What a great comeback win for the Heels today. Sure, it wasn't the kind of epic, '8 points in 17 seconds' Carolina comeback that has helped make the program famous. After all, Maryland is down a bit this year and the Heels were only down 9 with about 15 minutes to go.
But it WAS a game where Carolina took repeated blows to the head - from Stoglin and Len in the first half, from the referees, from their own turnovers, and from a hostile crowd - all game long. The great news is the Heels refused to get knocked out - though they were knocked down - and eventually rallied to win 83 to 74.
This game had upset written all over it. Actually, not all over it - but it was in the margins, and that writing got bigger and bigger as the first half progressed. Harrison Barnes looked bothered by his ankle, Kendall Marshall was turning it over, John Henson looked unfocused and our bench intimidated.
Only the surging Tyler Zeller kept the upset story from developing He was excellent again today - he played a man's game on his way to 22 and 7 despite 4 fouls and only 22 minutes - and continues to peak as the season progresses. We even saw some emotion from Psycho Z today during Carolina's decisive second half run.
But as it was last year, and again of late, Harrison Barnes asserted himself with some scintillating play in the final 15 minutes in College Park to lead the Heels. After Carolina fell behind by 9 points, Barnes took over and hit a variety shots from all over the floor - 3s, drives, and a clutch pull up jumper with 3 minutes to go. The only common denominator? Every shot he took was a tough one. Barnes' focus was freaky and inspirational - and the deciding factor in today's win.
Zeller and Barnes were excellent today but they got plenty of help in the second half from Marshall and Henson. Marshall was spectacular in the second half, both with his big three-pointer and his timely drives to the hoop and trademark passes. He finished with a career high of 16 assists, a ridiculous stat that does not come close to quantifying how precise he was in the last 15 minutes of this win.
After 30+ minutes of ragged play and bad shooting Henson joined the fun late, too. His stone-cold turnaround jumper late was Rasheed-esque, and defensively he was huge down the stretch with a game-changing block that went a long way in silencing the Comcast Center crowd.
Finally, kudos to Reggie Bullock for some great plays late on offensive, 11 points and 5 boards, and a game-long harassment of Terrell Stoglin. Stoglin got his points but missed 13 of his 21 shots and late he was gassed and could not buy a basket, much of that due to Bullock.
Not epic, but still a great road win. Not epic, but a comeback that saw every Tar Heels player make a big play in the second half. Not epic, but the kind of road win that gives a team lots of confidence and swagger.
A few more Heels notes:
- Looking for another reason to be disgruntled about the next round of ACC expansion? With 16 teams in basketball, each team will only play one team twice a year in a home-and-home series every year. That means that Carolina will only play State twice a year once every three years (four times total in 3 years as part of the regular rotation). BOO on that.
- Finally, I do not have a problem with John Henson's dunk as time expired. There was time on the clock, Maryland had a player come over to try to stop him, and frankly it was a fitting and emphatic exclamation point on a big road win.
- And finally, finally, folks probably remember that Michael Jordan's epic 'rock the cradle' dunk came in College Park as time expired on a UNC road win. So Henson's dunk had some historical precedent.
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