The Miami Hurricanes travelled to Chapel Hill to face the North Carolina Tar Heels tonight for some ACC basketball action at the Dean E. Smith Center.   Miami(20-5 overall 11-4 ACC 3rd) entered the game newly ranked #13 in the Coaches Poll and #15 in the AP Poll.  North Carolina(16-9 overall 8-6 ACC 8th) have found themselves outside of the rankings for the majority of the season and as of late, battling to find some traction to make a run to solidify a NCAA tournament bid.  

UNC got on the board first with Caleb Love hitting a three point shot.  Unfortunately for the Tar Heels however, that would be their only made three point shot for the remainder of the first half.  UNC would shoot a mere 9.1% from the arc making just 1 of 11 attempts.  Despite their struggles from range, they still managed to play Miami in the first half near equal and only trailed at halftime 34-35.  

The Tar Heels were not as fortunate in the second half, as Miami never trailed and further imposed their defensive will on the Tar Heels.  The ‘Canes outpaced the ‘Heels in second half scoring by 7 points to secure the 80-72 win.  Miami’s Jordan Miller’s double-double led all scorers with with 24 points 11 rebs and Nigel Pack posted another +20 point performance finishing with 23 pts and 4/6 from the arc.  Miami dominated the shooting game overall going 46.40% FG, 46.15% 3-PT, and 84.6% free throws compared to UNC at 43.90% FG, 16.13% 3-PT, and 60.0% free throws. 

A couple of big take aways from the game for Miami was their overall defense and shooting accuracy.  Although Miami gave up 13 turnovers, they recovered very well defensively and only allowed 7 points from the turnovers and just 2 points from fast breaks.  The “Canes half court defense frustrated the Tar Heels shooters from all distances as well.  UNC took 31 attempts from the arc connecting on just 5 and Miami held UNC’s big man, Armando Bacot to 12 pts 4 rebs, well below his season average of 17.5 pts 11 rebs. 

In the win, Miami improves to 21-5 overall 12-4 ACC and will return home to host Wake Forest on Saturday, Feb 18 at 2 p.m at the Watsco Center.   UNC will look to regroup on the road next to face #23 NC State on Sunday, February 19 at 1:00 p.m.

STATS

ATTENDANCE: 19,907

Miami:  80 pts, 26/56 2-PT, 6/13 3-PT, 22/26 FT, 40 rebs(8 off, 32 def), 9 assists, 13 TO, 5 steals, 4 pts fast break, 11 pts off TO, 30 pts in paint

UNC: 72 pts, 29/66 2-PT, 5/31 3-PT, 9/15 FT, 32 rebs(9 off, 23 def), 6 assists, 9 TO, 7 steals, 2 pts fast break, 7 pts off TO, 40 pts in paint

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Miami: J. Miller 24 pts 11 rebs, N. Pack 23 pts 4/6 3-PT, I. Wong 10 pts 6 rebs 4 assists

UNC: R.j. Davis 23 pts, C. Love 20 pts, L. Black 13 pts 9 rebs, A. Bacot 12 pts

Phot0 credit: Cameron Robertson/FAAZ Sports