Tar Heels tame Huskies

HARTFORD, Conn. — In the first half of Sunday’s game against Connecticut, North Carolina engaged in a tug-of-war with the Huskies, exchanging the lead nine times.

After trailing 34-31 at the intermission, the Tar Heels tore the lead away with just more than 13 minutes left and didn’t give it back, decisively taming the Huskies, 77-70.

“We knew we had to be extremely focused and extremely patient,” said UNC forward Rashad McCants. “They’re a very talented team. They’re the biggest team we’ve ever faced, the biggest team I’ve ever seen. We knew they were going to block a lot of shots.”

It was the first time in four attempts this season that UNC won after trailing at the half.

The win against UConn. (15-6) was UNC’s 20th of the season, marking the first time since 2000-01 — the last in its 31-year streak of 20-win campaigns — that North Carolina matched that total.

The Tar Heels (20-3) were led by strong performances from their frontcourt, which faced a large Connecticut lineup featuring three starters taller than 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-11 reserve center Hilton Armstrong. Armstrong played 18 minutes to compensate for the absence of Connecticut’s leading scorer, guard Rashad Anderson.

MEN'S BASKETBALL UNC 77 Connecticut 70

Senior Jawad Williams led UNC in scoring against the Huskies after consecutive dismal outings. Williams scored eight of his 17 points in a row late in the first half when Williams nailed two 3s and a turnaround jumper to cap a 10-2 run.

“I figured if I didn’t play well, my team wasn’t going to win, so I decided to make a conscious effort (to be more aggressive),” Williams said.

Williams’ fellow big man Sean May posted a double-double for the second game in a row for the first time this season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

The Tar Heels did struggle at times against the height of the Huskies, whose four-forward lineup swatted 16 UNC shots, led by 4 blocks each from Josh Boone and Rudy Gay. The imposing height forced UNC coach Roy Williams to adjust his lineup.

“I went big one time and had Marvin, Jawad and Sean — all three — in the game at once, and we haven’t done that very often,” Roy Williams said. “You can let the other team’s lineup change yourself if you want to, but I try to change and go by what we do, and we just have to go out and guard somebody with a Connecticut jersey on.”

Blocked shots aside, UNC struggled to find the bucket in the first half, shooting only 34 percent in the period.

After suffering through the early shooting woes, UNC came out with a renewed vigor to attack the basket in the second half, scoring 26 points in the paint after the break, compared to 10 before the intermission.

“We knew coming into the game they had a lot of huge players,” May said. “But we played against them before. Last year they were just as big. We knew that we just had to attack and we’d be fine, and that was it for us.”

Point guard Raymond Felton led the charge, slicing and dicing his way to 14 points and seven assists after the break, including eight during the decisive 16-6 run that started with 12 minutes remaining and broke open the game.

With the game tied at 48, Felton nailed a 3-pointer, dished to May for a layup, nailed another three, hit a runner and then kicked out a pass to Jawad Williams, who dropped in a 3-pointer of his own. Felton was then relieved by Quentin Thomas, who promptly served up an assist to McCants, who closed out the run with a trey.

UNC’s overall performance both earned praise from and eased the pain of Wednesday’s loss to Duke for Roy Williams.

“I liked our competitiveness, I liked our composure down the stretch,” he said. “I feel about 179 degrees from the way I felt on Wednesday night. I don’t feel very good (physically), but mentally I feel like a queen.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.