seen across Henry Stadium on Monday afternoon.

It marked the first day of spring football for North Carolina, and the players were thrilled just to be back in uniform — even if it was only in helmets and gym shorts.

Strong play from the start helped the No. 30 North Carolina men’s tennis team avenge last year’s loss to N.C. State, winning 6-1 in a match that was closer than the final score indicated.

Senior Clay Donato, ranked 49th nationally, overcame a slow individual start to win his singles match 6-4, 6-2.

North Carolina’s 88-66 win against North Carolina Central went so well that even assistant coach Andrew Calder was seen smiling.

Calder, the usually irascible sidekick to head coach Sylvia Hatchell, would probably not admit it, but he was caught enjoying a laugh with a referee with about 40 seconds left in the game.

With UNC in the midst of playing their most well-rounded game in weeks, it is hard to hold it against him.

Three minutes into the second half, Chay Shegog caught a pass at the free throw line and turned to see what the defense had allotted her.

She figured it out pretty quickly.

Instead of using her 6-foot-5 frame to get a shot off over the defense, Shegog took a step back and zipped a pass to a streaking Laura Broomfield for the easy deuce.

GREENSBORO – It’s one and done in the ACC Tournament for the North Carolina men’s basketball team.

The formula for UNC’s latest loss – a 62-58 defeat to Georgia Tech (20-11) – was a familiar one. Too many turnovers, too many missed shots and too much inexperience down the stretch.

DURHAM — Duke's Saturday-night thrashing of North Carolina was a tale of two seniors.

On one hand, there was Duke's Brian Zoubek. The 7-footer from Haddonfield, N.J., hauled in 13 rebounds as Duke clobbered the Tar Heels on his Senior Night.

 Durham — North Carolina trails Duke by 27 points after 20 minutes of play at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 53-26.

Kyle Singler leads the Blue Devils with 19 points. Nolan Smith has 16, and John Scheyer has 11 points and seven assists.

Coming off of two consecutive wins, North Carolina will enter Cameron Indoor Stadium with as much momentum as it has had in months. What it’s short on is a healthy roster.