North Carolina sometimes has to fight through boredom when playing against the lightly regarded opponents in its early-season basketball games, according to Harrison Barnes.
Thoughts often turn to the start of ACC play, and even the NCAA tournament.
"It's definitely a concern," Barnes, a sophomore forward, said.
"You always have to try to play to the best ability that we can play, and not play down to the competition."
Boredom shouldn't be an issue today, however, with Texas coming to town for only the second time for a 7 p.m. game at the Smith Center.
North Carolina has lost four consecutive games to Texas dating to Dec. 30, 1995. Three of the losses have come under coach Roy Williams, including losses the past two seasons on neutral courts.
Junior guard Dexter Strickland said the losses should serve as motivation for the Tar Heels in their last game before a seven-day Christmas break.
"Coach talks about it a lot," Strickland said. "He's very competitive and he wants to win. I think he's fired up, but we've got to match their intensity…. It's about time we win."
The Tar Heels are 10-2 and the Longhorns are 9-2. Texas won last season's game in Greensboro 78-76 when Cory Joseph hit a 17-foot jumper over Strickland in the final seconds. Barnes said that the game was the most physical that he has ever played in college.
Texas has won its past seven games. Among its defeats is a 77-74 loss to N.C. State on a neutral court in which the Longhorns couldn't hold an 18-point lead in the second half and allowed the Wolfpack to go on a 28-2 run.
Joseph has left for the NBA, but J'Covan Brown, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, is carrying the team. He's averaging 19.3 points and is Texas' top 3-point shooter, with 25 made attempts. He has been Texas' leading scorer in seven games.
Strickland will likely draw the defensive assignment on Brown. Strickland would like to keep Brown under control and get some revenge for giving up the winning shot last season.
"That was a heart-breaker, especially because it was on me," Strickland said. "You have to let things go and move on, but you always remember what happened. All you can do is work even harder so it won't happen again."
Barnes is in the midst of a mild slump. He scored only nine points in each of the past two games, against Nicholls State on Monday and Appalachian State last Saturday.
Barnes scored at least 10 points in 24 consecutive games before the two games. He has made eight of his past 24 shots from the field, one of his last four 3-point attempts and one of his last five free throws.
"There's not too many concerns," Barnes said. "I've missed a lot of open shots. (Monday) was the matter of finishing a layup and making some free throws."
Williams said he isn't concerned about Barnes' shooting or scoring, and Barnes is confident he knows the reason for his coach's thinking.
"Probably the growing pains of last year," Barnes said with a smile, remembering a loss to Minnesota last season in which he missed all 12 of his shots from the field. "It probably couldn't get any worse than that."
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