Harrison Barnes ignored the stiffness and discomfort in his sprained right ankle Wednesday night to spark a late rally and help North Carolina defeat Wisconsin 60-57 at the Smith Center in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge series.
Wisconsin led 36-31 when sophomore forward Barnes hit the Tar Heels' first 3-pointer of the game to start the comeback. The Tar Heels took a 54-44 lead with 63 seconds left, but had to hold off a late run by the Badgers, built on three 3-point shots to seal the win.
North Carolina improved 6-1 and averted a two-game losing streak heading into a game Saturday at Kentucky. Wisconsin suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 6-1.
"I just wanted to get us back in the flow of the offense," Barnes said. "I thought we were stagnant. I just tried to get some points on the board. I thought it could be a game-changer there if we could go on a run."
Barnes' 3-pointer sparked an 18-5 run that gave the Tar Heels a 49-41 lead with 5:31 left. Barnes scored 10 of the points, including a second 3-pointer that produced a 47-41 lead.
Coach Roy Williams of North Carolina made a conscious effort in the second half to get Barnes the ball.
"We weren't doing much on the offensive end and we had two set plays to get (Barnes) something," Williams said. "He made some big-time shots. I saw his mother this morning and I said, 'Your son's going to play a big-time game tonight.' I really believed he was."
North Carolina finished the final 11:39 with a 29-21 scoring run. It built the run with free-throw shooting also. North Carolina made its first 12 free throws of the second half and finished 16 of 18 overall in the half.
Barnes scored 14 points in the second half and 20 for the game. John Henson grabbed 17 rebounds and helped North Carolina forge a 42-29 advantage off the boards. Williams hadn't been pleased with the Tar Heels' rebounding in its previous game, a 90-80 loss to UNLV, and thought it contributed to the setback.
Williams thought that Barnes' first 3-pointer provided him a boost of energy. Point guard Kendall Marshall said that the Tar Heels' rally started with defensive stops after the Badgers took their lead, and Barnes did the rest.
"Once we saw he was getting hot, the main thing was we wanted to keep finding him," Marshall said. "When Harrison gets hot, he's one of the hardest players in the country to guard."
Jordan Taylor led Wisconsin with 18 points, and had to fight through tough defense by Marshall and Dexter Strickland to get them. Taylor missed 14 of 20 shots from the field and eight of 11 3-point attempts.
"It wasn't pretty," Williams said of the win. "Sometimes you've got to win like that. It was a difficult game for us."
UNC held a 25-24 lead at halftime. It had to fight to keep a lead that it held for most of the half, and had to endure a cold spell when it scored only one basket in 8:55.
The scoring drought helped Wisconsin, which made six of its first 25 shots, to slowly cut into the lead. Tyler Zeller muscled in a layup for a 21-15 advantage with 8:09 left in the half for UNC's first basket in 2:53, but it then went the next 6:02 without points.
Wisconsin took a 22-21 lead, its third advantage of the half, when Rob Wilson buried a 3-pointer from just left of the top of the key after catching a pass from Taylor, who penetrated to the lane and passed the ball outside.
Consecutive baskets by Henson and Barnes put UNC back in front at 25-22. Barnes had a chance to give UNC a bigger halftime lead with 5.9 seconds left, but missed a one-and-one free throw.
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