<\/p>\nStory Links<\/h3>\n
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By Adam Lucas<\/p>\n
1. Bad finish for Carolina in the PKI semifinals on a Black Friday overall for UNC sports, as Iowa State finished hot and toppled the temporarily top-ranked Tar Heels, 70-65. It was the third win for Iowa State in program history over the nation’s #1 team.<\/p>\n
2. Turnovers down the stretch doomed Carolina. The Tar Heels coughed it up three times in a row in a one score and tie game. That was enough juice for Iowa State, which was on fire from the field in the closing minutes, to take the lead and hold on. Turnovers ended up being a big storyline after Carolina had done a good job taking care of the ball in the first half; the Heels finished with 14 miscues and Iowa State turned those into 21 points. Carolina had just six points on ISU turnovers.<\/p>\n
3. That was part of a disastrous closing 3:55. At that point, Leaky Black<\/dfn> had just scored off a nice Pete Nance<\/dfn> pass and the Heels had a 60-53 lead. But from there, Iowa State finished on a 17-5 run, as Black’s shot was the final UNC field goal of the game until a meaningless Nance putback at the buzzer. Allowing 17 points in less than four minutes of decisive game play is not ideal.<\/p>\n4. So what happened? For one thing, Carolina couldn’t guard Caleb Grill, who entered the game four for 24 from the three-point line this season (16.7 percent) and six for his last 22 overall from the field. The Cyclone sharpshooter finished with 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting, including 7-for-11 from three-point range (he had made four three-point shots this season coming into the game). It was largely a two-player offensive attack for ISU (Jaren Holmes added 22), but that was plenty. During the decisive stretch of the game, the Cyclones made five field goals in a row and seven of eight. The inability to get a stop at a key junction is doubtless something Hubert Davis<\/dfn> will mention to his team.<\/p>\n5. The Carolina offense, meanwhile, never found any rhythm in a physical game against a tough, gritty Iowa State defense. Armando Bacot<\/dfn> finished 5-for-6, but he was the only starter to hit better than 50 percent from the field. Carolina shot only 36 percent in the second half, made just one three-pointer, and left a few points hanging at the free throw line, missing six in the second half. Although Bacot was 5-for-6, the problem might be that he only had six attempts, while Love and Davis took a combined 28. Through the first part of the season, Carolina has been best when Bacot is very involved in the offense. He took a total of two shots in the second half.<\/p>\n6. While Grill was lighting it up, the Tar Heel perimeter game was struggling. Carolina was just 3-for-18 from the three-point line, as both Caleb Love<\/dfn> and RJ Davis<\/dfn> went 1-for-7 each.<\/p>\n7. Bacot’s team-high nine rebounds moved him past Billy Cunningham for fourth all-time at Carolina. Bacot now has 1.070. Next on the list is George Lynch at 1,097.<\/p>\n
8. After struggling on Thanksgiving, Carolina got a much better contribution from the bench on Friday. Puff Johnson<\/dfn>, especially, was dynamic, as he grabbed six rebounds and scored eight points in just 12 minutes. In addition to those boards, he kept several loose balls alive. His three offensive rebounds were tied for the team high with Bacot and Leaky Black<\/dfn>. Everyone who played on the UNC bench (Johnson plus D’Marco Dunn<\/dfn> and Seth Trimble<\/dfn>) made a positive impact on the game.<\/p>\n9. Depending on how you want to take this, it could be a positive that Iowa State threw numerous different defensive looks at the Tar Heels. Especially after getting in some early foul trouble, ISU frequently used a zone. It will eventually be beneficial to have faced that look, but the bad news is Carolina didn’t handle it very well on Friday. <\/p>\n
10. Carolina actually has a somewhat unexpectedly rich history at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Tar Heel record book dates back to 1967 in the building, when Charlie Scott won MVP honors of the Far West Classic as the Heels dispatched Stanford, Utah and Oregon State. Carolina won the event again during the 1976-77 season, beating Oral Roberts, Oregon and Weber State behind MVP Walter Davis. Roy Williams’ Heels added a win in the building in the PK80, beating Arkansas to make it a perfect 7-0. The Tar Heels will be back in the building on Sunday for the PKI third place game in a game that takes place at 12:30 local time, 3:30 pm Eastern. The opponent will be the loser of tonight’s UConn-Alabama game. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n