Seminoles top Heels: North Carolina loses at home 77-67 to drop to 3-10 in ACC

The sun didn't set on North Carolina's season last night, but it dropped a lot closer to the horizon.

Florida State handed North Carolina another loss, winning 77-67 in a Smith Center that was maybe two-thirds full. The loss was similar to many others in a season in which North Carolina has lost 11 of 14 games.

Florida State was never behind. The score was tied once, at 3-3. Florida State was up by 13 points in less than nine minutes, led by 17 in the first half and settled for a 48-33 halftime lead.

The lead grew to 23 points in less than five minutes after halftime. The Seminoles led by 21 with 11:35 left, and the Tar heels never got the lead under 10 points until less than a minute remained.

"We had an inability to get shots," Coach Roy Williams said. "We didn't rebound very well. It was a multitude of errors."

North Carolina fell to 14-14 overall and 3-10 in the ACC. It is tied with N.C. State for last place in the conference after its fifth ACC home loss.

The Seminoles improved to 20-7 and 8-5 , getting their fourth ACC road victory. They won at the Smith Center for the first time since Jan. 22, 2000, and for the fourth time overall.

Despite the loss in front of a floor-level student seating section that appeared half full, Will Graves said that the Tar Heels are making slight progress in trying to avoid the first losing season of Williams' 22-year career.

"I wouldn't call this us getting worse," Graves said. "Losing more than we should, it seems worse. I don't feel it's getting worse.

"I feel like we're doing little things a little better. It hasn't taken a drastic jump, but I can see little steps."

Graves led the Tar Heels with 21 points and freshman forward John Henson added 12 points. Marcus Ginyard grabbed 10 rebounds to tie his career high.

David Wear, a 6-10 freshman forward, didn't play because of discomfort in his left hip and will likely be lost for the rest of the season, according to team trainer Chris Hirth. Wear's hip was examined the past three days after he complained of hearing a "clicking" sound in the hip when he was running.

Hirth said that the problem could be caused by "loose bodies," perhaps cartilage, in the hip.

Chris Singleton led the Seminoles with 19 points and Deividas Dulkys added 17 off the bench.

Singleton made three of six 3-point attempts. Dulkys hit five of 11. Singleton was shooting 20 percent on 3-pointers in ACC play, having made 10 of 50. Dulkys was shooting 31 percent, having hit 18 of 58.

Graves said he was stunned by their new-found accuracy.

"We didn't even have on baby blue tonight, and they see ‘Carolina' there (Graves pointed to the front of his jersey) and they want to knock down shots," Graves said.

North Carolina wore silver uniforms trimmed in white. School officials said that the silver uniforms were worn to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the forming of the Air Jordan athletics-clothing line of Michael Jordan, a former North Carolina star.

Williams said he knew why Singleton and Dulkys had good shooting nights.

"We helped them because they were so open," Williams said.

Williams said he thought that the key to the Tar Heels' demise was sloppy ballhandling in the first half and falling behind so quickly. North Carolina had nine turnovers in the half and only 25 shots. Six of the turnovers came on FSU steals.

North Carolina finished with 14 turnovers, 11 of which came on steals.

"We turned it over so many times (in the first half), just careless turnovers," Williams said. "We were throwing the ball from one guy to another, and throwing it out of bounds when there's nobody there.

"We've got to play better."

bcole@wsjournal.com.

FSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Singleton 35 7-14 2-2 3-8 1 4 19

Reid 33 1-4 1-2 5-10 6 0 3

Alabi 16 2-2 2-4 1-3 1 4 6

Snaer 28 4-8 2-2 0-1 4 1 11

Kitchen 33 3-8 5-6 0-7 6 1 13

Gibson 11 3-5 0-1 0-0 0 4 6

Loucks 17 0-1 0-1 0-2 1 3 0

Dulkys 22 6-13 0-0 1-2 1 2 17

Shannon 5 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2

Totals 200 27-57 12-18 11-36 20 20 77

Percentages: FG .474, FT .667; 3-Point Goals: 11-24, .458 (Dulkys 5-11, Singleton 3-6, Kitchen 2-3, Snaer 1-2, Loucks 0-1, Gibson 0-1); Team Rebounds: 2; Blocked Shots: 6 (Singleton 3, Alabi 2, Kitchen); Turnovers: 15 (Kitchen 4, Loucks 3, Reid 2, Dulkys 2, Snaer 2, Alabi, Shannon); Steals: 11 (Kitchen 3, Shannon 3, Singleton 2, Dulkys, Reid, Alabi); Technical Fouls: None.

UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Graves 31 6-13 4-4 2-6 2 4 21

Henson 25 4-7 4-6 2-5 0 1 12

Thompson 26 3-6 1-2 1-4 0 2 7

Ginyard 29 3-7 1-2 3-10 2 2 7

Drew II 33 2-8 2-5 0-0 8 1 6

Zeller 19 2-5 1-3 1-2 0 0 5

Strickland 19 0-1 2-2 0-1 1 1 2

McDonald 16 1-3 4-4 0-2 0 3 7

Watts 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 21-50 19-28 9-31 13 14 67

Percentages: FG .420, FT .679; 3-Point Goals: 6-17, .353 (Graves 5-12, McDonald 1-1, Ginyard 0-1, Drew II 0-3); Team Rebounds: 1; Blocked Shots: 1 (Henson); Turnovers: 14 (Graves 4, Drew II 3, Strickland 3, Henson 3, Zeller); Steals: 10 (McDonald 2, Ginyard 2, Strickland 2, Henson, Drew II, Graves, Zeller); Technical Fouls: None.

Florida State 48 29 -- 77


North Carolina 33 34 -- 67

A--15,779