North Carolina, forced to play in Greensboro after a water crisis in Chapel Hill, broke open a tight game with a late 8-0 run to defeat Notre Dame 83-76.

Six Tar Heels scored in double figures but, despite their efforts, Carolina saw a 15-point lead dwindle to two at 75-73 with 3:45 to play.

Joel Berry, who failed to score in the first half, sank a long two with 3:30 to play to put UNC up 77-73 and to start the run. After each team turned the ball over, Notre Dame lost it on a drive and Carolina turned it into a fastbreak Justin Jackson dunk on the other end to make it 79-73 with 1:27 left.

Notre Dame, which had lived by the three, died by the three the rest of the way as the Heels wrapped it up with four free throws.

Carolina couldn’t pull away from the Irish in great part due to its lack of success at the free throw line. The Heels, who missed five of their first six shots, finished just 17 of 28 from the line, though they did make some big ones late.

One big free throw came on an old-fashioned three-point play by Tony Bradley, who hit a big bucket down low to extend a four-point lead up to seven with 4:24 to go.

Carolina led the whole game except for trailing 2-0 but the score stayed close during the first half until Jackson hit a three from the corner and Luke Maye hit a 14-footer to put the Heels up by nine.

After taking a 42-34 lead into the half, Carolina came out hot in the second half. By the first timeout of the second half, the Heels were up 13 points at 54-41. When UNC extended to lead to 15 at 63-48 with 12 minutes to play, after a Jackson up and under layup, the game seemed to be wrapped up.

But during one stretch over the next few minutes, Carolina missed six of seven shots while Notre Dame was making five of six shots.

“Five or six calls seemed to go against us and they made a couple of big plays,” UNC coach Roy Williams said adding that all of a sudden it was a close game again.

Williams pointed to the long two by Berry as a big bucket, making it 77-73. “You don’t want a one-possession game where they have the ball,” Coach Williams said.

Jackson led the scoring with 16 points while Isaiah Hicks scored 14. Berry added 12, all in the second half, while Bradley also scored 12. Kennedy Meeks, who played only 16 minutes as he was in foul trouble and eventually fouled out, scored 11 as did Kenny Williams, who also fought foul trouble.

Notre Dame’s outside game ultimately could not hang with Carolina’s inside game.

The Tar Heels, now 21-4 and 9-2 in the ACC, outrebounded the Irish 44-25 and had 19 second-chance points.

Notre Dame falls to 17-7 and 6-5 in the ACC

The Tar Heels play the first Duke game Thursday.

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