hgutmann@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL — During TV timeouts, North Carolina coach Roy Williams often kneels down to address his players, keeping his left foot on the ground and placing his right knee on a towel.
During those breaks, senior Tyler Zeller knows to watch Williams’ knee. When it comes up, the team is in trouble.
“Very rarely does that knee come up,” Zeller said. “So we know we have to change when that happens.”
Williams popped up during the timeout with less than eight minutes remaining against Clemson on Saturday at the Smith Center, and the Tar Heels responded accordingly.
UNC didn’t allow a field goal for the final 7:42, pulling away for a 74-52 win and improving to 56-0 all-time at home against the Tigers.
Though the Tar Heels (23-4, 10-2 ACC) wound up shooting 49.2 percent, including 58.6 percent in the second half, it was their defense that sealed the victory.
Clemson was within 47-41 with 12 minutes left and had four more chances to get closer, as UNC went almost four minutes without a point. But the Tar Heels forced three turnovers and an airball during those possessions before John Henson finally broke the drought with a layup.
Harrison Barnes then stole the ball and was fouled, making both free throws for two of his game-high 24 points and putting UNC up by double-digits.
“We’ve been getting better and better defensively,” Williams said. “Everyone thinks that defense is just sweat and slobber and yelling at guys. You have to know what the dickens you’re doing, and I think our guys are more in tune with our defensive principles right now.”
That said, Williams sensed the need for more energy during the timeout later in the half, and he let the team know.
“He kind of spazzed out on us,” UNC point guard Kendall Marshall said. “To be honest with you, I couldn’t really focus on what he was saying. I was just like, ‘Is this guy going to be OK?’ He was really getting after us.
“But the message got across. We found a way to finish out the game, not just hitting shots but on the defensive end. That’s what’s going to be winning games for us down the stretch.”
UNC’s shutdown defense led to Coach Brad Brownell’s worst loss since taking over at Clemson a year ago. Though the Tigers (13-13) are 5-7 in the ACC, they hadn’t lost a league game by more than seven points before Saturday.
Besides forcing 11 second-half turnovers, UNC once again won the rebounding battle 39-26. And it wasn’t just Zeller and Henson, two of the top three rebounders in the conference.
Henson had eight rebounds and Zeller had seven, but Barnes also chipped in seven and shooting guard Reggie Bullock had six, including three on the offensive end.
“We can’t just say that John and ‘Z’ are two of the best rebounders so let them go get it,” Williams said.
Marshall also reached 13 assists for the seventh time this season and improved his ACC-best average to 9.7.
“He’s one of my favorite players in college basketball because of the way he passes and plays,” Brownell said. “He’s so unique. You don’t see many guys like him — his ability to pass, his unselfishness, his IQ for the game. Who wouldn’t want to play with that guy? Who wouldn’t what to coach him?”
With Marshall distributing the ball, the other four starters all hit double figures, and Barnes scored at least 23 points for the third time in four games.
Barnes, who shot 9-of-18 from the field, had tied an ACC freshman record with 40 points the last time he faced Clemson in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
“My high school color is orange,” said Barnes, who went Ames (Iowa) High. “It must be the orange that gives me that confidence.”
Barnes also was 3-of-6 and Bullock was 3-of-5 from behind the arc for UNC, which had made only 24 percent of its 3-point shots in the past five games.
Barnes finished his day by hitting a 3-pointer with 1:31 remaining — assisted by Marshall — as the student began to chant: “You can’t win here.”
Clemson had broken an 18-game losing streak at Wake Forest earlier this season, but UNC’s defense didn’t give the Tigers a chance to break the one in Chapel Hill, which started in 1926 and is the longest streak of home wins against an opponent in NCAA history.
“We have the ability, we know the concepts,” Marshall said. “If we go out there and exert the effort defensively that we did for about 30 minutes tonight, if we’re able to do that for the rest of the season then we’re going to be tough to beat.”
No. 8 UNC 74, Clemson 52
CLEMSON|MP|FG|FT|Reb|A|F|Pt
Narcisse|17|0-1|0-0|0-0|1|2|0
Jennings|30|3-7|2-2|0-3|2|2|9
Booker|27|4-9|1-1|1-9|2|1|9
Smith|36|2-6|1-2|0-3|4|0|6
Young|35|5-13|0-0|1-2|1|2|13
Baciu|13|2-3|1-2|1-2|0|1|5
Coleman|6|0-1|0-0|0-1|0|0|0
Sullivan|5|0-2|1-3|0-0|0|0|1
Hall|9|0-0|2-4|0-1|0|1|2
McDaniels|15|1-4|2-2|1-1|0|2|4
Sapp|6|1-2|0-0|0-1|0|1|3
Fields|1|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|0|0
Totals|200|18-48|10-16|5-26|10|12|52
Percentages: FG .375, FT .625. 3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Young 3-7, Sapp 1-1, Jennings 1-2, Smith 1-3, Booker 0-1, McDaniels 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Baciu, Jennings, Booker). Turnovers: 15 (Jennings 5, Young 3, Booker 3, McDaniels 2, Smith, Sapp). Steals: 7 (Jennings 2, Smith, Hall, Booker, Narcisse, Young).
UNC|MP|FG|FT|Reb|A|F|Pt
Barnes|31|9-18|3-4|2-7|2|1|24
Zeller|30|6-9|2-2|2-7|0|2|14
Henson|31|6-14|1-2|1-8|1|1|13
Bullock|28|4-7|0-0|3-6|2|1|11
Marshall|35|2-4|0-0|0-1|13|3|4
Watts|13|1-2|0-0|0-0|0|2|2
McAdoo|11|1-3|0-0|0-3|0|1|2
Hairston|6|0-3|0-0|0-2|0|1|0
White|4|0-0|0-0|0-0|1|2|0
Hubert|7|2-2|0-0|2-2|0|0|4
Simmons|1|0-1|0-0|0-1|0|0|0
Dupont|1|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|0|0
Crouch|1|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|1|0
Cooper|1|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|0|0
Totals|200|31-63|6-8|11-39|19|15|74
Percentages: FG .492, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 6-14, .429 (Bullock 3-5, Barnes 3-6, Marshall 0-1, Hairston 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 7 (Henson 3, Zeller, McAdoo, Hubert, Watts). Turnovers: 12 (Marshall 3, Barnes 3, Zeller 3, Crouch, Hairston, Bullock). Steals: 7 (Barnes 2, Henson 2, Hubert, Zeller, Marshall).
Clemson|22|30—52
North Carolina|31|43—74
A—21,750. Officials—Les Jones, Jim Burr, Dwayne Gladden.
