North Carolina lost a heartbreaker at Texas as the ball bounced the Longhorns way twice in the last 30 seconds and the Tar Heels fell 84-82. It took a mid-range jumper by Texas’ Jevan Felix with a tenth of a second left, which took an official review, to secure the win.
After Marcus Paige tied the game for Carolina with 49 seconds left, Texas’ Isaiah Taylor put up bad shot that bounced off the front of the rim right back into his hands for an easy two to put Texas up 82-80 with 28 seconds to go.
After a Tar Heel timeout, Paige dished to Brice Johnson, who put in it with eight seconds left. Texas rushed up court and Taylor put up a shot that bounced way off the rim on the opposite side of the court, right in the hands of Felix, who had just enough time to put in the game winner.
Despite the bad bounces, UNC coach Roy Williams said his players needed to box out better. Texas came down with 16 offensive rebounds and scored 21 second-chance points, compared to seven by UNC, and outrebounded the Heels 36-27.
“You can’t rebound the ball like that and expect to beat good basketball teams,” Coach Williams said adding that Texas went after it harder than his team did. “Texas physically imposed their will on us.”
Coach Williams said his team actually battled hard and played pretty well overall. “We didn’t make enough plays at the end,” he said.
Texas his 12 of 24 three-point shots. That’s four more threes or 12 more points than the Longhorns normally get. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels, who outshot the Longhorns 52 to 47 percent, missed four big three-point attempts in a row midway through the second half and was only six of 16 from beyond the arc.
For a box score and more on the game, please click here.