North Carolina Tar Heels vs Boston College Eagles Basketball Recap

North Carolina 48, Boston College 46

Just when you thought the North Carolina Tar Heels were finding their stride as a basketball team following two-plus months of struggle, they reverted to their old and blundering ways. However, a small pinch of good fortune enabled them to maintain their upward trajectory in the college basketball cosmos.

It all seemed like a foregone conclusion that coach Roy Williams’s Carolina crew was going to stroll to victory at the Dean Smith Center on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Playing at home against the Boston College Eagles, UNC amassed a 39-24 lead with 11:30 left in regulation and stayed the course for the next four minutes, preserving a solid 45-32 cushion with 7:37 to go. The Tar Heels weren’t impressive on offense, but they were mature and relentless as they locked down the cold-shooting Eagles, who settled for perimeter jumpers early on the shot clock. Carolina steadily wore down Boston College in a game the Eagles badly needed for their NCAA Tournament hopes. BC boss Steve Donahue saw his team’s at-large chances fading away into the emerging evening. What made the situation acutely difficult for the visitors from New England was that three-point shooting took them out of contention. They’d have to get back into the ballgame by launching long ones.

Amazingly, they just about did the deed… if but for a few inches.

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Over the final 7:37, North Carolina’s offense ground to a halt. The Tar Heels got some good looks at the basket, but for the most part, they disintegrated into a pool of careless turnovers, simple lapses in concentration that ignited BC breaks to the other end of the floor. Boston College held UNC to just three points in the final seven and a half minutes, and as a result, even a modest amount of offensive output was enough to bring the Eagles within two points, at 48-46, in the final seconds. BC’s star scorer, Reggie Jackson, took way too much time on the Eagles’ last possession, denying his team enough time to grab an offensive rebound before the final horn, so when he launched a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left, the ball had to go in the net.

It almost did. The ball went halfway down but caught the inside rim and rolled to the right, no good. The ball went out of bounds to Carolina with 0.3 seconds left, and BC’s resume-making upset bid was denied.

North Carolina has to be shaken even in victory. The Tar Heels lost their poise at home against an inferior opponent. They worked hard but did not play smart, and that has to be a concern going forward. Freshman point guard Kendall Marshall has made this team better, but he looked very tentative at crunch time. UNC needs more reliable perimeter shooting and improved interior passing from its big men if it is to become a legitimate Final Four contender. The Tar Heels aren’t there yet, not by a longshot… but they can be thankful they survived on Saturday afternoon.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer