CHAPEL HILL – Not that North Carolina wants to make a habit of playing games that go down to the final minute or in which the Tar Heels must come from behind late in the contests to notch victories.
They will take the wins however they come, but there is something to say about a team that routinely makes plays down to stretch to pull out wins. It can build a club’s confidence, but also layers a coat or armor that more fortifies them to navigate through increasingly treacherous waters.
And to continue winning close games.
The ACC offers those challenges, and UNC battled through for a third consecutive late-game victory in Tuesday night’s 81-75 win over Syracuse at the Smith Center. Carolina made winning plays in the game's most crucial moments, closing out the Orange 14-7 to get the victory.
"It's just toughness,” senior Garrison Brooks said. “Making plays at the end of a game, that's something we did not have last year. I think we were just making those plays."
Remember last season when Carolina lost seven times in the final seconds? Virginia, Notre Dame, Duke and so on. How about the many decent leads the Heels blew, some of which occurred in those last-second defeats?
That became their identity in a lot of ways, fair or not, but that’s how people opened when telling their story. Injuries came second. Telling the tale for the current Heels can go in several directions, with their recent crunch-time resilience inching toward center stage.
Carolina closed out Notre Dame 16-8 over the final 7:39 on Jan. 2, and last week in Coral Gables, FL, the Tar Heels outscored Miami 17-6 over the final 7:35 to earn a victory.
On Tuesday, Syracuse used a 10-3 spurt to take a 68-67 lead with 3:21 remaining, but like the Tar Heels did in the last two games, they closed it out 14-7 for the victory.
Eight of the points came from the free throw line, but three buckets were a pair of layups by Armando Bacot and one by Andrew Platek after the Heels expertly broke the press. The free throws for a team that came in shooting just 65 percent on the season were rather big.
“We went to the free throw line and made our free throws down the stretch,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said.
The Heels (8-4, 3-2 ACC) also got some defensive stops, notably not allowing Buddy Boeheim to catch fire, or even get off any good looks. Syracuse’s best perimeter shooter, who had 18 points in the first half nothing after halftime. He didn’t even attempt a shot over the final 8:41 of the game.
Leaky Black took that honor, but the other Heels did plenty of other positive things in closing out the Orange. And winning games like the last three can fuel a team with a different kind of confidence, especially for a club that lost nail biters to Texas, at NC State and at Georgia Tech earlier in the season, not to mention a year ago.
"Yeah, it can be,” Black said, referring to these games being confidence-building.
Three straight wins and the collective skip in Carolina’s step when this game ended indicates the affirmative.
