In the second half, North Carolina disappeared offensively for five and a half minutes, missing 10 shots in a row. That proved too much to overcome I suppose as Kentucky beat the Tar Heels 73-72 in Lexington.

While Tyler Zeller hit six of six free throws and finished with 14 points, he also is still having trouble with fumbling the ball down low. Kentucky obviously watched game film as they collapsed on him with double teams to fluster him. At the end of the game, Marshall got the ball to Zeller midway down the paint in good position for a basket or a foul. But, as he has done too much this season, he fumbled with it and popped it up in the air. Henson got the rebound and had a short jumper for the victory, only to have his shot blocked.

For more on the game, please click here.

North Carolina redshirt freshman tailback Giovani Bernard (Davie, Fla.), who rebounded from a severe knee injury to become the nation’s leading freshmen rusher, has been named the recipient of the 2011 Brian Piccolo Award, Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced Friday.

The Piccolo Award has been given annually since 1972 in memory of the late Brian Piccolo to the “most courageous” football player in the ACC. Piccolo was the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1965 and played for the Chicago Bears before his career was cut short when he was stricken with cancer. His courageous fight against that disease was an inspiration to the Bears and the entire football community.

Bernard suffered a severe knee injury, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on the third day of pre-season practice prior to the start of the 2010 football season which forced him to miss all of last year. After a year of rehabilitation, Bernard returned to lead North Carolina in rushing this year with 1,222 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. He ranks 3rd in the ACC in rushing and has more rushing yards than any other freshman nationally. With still one game remaining in his season, his yardage total is the 3rd-best by an ACC freshman.

Earlier this year, he became the first Tar Heel football player since 1984 to record five consecutive games with 100 or more yards in rushing and has topped the 100-yard mark seven times this year. He was named ACC Rookie of the Week three times this year: on October 3 for rushing for 146 yards and a TD against East Carolina; on Oct. 31 for rushing for 154 yards and 2 TDs against Wake Forest; and this past week for rushing for 165 yards and a touchdown in UNC’s 37-21 win over Duke.

Coincidentally, Bernard played his prep football at the same high school as Piccolo. A running back who led the nation in rushing in 1965 with 1,044 yards, Piccolo played at Central Catholic High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Central Catholic was the predecessor for St. Thomas Aquinas High School, which is where Bernard played.

“Giovani is a special person and is a deserving recipient of this prestigious award,” said North Carolina head coach Everett Withers. “ I know he was disappointed he could not play last year after tearing ligaments in his knee on the third day of practice. However, he was relentless with his rehabilitation, never complained and came back stronger than ever. That’s the type of person he is. He came back in 2011 and had an incredible season for us.”

Bernard is the fifth North Carolina student-athlete to be honored with the Picccolo Award, joining former teammate Robert Quinn, who received the award in 2008, Danny Burmeister (1985), Jim Webster (1971) and Paul Miller (1970), as past Tar Heel honorees.

Previous Winners of the ACC Brian Piccolo Award

1970 Paul Miller, QB, North Carolina

1971 Jim Webster, LB, North Carolina

1972 Mark Johnson, QB, Duke

1973 Al Neville, QB, Maryland

1974 David Visaggio, DG, Maryland

1975 Scott Gardner, QB, Virginia

1976 Jeff Green, DE, Duke

1977 Ralph Stringer, DB, NC State

1978 Rex Varn, DB, Clemson

1979 not available

1980 Jack Cain, DB,Clemson

1981 Aaron Stewart, DB, Duke

1982 Kenny Duckett, WR, Wake Forest

1983 John Piedmonte, OLB,Wake Forest

1984 J.D. Maarleveld, T, Maryland

1985 Danny Burmeister, DB, N. Carolina

1986 Ray Williams, WR, Clemson

1987 no recipient

1988 Jerry Mays, TB, Georgia Tech

1989 Michael Anderson, RB, Maryland

1990 Marc Mays, WR, Duke

1991 Scott Adell, T, NC State

1992 Dan Footman, DE, Florida State

Randy Cuthbert, TB, Duke

1993 Scott Youmans, DL, Duke

1994 Chris Harrison, T, Virginia

1995 Warren Forney, DT, Clemson

1996 John Lewis, RB, Wake Forest

1997 Sam Cowart, LB, Florida State

1998 Anthony Poindexter, DB, Virginia

Corey Simon, DT, Florida State

1999 Chris Weinke, QB, Florida State

2000 Ed Wilder, FB, Georgia Tech

2001 Matt Crawford, T, Maryland

2002 Anquan Boldin, WR, Florida State

2003 Kevin Bailey, OL, Virginia

2004 Frank Gore, RB, Miami

2005 Ryan Best, S, Virginia

2006 Glenn Sharpe, Miami

2007 Matt Robinson, DE, Wake Forest

2008 Robert Quinn, DE, North Carolina

2009 Toney Baker, RB, NC State

2010 Mark Herzlich, LB, Boston College,

Nate Irving, LB, NC State

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said the game with the North Carolina Tar Heels was as hard fought a game as he’s ever been involved in as a coach. Carolina coach Roy Williams didn’t say that but he showed it by yanking off his coat in the second half and often yelling and stomping out slightly onto the court.

“I looked like an idiot on TV I guess,” he said. But he wants his team to play with more emotion and urgency. He has said that his team is sometimes too cool. The coolest of the cool is Harrison Barnes but it’s just his nature and as long as he can put down 20, a third of Carolina’s points, he can stay cool I suppose.

Two of the biggest differences in this game and the loss to UNLV were the superior free throw shooting by the Heels and the ability to deny open three pointers. Carolina shot just 60 percent from the free throw line against UNLV but shot 80 percent against the Badgers. UNLV hit 13 threes (40 percent) while Wisconsin hit eight threes (28.6 percent).

For more on the Tar Heels 60-57 victory, please click here.

Two weeks ago Matt Schaub went down to injury as the Houston Texans’ quarterback and today the back-up Matt Leinart was lost for the year with a shoulder injury. All of a sudden this is rookie T.J. Yates’ team.

The former UNC quarterback went eight of 15 and led the Texans on a drive that ended in a field goal. “Those first couple of plays I didn’t even have enough time to think about much,” Yates said. “I didn’t have time to get warm or anything. I just kind of went in there and didn’t think about it – I just played fast.”

Writer Jeffrey Martin of the website Ultimate Texans has written an excellent piece titled “Texans must now rally behind rookie QB T.J. Yates. Access it here.

CapitalSportsNC didn’t expect Yates’ chance to come this early but in August we wrote a piece titled “Could UNC’s Yates be the next Brady?” Access it here.

UNLV went on a 14-0 run at the beginning of the second half to take the lead for good and used 13 three pointers to upset North Carolina 90-80 in the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational last night.

After a back and forth first half, the Tar Heels took a 42-38 halftime lead after scoring on a pair of fast breaks over a 24-second period late in the half. A Kendall Marshall to James Michael McAdoo three-point play and a Bullock bucket after four Heels had touched the ball on the break provided the halftime margin.

But Carolina missed its first 10 shots of the second half while UNLV was going five of eight from the floor, including a pair of threes by Oscar Bellfield, and two of two from the free throw line. The Rebels went from behind four to up 10 at 52-42.

While getting good play from freshman P.J. Hairston, who scored 15 points, the Tar Heels did little else right as they missed 13 free throws, shot just 42 percent and were outrebounded 46-37. For more on the game, please click here.

It was fun to see a walk-on, David Dupont, drain a three to get the Tar Heels over the century mark. It has always been big at Carolina for subs to do well at the end of games and to get to the 100-point mark. But this business about biscuits has gotten a bit out of hand.

As I remember, when it first started, Hardees or Bojangles gave out a free biscuit the day after Carolina got to 100 points if you mentioned it to them. Now, Bojangles just sells you two sausage biscuits for a dollar. You can get that with a coupon or on a regular special.

It was a big deal to reach 100, especially with subs in the game, before the biscuit idea came about and it will be big after the biscuit obsession ends… if it ever does. Besides, the last time I tried getting the special, they didn’t know what the heck I was talking about. Carolina students and UNC announcers, please come up with something different. This is getting old.

For information on UNC’s 102-69 victory over Tennessee State, please click here.

A victory over Duke would give North Carolina a 7-5 record and improve their chances of getting a decent bowl bid. A loss and they are 6-6. The Heels got some good news as runner Gio Bernard has been cleared to play.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to play Duke,” UNC coach Everett Withers said. “Obviously a big rival for us eight miles down the road. It’s always been a tough game. Always been a physical game. Always been one of those games that comes down to the fourth quarter, and our kids are excited about that opportunity. Excited about the opportunity to possibly be 7-5 at the end, and prepare after that for a bowl game.”

Bernard, who has already rushed for more than a thousand yards, the first UNC runner to do that since the 1990s, will play and try to get his yards per game totals over 100 (currently at 96 per game) “Gio actually practiced Sunday,” Withers said. “He had his test Saturday, and he had another one on Monday. He’s ready to go today in practice, so we expect him for Saturday.”

QUESTION: What qualities make him so good and allow him to be successful in your system?

COACH WITHERS: Well, he’s such a natural runner. He’s one of those guys that knows where the holes are. He’s not just a perimeter runner. He can run inside. He catches the ball well. He understands protections. He’s a smart kid. He’s a very
conscientious kid. He cares about winning. He cares about his teammates. There are a lot of qualities that are outside of just being a good football player that make Giovani such a talented person, and not just a football player, but a
talented person.”

QUESTION: Dwight Jones went over the thousand-yard mark receiving on Saturday, which gives you for the first time in school
history a 1,000 yard rusher, and a thousand yard receiver on the same team. How big a deal is that?

COACH WITHERS: Well, I think any time you have something that hasn’t been done at your university. I think it’s a big deal. Obviously wins and losses are the most important thing, but I think it’s great individual accomplishments. It’s really a testament to our offense and what we’ve been able to do. Those are two talented players and they’ve stepped up. We’ve asked those two guys to step up this year and be big players for us and they have. It’s a testament to them as players.