North Carolina’s Leaky Black banked in a running jumper with nine seconds left and the Tar Heels held on to defeat Notre Dame 66-65 in Chapel Hill for their first ACC victory of the season. (1\/2) <\/p>\n
“Leaky stunk it up on the next to the last possession,” UNC coach Roy Williams said referring to Black allowing his man to get by for a go-ahead layup for Notre Dame. “I told him in the huddle, ‘you just made a bad play. Now go make a great one.'”<\/p>\n
After Black’s bucket, the Irish got a shot off that was short and the ball bounced around until the clock expired. After losing two winnable games to N.C. State and Georgia Tech, Coach Williams said, “it’s a great feeling right now, no question.”<\/p>\n
The Tar Heels survived shooting just 34 percent from the floor – their worst outing of the year – and what Coach Williams called “some dumb, dumb things.”<\/p>\n
Most of those dumb things came on the defensive end where the Tar Heels allowed three layups late in the game.<\/p>\n
While Black was the hero at the end, the best player throughout the game was UNC freshman Day’ron Sharpe who scored a season-high 25 points including points that four times gave the Heels a lead. His dunk after a nifty pass from senior Garrison Brooks with 1:32 left gave Carolina a 64-63 lead.<\/p>\n
There were 17 lead changes during the game. Notre Dame led by as many as seven points, including a 57-50 lead in the second half, while the Tar Heels never led by more than three.<\/p>\n
A 9-0 Carolina run, highlighted by six straight points inside by Sharpe, put the Heels up 59-57. It went back and forth until Black hit the winning shot.<\/p>\n
“Day’ron was very active,” Coach Williams said. “He a load around the basket… He was a man in there.”<\/p>\n
Carolina freshmen accounted for 50 of the team’s 66 points. Kerwin Walton, who earned a start, hit four three pointers as he was the only other Tar Heel in double figures with 12 points.<\/p>\n
Explaining Walton’s increase in playing time, Coach Williams said, “we need somebody else who can put the ball in the basket.”<\/p>\n
Notre Dame, 3-6 and 0-3 in the league, was led by Nate Laszewski’s 25 points as the 6-foot-10 junior hit seven of 11 three pointers. <\/p>\n
The Tar Heels, now 6-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference, plays at Miami Tuesday. The Notre Dame game was substituted after Syracuse backed out of the scheduled game because of a positive COVID-19 test.<\/p>\n