UNC's second-half surge tames Tigers

CLEMSON, S.C. — All Raymond Felton could do was throw up his arms in disgust.

Sean May had just thrown up an outlet lob that was immediately destined to become one of North Carolina’s 16 first-half turnovers, and the junior point guard knew his team should have been playing smarter and competing harder.

But the No. 6 Tar Heels were able to shrug off the sloppy, mistake-riddled first half to thump the Tigers 77-58 at Littlejohn Coliseum on Wednesday.

“We just didn’t compete (in the first half),” Felton said. “We just didn’t bring it.”

MEN'S BASKETBALL UNC 77 Clemson 58

North Carolina (15-2, 4-1 ACC) led by as many as 11 points in the first half but had two field goal droughts of longer than five minutes to allow Clemson (10-7, 1-4) to tie the score at halftime.

Clemson also capitalized on those 16 turnovers, converting them into 15 of its 27 first-half points.

“I got on them at halftime,” said UNC coach Roy Williams. “I thought we competed so much better, with so much more focus in the second half. … In the first half we had 16 turnovers, and you can’t beat anybody in any league playing like that.”

But the Tar Heels came out focused after halftime and immediately pounced on Clemson with an 11-0 run, and the Tigers would get no closer than nine the rest of the game.

Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams led the second-half resurgence for UNC. McCants had a game-high 23 points and six assists, scoring 17 after halftime. Marvin Williams scored 12 points, all in the second half.

“We were just out there lackadaisical, going through the motions, thinking that Clemson was going to be an easy game,” McCants said. “But they competed, and they made us play, so we had to come out and blow them out in the second half.”

North Carolina also took better care of the ball in the second half, committing just four turnovers in the first 16 minutes. But while the Tar Heels were able to overcome their first-half struggles, the Tigers weren’t.

Clemson didn’t score a field goal in the second half for more than six minutes. After the Tigers hit 11 of 13 3-pointers to upset UNC last year, they struggled from beyond the arc, hitting 5 of 19 attempts.

The Tar Heels held Clemson to 31 percent shooting for the game and out-rebounded the Tigers by eight in the second half. Felton led the team with 10 rebounds, and Jawad Williams collected nine.

“Everybody tells us our defense is so much better, but it’s not so much better,” Roy Williams said. “It wasn’t very good, but in the second half it was much better. … If we compete like we did in the second half, we can become a good defensive team.”

Like the Tar Heels have done for much of the season, they converted defense into offense, outscoring Clemson 14-0 on the fast break.

That defense was a result of an intensity that was lacking in the first half. Few players illustrated the disparity between the effort in the first and second half better than Marvin Williams, who had no points and one rebound in the first 20 minutes.

Late in the second half, the freshman threw down a ferocious dunk over Clemson’s Cheyenne Moore, who fouled him in the process. After the whistle, Williams let out a loud scream directed at the student section seated behind the goal.

“Rashad told me I had to pick my intensity up a little bit, so that’s just what I tried to do,” said Williams, who finished with eight rebounds. “Good things happen.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.