When UNC coach Roy Williams calls a timeout in the first half, you know things aren’t going well for the Tar Heels. But Carolina got it together in the second half to cruise to a 75-61 win at home over Elon Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
North Carolina outscored Elon 17-2 in the first six minutes of the second half to erase a one-point halftime deficit to gain control at 49-35. <\/p>\n
But Coach Williams, still upset over the first-half play, said the Heels went “brain dead” again for part of the second half. After working the lead up to 16 at 66-50, the Heels were outscored 11-2 to cut the margin to just seven at 68-61 with more than two minutes left.<\/p>\n
But the Phoenix never scored again as the Heels buckled down to finish it out.<\/p>\n
While they say it’s how you finish, not how you start, Coach Williams dwelled on how the game started. The Tar Heels were down 8-4 after two minutes and nine seconds. That’s when he called his first time out.<\/p>\n
“That’s the earliest one in my history I’m sure,” Coach Williams said. “We were stupid. I wanted to scream so I felt like I was getting something done.”<\/p>\n
It didn’t seem to help too much initially as Elon used the three ball to get out to a 20-11 lead. A 16-5 Carolina run ended with Cole Anthony tipping in his own miss to give the Heels their first lead at 27-25 with just over five minutes to play in the first half.<\/p>\n
But Carolina trailed 33-32 at the break before that 17-2 run put Carolina in control.<\/p>\n
Leaky Black started the second half run with a three from the top of the key. Armando Bacot, who led the Heels with 22 points, scored the next five points to put Carolina up 40-33, prompting an Elon timeout.<\/p>\n
Elon’s Marcus Sheffield kept the visitors from getting blown out by hitting four threes and ending with 19 points.<\/p>\n
The Phoenix hit 12 threes compared to just three for Carolina. Neither team shot well from the floor but the Heels held a 56-25 rebounding edge and 46-14 scoring advantage in the paint.<\/p>\n
“We’re taller, have more six and are more gifted,” Coach Williams said. “From now on if we play poorly, we’re going to lose.”<\/p>\n
Carolina, now 4-0, plays a tough Alabama team next Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN. <\/p>\n