CORAL GABLES, Florida – Andrew Platek hit the speed limit with 3.6 seconds to play to lead North Carolina to a 67-65 victory over Miami at the Watsco Center on Tuesday.
UNC recovered from a double-digit deficit for the fourth time this season, ending the game with a 17-6 streak. It is the second consecutive game in which a veteran of Tar Heel is the winner in the final seconds, after Leaky Black made a tray with 9.1 seconds left to hold Notre Dame 66-65 on Saturday.
Black undoubtedly finished the best game of his career at Tar Heel with a 3-point basket with 1:42 to play to give UNC a 61-60 lead. The junior wing ended with a career record of 16 points out of 6 out of 9 shots (4 out of 4 3FG) to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Tar Heels (7-4, 2-2 ACC) won their first victory on the road this season, despite a more difficult test than expected by a Hurricanes team without four of its best players, including the pre- All-ACC season, Chris Lykes. Miami led 53-43 with 12:03 to play. At that time, UNC had more turnovers (14) and fouls (16) than field goals (13).
Tar Heels hit 34.4 percent off the ground, marking the second game in a row that it hit less than 35 percent, while keeping Hurricanes at 34.9 percent. UNC overtook his opponent, 45-39, and maintained a 12-4 lead in second chance points, which offset Miami’s 32-24 lead in points in the painting. Hurricanes had 20 UNC sales at 19 points.
Day’Ron Sharpe double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Game Play
ANDREW PLATEK FOR VICTORY! ??#ACCMBB | @UNC_Basketball @ PlatekFor3 pic.twitter.com/87SaWZUvHr
– ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 6, 2021
Walton continues to emerge
Kerwin Walton once again provided UNC with the much needed perimeter score on Tuesday, totaling 13 points out of 4 out of 8 shots (3 out of 7 3FG). The freshman guard has scored at least three points in four of his last five games.
Walton has been shooting 59.9 percent in the 3-point range since Kentucky’s victory (13 of 22).
Bastards
Even with Miami losing its top scoring options, the Hurricanes were helped by UNC’s own scoring problems. After building an initial 14-8 lead, Tar Heels was more than seven minutes without a field goal, missing 11 consecutive shots, with Miami gaining a five point lead with a 13-2 run.
This stretch coincided with a lineup that included Garrison Brooks, Walker Kessler, Puff Johnson and Caleb Love, who together missed all nine attempts at pitching in the first half.
The UNC missed 11 of the 13 field shots at the end of the second half, but Miami missed 15 of the 17 during the same period, as the visiting team managed to reduce its deficit despite the bad shot.
3s over 2s
It was not so long ago that the main offensive weakness of the UNC was its three-point shot, but in fact it looks like it was a long time ago. Tar Heels hit 29.2 percent of the two-point gap against Miami, compared with 45 percent of three effort (9 of 20).
In its last two games, Tar Heels is shooting 39.7 percent in three and 32.2 percent in two.
Note Status
Tuesday marked the first time that UNC has won consecutive games by two points or less since the 2017 NCAA Tournament wins over Kentucky (75-73) and Oregon (77-76).
Next
UNC welcomes Clemson to the Smith Center on Saturday for a 7 pm tip (ESPN). The Tigers, in 19th place, proved to be one of the surprises of the 2020-21 basketball season, winning nine of their first 10 games. Brad Brownell’s team beat NC State 74-70 in overtime on Tuesday to win their fourth straight game.