North Carolina fell asleep at the wheel on Saturday at the Smith Center, but avoided going into a ditch and wrecking in its first ACC test drive of the season.
North Carolina defeated Boston College 83-60 but needed a late push, sparked by the inside play of Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller, to fend off a stunning comeback by one of the youngest teams in college basketball.
The Tar Heels led 50-29 with 16:06 left. The lead dwindled to 59-50 with 9:18 remaining, after the Eagles went on a 21-9 run, and the crowd of 20,582 started squirming in its seats. The Tar Heels went on a 15-5 run to regain control and, two minutes later, took an 81-58 lead in the final 2:13. Their sudden energy had more to do with coach Roy Williams' anger than with the crowd's support, however.
"I really got ticked off there for a couple of minutes," Williams said. "I jumped them pretty hard. In league play, you've got to be able to play a full, total game."
Williams was upset by his team's passive defense and lack of concentration. Mistakes by Kendall Marshall, Barnes and Zeller led to two 3-pointers and a layup for the Eagles at the end of their run.
The Tar Heels' decisive run was sparked by Stilman White, a reserve point guard who came in for Marshall for two minutes.
"I told him, 'I appreciate you playing that 30 seconds so I could scream at Kendall,' " Williams said. "He said, 'Coach, I'm ready to do anything for the team.' "
The Tar Heels won their eighth straight and improved to 14-2 and 1-0 in the conference. The Eagles fell to 5-10, 0-1, after suffering their third consecutive loss.
Barnes drove to the lane and banked in a 4-foot shot to give North Carolina a 61-50 lead that steadily grew in the final 8:31. He finished with 25 points.
Zeller scored six of North Carolina's next eight points to help build a 69-52 lead with 4:50 left. He had 20 points and eight rebounds. John Henson added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Marshall handed out 11 assists.
Zeller said that the Tar Heels didn't concentrate after building their 21-point lead. Dexter Strickland concurred, and said that Williams' criticism was justified.
"They had a good run and we slacked off a little bit," Strickland said. "We lost focus. We had to pick the intensity up. We didn't match their intensity, and that's why they were only down by nine."
Matt Humphrey came off the bench to led the Eagles with 14 points. Coach Steve Donahue praised his team — five freshmen starting — for fighting back on the road, but said that it made a fatal mistake after slicing the lead.
"I thought we let out guard down," Donohue said. "We forgot who we were playing. We lost sense of little things, like making sure you beat guys to spots on the defensive end."
North Carolina increased its winning streak at the Smith Center to 27 games. Its campus winning streak reached 28 games, counting a 2010 win in the NIT at Carmichael Auditorium, the program's former home, four wins shy of tying the all-time mark set in 1929.
Williams said he was pleased with his team's play overall. He said that his team played very well for most of the game, and he was happy to be 1-0 in the ACC.
He declined with a smile, however, to reveal what message he gave the players after the win.
"It's like Vegas — things you say in the locker room need to stay in the locker room," Williams said.
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