LAWRENCE, KS – North Carolina played about as poorly as it can for a half Friday night, and then about as well as it can for a half.
The result was the Tar Heels stormed back from a 20-point deficit to lead by four points with less than four minutes remaining, but they couldn’t close the deal in falling, 92-89, at top-ranked Kansas at historic Allen Fieldhouse.
It really was a tale of two halves. Carolina was out of sorts offensively for the first 19 minutes and put up little resistance to then Jayhawks when the home team had the ball. That’s how Kansas built a 51-31 lead with 1:09 left before halftime.
But a little spurt by the Heels, capped by a put back in transition by freshman forward James Brown, had Carolina heading to the locker room trailing by 15 points. That’s a lot, but it’s not 20. And it gave the Heels a bit of a boost.
It carried for the remainder of the game, as the Heels finally caught the Jayhawks taking the lead 80-79 with 7:09 left to play.
"Well, we were playing defense,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said. “They shot 60 percent against us in the first half. They were getting everything that they wanted. They were running their offense like they do in shootaround. They were getting threes, they were getting layups, they were getting dunks, they were getting to the free throw line. Didn't feel any pressure or physicality from us, from the defensive end. And so, as I was telling the team during the first half, told them at halftime, that things can change, and things can change quickly if our will and our want to and our desire and the defensive end raises.
"And that's what we did in the second half. I thought we got stops, even though they scored 50 points in the paint. I thought we did a better job in the second half. We didn't turn the ball over. I think we only had four turnovers in the second half, and then we started attacking the basket, and that allowed us to score the basket, get fouled, get to the free throw line and then be able to knock down some 3s. And so I was really proud of them, how they got back into the game."
The ninth-ranked Tar Heels fell to 1-1 on the season while the Jayhawks improved to 2-0.
Here, we take you inside the game: