CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The North Carolina men’s basketball team was clinging to a one-point lead in the final 20 seconds of Saturday’s contest at No. 25 Virginia, when Kendall Marshall found Tyler Zeller on the right elbow.
Zeller was not even supposed to be an option on the play, but he turned the opportunity into an authoritative and decisive moment with a slam dunk in the last 13 seconds, giving UNC the final advantage, 54-51.
“It’s a play we run all the time,” Zeller said. “I was actually the only person that wasn’t supposed to be an option to score and somehow I ended up with the ball.”
The set was designed for Zeller to be the screener, but Zeller slipped free and Marshall got him the ball. Virginia’s Akil Mitchell stepped to Zeller and fell for the most important shot fake of the game.
“I knew that time was running down, so I shot faked and once I was around him the lane was wide open,” Zeller said. “The only person there was Mike Scott, so if he jumped I had to go up and finish, so I just had to go up strong.”
Marshall saw Zeller sliding across the lane and knew as soon as he made the dish to Zeller that he had put the ball in capable hands.
“I figured if I threw it to him he’d be able to get a shot off,” Marshall said. “He made a very tough move to be able to make a pump fake like that, take one dribble and finish at rim — with authority. (For) a 7-footer, I think that’s extremely impressive.”
Not only did the senior Academic All-American score the final bucket of the game, but he also scored the first 10 points for the Tar Heels as they jumped out to an early 10-6 lead. He finished the game with 20 of North Carolina’s 54 points, leading all scorers.
He also picked up six rebounds and a nifty, cross-paint assist to John Henson.
