Tar Heels fall short of comeback, lose ACC home opener to Fighting Irish

Through nearly 39 minutes of play on Monday, the No. 18 North Carolina men's basketball team had been completely dismantled by No. 13 Notre Dame and its prolific offense.

And if the Tar Heels had anything to hang their hats on, it was their overwhelming 39-24 edge on the glass and 21-6 scoring advantage off offensive rebounds.

But with 1:07 remaining and UNC grasping onto a single digit lead — its first since within the first two minutes of the game — Kennedy Meeks watched as Notre Dame's Zach Auguste slipped by him, hauled in an offensive board and made an effortless layup.

The shot ended up sealing a 71-70 win for the Fighting Irish (15-1, 3-0 ACC), as the Tar Heels (11-4, 1-1) were unable to knock down any of their final five shot attempts — including a 3-point heave by Marcus Paige as time expired.

“It was just an uphill battle,” Coach Roy Williams said. “We kept fighting, kept fighting. It’s amazing with the offensive rebounds, we got 21 and they got six, yet the biggest play of the game was their offensive rebound and put-back.”

Notre Dame, which entered the game leading the country in field goal percentage at 55.3 percent, displayed its shooting prowess early and often.

The Fighting Irish led by as many as 10 points in the first half, and the duo of Pat Connaughton and Demetrius Jackson caused UNC’s defense fits — scoring 22 of Notre Dame’s 38 first half points on 8-of-12 shooting en route to a four-point lead at the break.

The 6-foot-5 Connaughton, who junior forward J.P. Tokoto recalled defending in last season’s contest at Notre Dame, played the power forward position in the Fighting Irish’s four-guard set — creating a severe mismatch for the Tar Heels defensively.

“Connaughton came out and just attacked us off the dribble, just a big time 3-point shooter,” Williams said. “It’s a tough matchup for us with Brice (Johnson) or Isaiah (Hicks) trying to guard him, but that’s what it is.”

Less than three minutes after the Tar Heels emerged from the locker room after halftime, Meeks picked up his third and fourth fouls within a 38-second span and headed toward the bench, where he’d remain for nearly 11 minutes.

Around this time, freshman swingman Theo Pinson leaned over to freshman guard Joel Berry on the bench. The pair of freshmen had played five minutes combined in the first half, but Pinson knew their time was coming.

“I told Joel, ‘We didn’t play that much first half, but we got to be ready,’” Pinson said. “’We know we’re going to get our chance, but when we get in there, we gotta take advantage of it.’”

With Meeks sitting out and the Fighting Irish utilizing their smaller lineup to march out to an 11-point lead, Williams called upon the freshmen — turning Pinson’s prediction to reality.

Pinson was the first to enter the game, and his impact was the most significant. Upon subbing into the game with 12:50 remaining, he drilled a 3-pointer from the right side of the floor and followed it up by soaring over two Notre Dame defenders for a put-back dunk to ignite the crowd of 20,604 as well as UNC’s comeback.

“They didn’t recruit me to be intimidated in these type of games, so I just tried to come in and contribute any way I could,” said Pinson, who finished with seven points and a team-best eight rebounds in 16 minutes of play.

After a 3-pointer by Jackson at the 10:12 mark, the Fighting Irish failed to convert on six-straight shot attempts and the Tar Heels stormed back.

UNC went on a 14-6 run, and with 2:07 left, Meeks backed down Jerian Grant — Notre Dame’s leading scorer prior to Monday’s game — and drew the defensive foul. The foul sent Grant to the bench with his fifth personal and evoked a towel-waving frenzy by Joel James at the end of the UNC bench.

Meeks made both free throws to give the Tar Heels a 70-69 lead, and the Smith Center erupted as the big man pedaled down the floor and waved his arms in the air for the fans to get louder.

“Once we went on that run where we were getting stops and scoring the ball or getting fouled and to the line, we had the mindset we were going to win this game no matter what,” Tokoto said.

But despite this radiating confidence, UNC wouldn’t score again. Auguste swept in and scored the game-winning layup exactly one minute after Meeks’ go-ahead free throw, and the Tar Heels dropped their ACC home opener while missing 13 of their final 14 shots from the field.

While the Tar Heels left the floor and proceeded into their silent locker room to ponder what could have been, Tokoto said the players couldn’t hang their heads in disappointment solely due their inability to make shots in the game’s waning minutes.

“We didn’t come out to play early,” Tokoto said. “If we did, if we came out with the intensity we were supposed to come out with, the game probably would have been different.

“You can’t get down on your self and we can’t get down on ourselves because we lost the game. We didn’t want it to begin with, and when we did, it was with 10 minutes left in the game. You just have to learn from it.”

sports@dailytarheel.com