Tar Heels maintain composure down the stretch to knock off UVa.

Greensboro — Brice Johnson wasn’t looking at anything in particular. Not the scoreboard, not the jumbotron, not the noisy fans that packed Greensboro Coliseum Friday night.

Instead, he looked up toward the sky, taking deep breath after deep breath.

Exactly 15.7 seconds remained on the clock of North Carolina’s (24-10) eventual 71-67 ACC Tournament win over top-seeded Virginia — and with a Virginia timeout on the floor, Johnson, in the midst of two free throws, would have to wait before he toed the line for his second. He had made the first to put UNC up by four points, but now Virginia was icing the junior forward.

“I was just trying … to not think about it and (instead) just think about anything else but what was getting ready to happen,” he said. “I was fine. I just had to relax.”

Such was the script — just having to relax — for the Tar Heels, who took an early double-digit lead over the Cavaliers (29-3) in the semifinal matchup, but then let them back in the game as the final five minutes ensued.

But this time, unlike a handful of times before in the regular season, the Tar Heels kept their composure. They wouldn’t let mental miscues allow the Cavaliers back in the game as was the case at Louisville and at Duke earlier in the season. They wouldn’t be shaken in the second half as they were at Pittsburgh and vs. N.C. State.

No, this time UNC would close it out.

“We didn’t want to get comfortable,” said junior guard Marcus Paige who scored 14 points. “Justin Anderson actually came up to me and told me when they were down 11, ‘We’re gonna come back.’ I was like, ‘Hey, you guys are the second best team in the country. We expect that. It’s gonna be a battle.’”

Paige and freshman forward Justin Jackson, who had 22 points, both credited defensive stops and not turning the ball over on offense for the Tar Heels’ ability to stay composed.

Perhaps the best example of UNC’s composure came from Johnson — not on the free throw line in the waning seconds, but on defense in the waning minutes. UNC was ahead by a point with just more than two minutes to play when the forward stole the ball and stripped UVa. of the opportunity to take the lead, showing how composed the Tar Heels can really be if they play smart instead of frazzled.

Coach Roy Williams certainly noticed it.

“Brice usually thinks defense is what you put up around your yard, defense. But Brice really did slide his feet and get in there that time,” Williams said. “That was a huge play … probably the most significant play of the game.”

Now the Tar Heels will have to stay composed one more time before heading back to Chapel Hill. They’ve proven they can close out tight games under high-pressure situations against Louisville Thursday and Virginia Friday.

But Saturday, they’ll compete in the ACC Championship game against Notre Dame a team to whom they lost by one point in the regular season. 

After Friday, Williams had a reason to be confident.

“I like the focus and the toughness,” he said. “Teams talk about us being soft and all that kind of stuff. But I liked our toughness down the stretch.”

He liked the composure, too.