CHAPEL HILL – Florida State shredded North Carolina’s defense in the first half Saturday afternoon at the Smith Center.

The Seminoles drove right at the Tar Heels and got a bevy of quality looks at the basket near the rim, so many that at times the Heels looked almost helpless trying to impede FSU’s drives.

In the second half, however, that dramatically changed, and as much as anything, is why UNC defeated the No. 11 team in the nation 78-70. The shift actually began just before the intermission.

“Well, we were a little better covering the basketball,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said about the second half, before offering an example of what went wrong over the first 20 minutes.

“But, close to the end of the first half, RJ (Davis) got beat on the drive and the guy goes all the way to the basket and we had Caleb (Love) and Anthony (Harris) on the right side. And, at the timeout, I said, ‘Guys, you’ve got to get involved. You’ve got to come in and help.’”

Like the smart veteran club it is, FSU went right back to the well again, and this time the young Heels properly played it.

“So, the very next play after the timeout, the guy did the same thing,” Williams said. “Anthony came in and helped and then Walker Kessler came over and blocked the shot. So, we had people trying to guard, not just one guy trying to guard the ball and the other four guys watching.”

That carried over into the second half and pretty much stayed with the Tar Heels the rest of the way.

FSU was 7-for-15 on layup and dunk attempts in the first half, but 7-for-20 after halftime. The difference, however, is 10 of the attempts after the intermission were on put-back attempts following the Seminoles’ own misses. Only two were put backs in the first half.

So, UNC (15-8, 9-5 ACC) allowed 13 layup or dunk attempts over the first 20 minutes, mostly via drives, and just 10 in the second half, seven of which were in the final minute of the game when the Heels backed off a tad to avoid fouling.

“I think it was very important, just because they’ve got some really good drivers,” UNC freshman guard Kerwin Walton said. “They’ve got a couple guys who can really just get the ball to the rim. So, just being able to stop the dribble drive, force them into bad shots or turnovers, was really big for us and it definitely showed in the second half.

“Sometimes it got out of control or they would throw the ball away when we would send more guys to them when they drove. And we just focused on challenging the shooters and that's how our game plan was.”

Backing up what Walton said, FSU (14-4, 10-3) had 17 turnovers on the day, 12 in the second half that led to 10 Carolina points. Furthermore, Carolina blocked nine FSU shots, including four by Kessler.

So, UNC’s defense not only stymied the Noles, but fueled some of its own scoring in a half the Heels outscored FSU 49-29. And that, as much as any other reason, is why scored the upset victory.