After missing 17 straight shots and going nearly 11 minutes without a basket, North Carolina dug itself a hole from which it could not recover. No. 8 Florida State won its 11th straight home game 65-59 over the Tar Heels.
“I’m tired of these kinds of press conferences but it is what it is,” UNC coach Roy Williams said as his club dropped to 10-12 and 3-8 in the league, which is tied for last.
“Their defense was stronger than our offense.”
North Carolina led by eight late in the first half but FSU went on a 9-0 run over the last two minutes to take a 29-28 lead at the half.
Carolina, despite getting only one point and one rebound from big man Garrison Brooks in the first half, was still in it however.
Brooks gave the Heels a 37-33 lead early in the second half but that’s when the Heels went cold, missing 17 shots in a row. During the next quarter of the game, Carolina was outscored 19-5 with those five points coming on five of seven from the free throw line.
Down by its biggest margin of the game at 52-42 with just over five minutes to play, Christian Keeling, who had his best game of the year with 14 points, drove in for a layup as UNC finally got a field goal.
An old-fashioned three-point play on a driving layup by Keeling got the Heels within five at 59-54 with 1:12 to go. Keeling cut the margin to four at 61-57 with a three pointer with 53 seconds to go. But it never got closer than that.
Anthony Cole, in just his second game back from injury, was a liability much of the time as he missed his last 12 shots as the Heels were trying to come back. He managed to lead the Heels with 16 points but he was just five of 22 from the field.
“I’m pissed off right now,” Coach Williams said. “We’ve got to get shots to go in and make some stops.”
There were eight lead changes and five ties before RayQuan Evans banked one in for a 39-37 FSU lead with 11:38 to go. Carolina never caught up again.
The Seminoles hit 15 of 17 free throws while Carolina was just 11 of 17 including two key misses on one-and-one situations during the comeback.
Florida State, led by Trent Forrest and Patrick Williams with 14 each, improves to 19-3 and 9-2 in the ACC.
Carolina hosts Duke Saturday evening as it doesn’t get any easier.