UNC wins at Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM — It should have come as no surprise that North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson all reached double-digit points at Joel Coliseum on Tuesday night against Wake Forest.

But as the Tar Heels shot just 31 percent from the field — UNC’s lowest field-goal percentage in a win since coach Roy Williams’ first year as coach in 2003 — in their 600th ACC win, the numbers almost seemed out of place.

Slow from the tip, No. 5 UNC (19-3, 6-1 ACC) played dormant offensive basketball to edge Wake Forest (11-11, 2-6 ACC) with a 68-53 victory that handed the Demon Deacons their seventh loss in January alone.

“Neither team shot the ball in the basket,” Williams said. “It was an ugly game. Sometimes you have to win ugly if you want to have a great year.”

From the start of the game, second-chance points and shots from the paint seemed to be the only ones falling in North Carolina’s favor. Most of those, too, came from Zeller, who led the team with 18 points and 18 boards.

About 14 minutes into the first half, Henson’s third of four blocks for the night was quickly converted into a slam by Zeller. Finally, it seemed, the Tar Heels found comfort on the offensive end.

But even that comfort was temporary.

“They did a great job of taking us out of what we wanted to do, and then we just missed a lot of shots,” Zeller said. “Some of it could be that we’re a little bit tired after three games in six days. Some of it could just be that we were off tonight.”

Although a 9-0 run gave North Carolina a lead with a little breathing room, the Tar Heels still only managed to shoot 34.3 percent from the field in the first half.

In the second half, that number dropped back below 30 in no time — down to 27.8.

“I’ve got to do a better job of maybe working practices so we don’t take as much of their legs because I really didn’t think that we would shoot the basketball like that,” Williams said. “I told my team, ‘I’m tired of saying we’re good shooters. Start making the daggum things in the game.’”

And the Tar Heels weren’t making up for its stagnant shooting performance from long range either.

UNC finished the night with just four shots drained from beyond the arc, and one of those was an easy swish from Barnes, fresh on the court at the end of the first half from an injury scare.

With 7:49 on the clock, Barnes subbed out and was evaluated by a trainer who followed him back to the locker room. His sprained left ankle only kept the sophomore forward from a few first-half minutes, and he still finished the game with 13 points.

And what Barnes couldn’t do, sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall could. Marshall finished the game with 14 points listed with his six assists and three steals.

“It was just the point in time where I felt like I had to, from the scoring aspect, I had to put the team on my back,” Marshall said. “No — I’m joking. I was just fortunate enough to be able to go out there and knock down some shots to help my team out.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.