Tar Heels survive Washington 86-83, advance to Sweet 16

CHARLOTTE — The second time around, John Henson made sure his hands ended the game.

Henson had a chance to secure a North Carolina victory with one second left against Washington, but a half-court heave slipped through his grasp and out of bounds for one last Husky try.

When Isaiah Thomas hoisted a long two-pointer in a three-point game, Henson knew he could swipe at the ball as it fell just short of the rim in UNC’s 86-83 win against Washington in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

“I told John in the locker room I wish he’d have just caught that ball,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “It would have made it not quite as exciting.”

The back-and-forth affair saw 12 lead changes and UNC (28-7) hold the lead for only 6:31 of the entire match. The Tar Heels bumped their lead to as many as six points with two minutes left, but Washington (24-11) cut it to one with 17 seconds remaining.

Freshman point guard Kendall Marshall, who scored 13 points and dished an NCAA tournament team-record 14 assists, missed the front-end of his 1-and-1 attempt with 15 seconds left to extend UNC’s lead. But a failed Huskies in-bounds play forced UW to send Dexter Strickland to the foul line, where he sank both of his shots.

“Down the stretch like that, you have to have confidence,” Strickland said. “You have to believe in yourself and take those big shots. You work on them all the time in practice, you just got to be ready.”

The shooting guard had been stricken with the cold-shooting bug recently, missing every shot he took in the ACC Tournament before going 3-for-6 against Long Island on Friday.

Strickland has played through a knee injury suffered against Florida State earlier in the season and will require surgery after the year is complete.

“Dexter is taking a lot of criticism because all the other four games are getting so much attention and everybody’s saying, ‘Well Dexter’s a weak link,’” Williams said.

“To be honest with you, when he went to the free-throw line I said, ‘This youngster’s going to make this. I couldn’t be happier with anyone on our team stepping up there.’”

Washington entered halftime with a 45-44 advantage after fighting with the Tar Heels throughout the first half in a game of runs. Washington went on a 12-0 run in just more than a minute to take an 11-point lead midway through the half. But UNC finished the half on a 7-2 run to tighten the Huskies’ lead to one.

Seven-foot center Aziz N’Diaye disrupted UNC’s rebounding attempts early in the game. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar inserted the 7-footer to battle with Tyler Zeller. N’Diaye, who finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, got at least a hand on every UW miss in the first four minutes of the game.

“Aziz just brings a different presence that we haven’t had in the past,” UW forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning said. “He just gives us a different look. So when we play a team like North Carolina we can match up better against them.”

N’Diaye’s defense still couldn’t halt Tyler Zeller’s game-high 23 points or John Henson’s eighth-straight double-double.

Now part of the Sweet 16, the Tar Heels will travel Friday to Newark, N.J., to play Marquette. But the team wasn’t looking forward to that contest immediately after the win — they’re still celebrating.

“I’m old fashioned, I’m corny,” Williams said. “The greatest part of today’s game was those kids waiting on me in the locker room and the looks on their faces.”