A suddenly shaky North Carolina team had lost three of its last five games but Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram helped the Tar Heels get well at home in a 96-81 win over Virginia Tech. (2/17)

Bacot scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and pulled down 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, Ingram scored 11 of his 12 points in the first half and he hauled in 17 rebounds. The combined 29 rebounds by the two Tar Heels were just two fewer than the entire Virginia Tech team.

“We always want to attack and get points in the paint,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said, pointing especially to Bacot and Ingram’s offensive rebounding. “A number of times lately we’ve gone away from that. We were active today.”

The Hokies managed to cut a 16-point second-half Carolina lead to just seven with under seven minutes to play at 79-72. But RJ Davis, who was cold early, came up with five straight points, including a step-back three from just in front of the UNC bench, to put the Heels back up by 12 at 84-72.

Lately, the Tar Heels had been falling apart at the end of games but this time they worked the margin back up to 16 points after a Cormac Ryan three and a Bacot dunk made it 94-78 with less than a minute to go.

Ryan hit four of seven three pointers to finish with 16 points. Davis, who didn’t get his first basket until the last five minutes of the first half, finished with 20 points and five assists.

The Tar Heels started off in a familiar position – getting behind. Carolina turned the ball over two straight times and the Hokies got on top 5-0. But the Tar Heels, behind seven points from Harrison Ingram, went on a 10-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish.

An 8-1 run gave the Tar Heels their first double-digit lead at 29-18 following a left-handed dunk follow by Ingram, who already had a double-double by halftime, at which Carolina led 50-39.

Virginia Tech, now 14-11 and 6-8 in the ACC, had balanced scoring with six guys in double figures. One of them was UNC transfer Tyler Nickel who hit four threes on his way to 14 points.

The Tar Heels, who get a one-week rest before playing at Virginia Feb. 24, improve to 20-6 and 12-3 for first place in the ACC. It’s the 64th year that the Carolina program has won at least 20 games in a season.

For a box score and more on the game, please click here.