North Carolina struggled offensively, particularly in the second half, but Virginia was solid – offensively and defensively – in a 75-64 win in Chapel Hill.

When the Cavs shoot well, which they did at 53 percent, it is difficult to beat them. They play tough defensively, holding all but five opponents to fewer than 60 points.

Virginia, the Saturday loss to Duke not withstanding, is the best team in the league. The Tar Heels aren’t healthy right now. In addition to five guys out with injuries, Kennedy Meeks has some sort of bug, Nate Britt is recovering from a blow to the head and Marcus Paige continues to play with a bad ankle. Not the best of times to play the best team in the league.

UNC coach Roy Williams wants his Tar Heels to play with more urgency than the other team. That would have been a tall order anyway with the previously undefeated Cavs coming off a disappointing late-game loss to Duke.

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For one, 44 was the most free throws for a North Carolina opponent since Williams became coach.

And then there’s the foul trouble, the comeback, the poor free throw shooting and the fact that Louisville played more aggressively in the second half.

“They competed harder than us when we thought we had the game,” Marcus Paige said. “That’s the story of the game. You can look at any statistical category you want.”

Williams agreed saying that Louisville’s defense was stronger than Carolina’s offense and that their will to win was stronger.

“We’re getting the crap out of town,” Williams said.

A win in this game certainly would have set Carolina up for a good chance to win the ACC regular season crown. But let’s not over play the importance. A lot can happen. Plus, perhaps it’s time to be philosophical.

If Carolina buckles down and beats Virginia, it will be in part because the Heels want to play harder and simply do better after such a disappointing loss.

In other words, Carolina may have beaten Louisville and lost to Virginia. If I were the Cavaliers, I would have preferred to play the Tar Heels with them coming off a win.

Ok, ok, it’s best to win both games but maybe Carolina now has the intangible edge in the matchup with Virginia Monday. Of course, if the Tar Heels lose to the Cavs, the loss after being up by 18 at Louisville will sting even more and make finishing in the top three in the conference much more difficult.

“We’re trying to win the league,” Paige said. “Dropping one game can mean the difference between the top of the league or a three or four spot with a lot of hurdles to climb. For that reason, this is going to stick with me for a while. It’s going to be hard not to think about this one.”

Beating unbeaten Virginia will go a long way toward putting the loss to Louisville in the rear view mirror.

Update: Nevermind, Virginia is now coming off its first loss after falling to Duke Saturday night.

Carolina still gets to play Virginia at home and has two chances to beat Duke.

Down 40-35 at the half, the Tar Heels shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half and scored 58 points.

“Everything looks better when the balls goes in the basket,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

But Carolina turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, leading to 16 Syracuse points. The Heels finished with a season-high 20 turnovers after a season-low five turnovers in their last game.

“(At the half) I challenged them for toughness in the second half,” Williams said. “I thought we were tougher physically and mentally, probably more so mentally.”

The only thing consistent about each half for the Heels was the play of Nate Britt, who scored eight in the first half and nine in the second half for a career-high 17 points, including four three-pointers.

Britt and Marcus Paige each hit back-to-back triples during a key point in the second half.

Despite coming out of the locker room on fire, the Tar Heels still trailed 56-50 with 13 minutes to play.

Over a 45-second span, Paige hit two threes to tie the score at 56. Fewer than three minutes later, with the Heels trailing 62-61, Britt hit a pair of threes, one from the right side and one from the left. That put the Heels up 67-62 and they never trailed again.

Syracuse pulled within two at 74-72 but Carolina went on an 8-1 run highlighted by six points from Brice Johnson to go up 82-73.

It never got closer than seven the rest of the way while the lead mushroomed to 11 before the Tar Heels settled for the 10-point victory.

Rakeem Christmas, with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Trevor Cooney, with 28 points after averaging 14 this season, kept Syracuse in the game. But Carolina got 25 bench points compared to zero for Syracuse.

Four Tar Heels scored in double figures with Paige leading the way with 22 points to go along with eight assists and no turnovers. Johnson, Britt and Kennedy Meeks scored 17 each.

Carolina improves to 17-4 overall and 7-1 in the ACC while Syracuse falls to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in the league.

UNC’s Brice Johnson may have been the player of the game for the Tar Heels as he scored 18 points and hauled in 14 rebounds.

Four of Carolina’s starters finished in double figures while the fifth starter, JP Tokoto, finished with nine points.

