With the North Carolina basketball team facing a 50-45 College of Charleston lead with less than 13 minutes remaining, a sense of dismay set in among the Smith Center attendees.
Cougar guard Andrew Goudelock was hitting 3-pointers à la last year when his team beat UNC 82-79. And Goudelock wasn’t just hitting set shots, he was hitting circus shots.
The game seemed on track for another College of Charleston upset, and panic set in across most of the arena, except for UNC’s players.
“I loved our poise,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “They go up five. Goudelock is making some unbelievable shots, and we kept playing. And I love that. I don’t want to have to call a timeout and just let the kids panic. I think you get stronger through the course of your program if kids can figure that out themselves.”
But from that point on, it wasn’t so much that the Tar Heels kept playing as it was that the Tar Heels started competing. UNC rebounded, played defense and as Williams put it, “lost themselves in the game” en route to pulling off a game-sealing 22-8 run.
“I attribute that to our great defense,” UNC forward John Henson said. “We played defense, and we got long rebounds and we got steals.”
Henson was the first to score on the run, but the change in pace really began when UNC forward Harrison Barnes was out of position defensively. Other Tar Heels hurried to cover his man before a 3-point attempt.
The shot went up with all but one of UNC’s players away from the basket. And the air-ball fell right into Kendall Marshall’s hands.
The freshman point guard knew what to do with it and flung the ball up court to a streaking Reggie Bullock for two points.
