Nine players score in UNC men's basketball's 78-53 win over Miami in ACC Tournament

BROOKLYN — After falling behind early, the North Carolina men's basketball team cruised past Miami, 78-53, on Thursday in the third round of the ACC Tournament at the Barclays Center.

Isaiah Hicks scored 19 points and four Tar Heels scored in double figures to send UNC to the semifinal.

What happened?

Early on, the No. 6 Tar Heels (27-6, 14-4 ACC) hardly resembled the tournament's No. 1 seed. UNC looked tentative offensively and struggled to close out defensively against the ninth-seeded Hurricanes (21-11, 10-8 ACC), who took an 11-6 lead through the first five minutes.

But after Isaiah Hicks scored his team's first six points, North Carolina spread the wealth and secured momentum. Six Tar Heels scored during a 15-3 run — during which Miami committed five turnovers — to take a 21-14 lead.

The Hurricanes responded to the deficit with a zone defense — which baffled UNC in its 15-point loss in Miami in January. But North Carolina forced the ball inside and earned its way to the free-throw line, where an 11-of-11 showing guided the Tar Heels to a five-point halftime lead.

After hitting just one 3-pointer in the first half, North Carolina came out firing in the second. Two triples from Joel Berry and Justin Jackson — who each scored two points in the opening period — gave UNC some breathing room, and the Tar Heels never looked back.

Both teams traded baskets for the duration of the second half, but North Carolina's lead never dipped below nine points. Four Tar Heels finished with at least 10 points and UNC finished 53 percent from the floor to cap off an impressive introduction to this year's tournament.

Who stood out?

Isaiah Hicks is back and better than ever.

After a rough five-game stretch to close out February, the senior forward ended his on-court silence with a 21-point revival five days ago against Duke. From the opening tip Thursday, he made his presence known.

Hicks scored the first six points for UNC — including a two-handed slam — and hit all seven of his free-throw attempts to end the half with a game-high 13 points. The senior slowed his pace in the second half, but he still finished with 19 points to lead his team in scoring.

For Miami, first-year guard Bruce Brown did all he could to topple the conference's top team. But his 21 points weren't enough to offset North Carolina's balanced attack, which saw nine players score on Thursday.

When was it decided?

After Justin Jackson's 3-pointer two minutes into the second half gave UNC an eight-point lead, the Tar Heels surged past the Hurricanes for the rest of the afternoon.

But Theo Pinson, unintentionally, sealed the game.

With just under nine minutes left and his team leading by 13, the junior wing lobbed a potential alley-oop to a crashing Isaiah Hicks. But the ball slipped through Hicks' hands and nearly went out of bounds.

Hicks chased the ball and flipped it back to Pinson, who immediately rocketed a pass to an awaiting Tony Bradley under the basket. But instead, the ball found the nylon for Pinson's only 3-pointer of the game.

The shot left Pinson and the Barclays Center stunned, but it gave UNC its largest lead to that point. Miami never recovered.

Why does it matter?

After winning the ACC Tournament last year and claiming the top seed this season, the Tar Heels entered Thursday's game as heavy favorites against the Hurricanes and front-runners to win the conference tournament.

An early exit from Brooklyn would have been a bitter postscript to UNC's regular-season conference title, and North Carolina couldn't afford to stumble in the first round if it hoped to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

With the win, the Tar Heels are two wins away from a second straight ACC Tournament title — which would be a convincing stamp on its tournament resume come Selection Sunday.

Where do they play next?

The Tar Heels earn another day in Brooklyn, where UNC will play in the semifinal tomorrow at 7 p.m. 

North Carolina will face the winner between No. 4 seed Louisville or No. 5 seed Duke. The Tar Heels beat the Cardinals two weeks ago in the Smith Center and downed the Blue Devils five days ago to close out the regular season.

@CJacksonCowart

sports@dailytarheel.com