Carolina’s Justin Jackson gave the Heels their biggest lead of 11 at 28-17 with 7:04 to go in the first half.

Just when it looked as if the Tar Heels were opening up the game, a 7-0 Florida State run got the Seminoles back in it.

Up by just four at the half, 35-31, the Tar Heels worked the lead up to eight in the first four minutes of the second half.

Midway through the second half, UNC led by nine after baskets by Marcus Paige, who led the Heels in scoring with 19; Kennedy Meeks, who scored 12; and Jackson, who scored 14.

But Rathan-Mayes went to work, scoring 19 of his career-high 35 over the last 10 minutes of the game.

The Tar Heels seemingly had the game comfortably in hand at 73-63 with 50 seconds left but Rathan-Mayes hit three tightly-covered triples over a 19-second span to draw the Seminoles within three with 17 seconds left.

Paige sank a pair of free throws and Johnson hit one of two free throws over the last 16 seconds to wrap it up.

In addition to the balanced scoring, the keys to the game were the lack of Tar Heel turnovers and the ability to get good shots inside.

Carolina turned the ball over just five times – that’s the lowest during the Roy Williams era. And the Tar Heels finished with 42 points in the paint, compared to just 24 for Florida State.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said the Tar Heels were able to get “timely offensive put backs” and “some easy buckets by throwing over the top” of his players.

Williams said he was “very pleased” with the win and felt like the Tar Heels are making strides in the turnover and toughness departments.

He said that his two favorite plays of the games were Johnson and Tokoto diving for loose balls.

He noted that he was especially proud of Johnson because his back was bothering him in warm ups before the game and he was worried about how much he’d be able to play. In addition, Johnson scored 12 of his 18 points after picking up his third foul.

Nate Britt, who had 15 stitches sewn into his mouth after the last game, also showed his toughness for the short-handed Tar Heels, Williams said. “He gave us some great minutes,” he said. Britt had four points and three assists in 14 minutes of play.

The Tar Heels were playing without Theo Pinson, who broke his foot in the last game, and Joel Berry, nursing a leg injury. Depth was already a bit of a problem as Sasha Seymore was lost for the year earlier in the season. Also, deep backups Luke Davis and Stilman White are out with injuries.

The Tar Heels advance to 16-4 and 6-1 in the ACC while the Seminoles fall to 10-10 and 2-5 in the league.

Kennedy Meeks, saddled with three fouls in the first half, scored eight points over a three-minute stretch early in the second half to help the Tar Heels turn a six-point halftime lead into an 18-point advantage.

It never got closer than 12 the rest of the way. UNC’s Marcus Paige drained a three with a hand in his face to put the Tar Heels back up by 18 with 7:26 to go.

With several players in foul trouble and with several players out with injuries – including Theo Pinson who left the game with a bruised foot – the Tar Heels played a lot of zone in the second half.

UNC coach Roy Williams said the Heels played more zone in this game than in all the other games this season put together.

“It was a weird night for us,” Williams said. “We came in low on personnel and we lost Theo (during the game) and then late lost Nate (Britt).”

On top of that Meeks, Paige and JP Tokoto were all saddled with three fouls throughout the second half.

But, while there were six ties and a couple of lead changes in the first half, the outcome never really seemed in doubt once the lead got to double digits early in the second half.

Carolina’s post players got inside for good looks and contributed to the Tar Heels shooting 60 percent from the field, the best shooting performance of the season.

“Our shot selection was much better in the second half than in the first half,” Williams said.

Still, Brice Johnson already had 13 points in the first half, most on baby hooks and layups. He finished with a team-high 19 points.

Meeks, on the other hand, had 12 of his 16 points in the second half. Johnson and Meeks were each eight of 11 from the floor.

Freshman Justin Jackson played the entire 40 minutes and finished with 17 points. Paige, who had eight assists and three steals, added 12 points in 35 minutes played.

The high minutes played came because five of UNC’s guards are injured. Joel Berry, Stilman White and Luke Davis didn’t dress and then Pinson and Britt were hurt during the game. Britt, who was bloodied, should be back Saturday when the Tar Heels host Florida State.

“It was a good win. I feel good about it,” Williams said. “Some tough kids played the entire second half for us.”

Wake’s Codi Miller-McIntyre had 20 points to lead the Deacons, who fall to 9-10 overall and 1-5 in the ACC.