Locked in a tight battle in the first half, North Carolina outscored Northern Iowa 52-16 in the second half to exact revenge on the Panthers 85-42. <\/p>\n
The Tar Heels, who were ranked No. 1 last year when they fell at Northern Iowa, muddled through the first half but managed a 33-26 lead.<\/p>\n
A pair of threes early in the second half – one by Justin Jackson and one by Joel Berry – opened it up a bit. But the steadying influence was Kennedy Meeks, who scored 18 points down low in the paint.<\/p>\n
“He was the difference in the game,” UNC coach Roy Williams\u00a0said. “In the second half he was into it.”<\/p>\n
Williams said the key was his team’s defense in the second half. “My Christmas wish at halftime was for us to play better defense and I think we did,” he said. “But they missed some shots they normally hit.”<\/p>\n
He said good defense led to some fast breaks. During one stretch, the Panthers went seven minutes without scoring. Meanwhile the Tar Heels were hitting threes – six of 11 in the second half – and were getting inside for dunks.<\/p>\n
The crowd was probably loudest when Berry drained a three from the right sideline, just in front of the Carolina bench, following a nice cross-court pass from Meeks, and when Isaiah Hicks followed that basket up with a powerful dunk that made it 62-39 with six minutes left.<\/p>\n
Over the last few minutes of the game, Carolina hit 10 of 11 shots and scored on 15 of its last 16 possessions of the game.<\/p>\n
Four Tar Heels scored in double figures. After Meeks’ 18 points, Jackson tallied 12 while Berry and Hicks added 11 each.<\/p>\n
The Tar Heels, 11-2, host Monmouth Dec. 28 in their last non-conference game. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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