What was a four-point game at the half has now turned into North Carolina outscoring the Friars by 12 and running away with it in the second half.
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The Tar Heels advance to their 33rd regional semifinal and their 27th Sweet 16 appearance in the program’s history. After winning the first game 7-3, the Panthers fell to the Tar Heels 13-3 in six innings in the second. The team has held its last three opponents to 57 points per game, holding each of them well below their average field-goal percentage on the year. Kyron Cartwright, Dunn’s heir apparent at the point next season, scored seven – all in the first half. Paige responded with a three to tie the game and a vicious block from Brice Johnson fired up the crowd and the Tar Heels heading into the waning minutes of the half. Providence went on an 8-2 run to take a 22-21 lead, with Bentil scoring half of those points. However, if UNC takes the Friars for granted then an upset could be in the cards. If struggling point guards Marcus Paige and Kris Dunn can get going, though, a total of 151 should be no trouble. But a sign of things to come quickly followed, as Bentil picked up his second foul only 1:15 into the half.
“We’ve harped every day about getting better, getting better, getting better (at practices), and if we do get better every day, we’ll be playing our best basketball at the end of the year”, Williams said. “Me and Isaiah were just wreaking havoc down there for a while”.
DES MOINES, Iowa – Indiana is headed back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013.
ACC Sixth Man of the Year Hicks played just six minutes in the first half before picking up two fouls.
The problem for UNC was the team that started the game looked nothing like the group that cut down the nets at last week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson didn’t have a good defensive matchup against the more versatile Rodney Bullock, either.
The Friars have been aided by their role players thus far.
That didn’t last, though. It was at its best after halftime, when it shot 60 percent during the final 20 minutes.
Unlike in their home loss to Duke, the Tar Heels found ways to keep Johnson active against a foul-plagued post player, and he responded with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
He made one of the game’s biggest shots, at least at the time. Johnson had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Providence. Blue Devil left-hander Trent Swart is slated to start opposite Tar Heel right-hander J.B. Bukauskas on ESPN3. Providence went the final 5:50 of the first half without a basket….
Aside from Dunn and Bentil, the three other starters for the Friars combined for four points. Sheldon McClellan finished with 18 points and Davon Reed had 10 for the Hurricanes.
With the Tar Heels leading by four at the break, the two teams headed to the locker room to prepare for the second half.
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“As a team, we kind of achieved the accomplishment that we wanted to do, which was get back to the tournament”, he said. “We feel like we still have a lot of work to do”. The Huskies fell behind by as many as 11 points in the first round against Colorado, but the Jayhawks are just a different caliber team.
