By Aaron Beard
Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina did its best to correct the mistakes from a miserable performance at Georgia Tech, then added another year to Clemson’s run of futility in Chapel Hill.
Harrison Barnes hit the go-ahead 3-pointer to snap a tie with 4:58 left to help the Tar Heels beat the Tigers 75-65 on Tuesday night, improving to 55-0 all-time against Clemson at home.
Barnes finished with 13 points for the Tar Heels (13-5, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who blew a 10-point lead in the second half. But North Carolina — playing with some of the intensity absent in Sunday’s 20-point loss to the Yellow Jackets — held the Tigers scoreless over the final 41/2 minutes and came up with enough plays to win it late.
The 55-0 home record against Clemson (13-5, 2-2) is an NCAA record for most consecutive home wins against a single opponent. And by the final seconds of this one, there was the familiar chant of “You can’t win here!” coming from the student section along the baseline nearest the UNC bench.
“You don’t want to be that one team that breaks the streak,” sophomore John Henson said, “and fortunately we’re not the team.”
Freshman Reggie Bullock added 16 of his season-high 18 points in the first half. Henson added 14 points and a key tip-in with about 2 minutes to go while also leading the defensive effort that shut down Tigers big man Jerai Grant.
North Carolina held Clemson to 35 percent shooting, including 9 for 36 (25 percent) after halftime.
It was quite an improvement for coach Roy Williams, who juggled his lineup to start freshman Kendall Marshall at point guard over junior Larry Drew II. Marshall had five points and five assists with three turnovers, while Drew had eight points, four rebounds and four steals off the bench.
“We had a less-than-10-minute session on Georgia Tech and then we moved forward to get ready for Clemson,” Williams said. “… I pleaded with them. I begged. I pushed them to have the intensity level. They’re intelligent youngsters. They know we stunk it up in the second half down there so there was no need to say anything else.”
The Tigers had their chance to silence all questions about “The Streak” for good, tying the game on a 3 from Demontez Stitt with about 7:46 left. But, as it always seems to happen in this matchup, North Carolina did enough to prolong its torment of Clemson a little longer.
Barnes caught a pass from Bullock and calmly buried a 3 from near the North Carolina bench to make it 66-63. Clemson answered with a layup off an offensive rebound from Stitt to close the gap to one on the next possession, but the Tigers couldn’t push ahead or get the stop they desperately needed.
Marshall added two free throws, then Henson tipped in a missed drive from Drew to make it 70-65 with 2:04 left. Drew punctuated the game with his steal and layup with 12.4 seconds left.”
“It’s something you want to not focus on,” Clemson’s Bryan Narcisse said of the Tigers’ winless record here, “but it’s still in the back of your mind.”
First-year Clemson coach Brad Brownell didn’t sound eager to talk about it afterward, either.
“I think it has no bearing whatsoever,” Brownell said. “It’s not like we’re in the huddle and saying, ‘We’ve got a chance to end the streak.’ We could care less. We’re just trying to figure out a way to get a basket, get a stop. … I can’t imagine in their huddle, their coaches are like, ‘Fellas, we’ve really got to win this one because we’ve got to keep the streak going.’”
Stitt, Devin Booker and Andre Young each scored 11 points for the Tigers, who had won eight straight coming in. Grant was averaging about 13 points, but had two on 1-for-12 shooting.
Bullock’s big night offset the loss of Leslie McDonald, who sat out as a precaution with a back contusion suffered in the loss to the Yellow Jackets.
Both teams lost players to injuries in the first half. Clemson’s Tanner Smith suffered a sprained right knee when Barnes fell into his leg on a drive with 9:21 left before the break, while North Carolina’s Justin Watts sprained his right ankle with about 2 minutes left.
Smith was on crutches after the game. Brownell said Smith appeared to have injured a knee ligament, though the team didn’t know the severity of the injury.