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North Carolina Basketball: Berry’s 28 not enough to beat Florida State

CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 30: Joel Berry II
CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 30: Joel Berry II /
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North Carolina basketball went to Tallahassee in hopes of beating Florida State. The Seminoles had other ideas, winning their 28th straight home game.

For a couple of teams who have developed good defensive reputations over the past few seasons, North Carolina at Florida State was a shootout in the first half, with the Seminoles leading, 51-40. Florida State shot over 55% from the field in the opening minutes, making 18 total shots. Nine of them came from the 3-point line, with Braian Angola (just coming off a career-high 23 vs. Duke) having three of them. He had 14 points at the break.

North Carolina had six treys of their own but struggled to keep up. Kenny Williams kept the Tar Heels in it with 16 points in the first 20 minutes while Luke Maye and Joel Berry combined for 6/18 shooting from the field.

In the second half, the Tar Heels crept back and, with a putback off a miss by Sterling Manley, North Carolina took their first lead, 60-59. Florida State would then respond with a run of their own, though, going back up nine after a C.J. Walker 3-pointer with under six minutes to go.

North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball
North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball /

North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball

But UNC’s Berry refused to let this one slip away. Five straight points by him cut the lead to two with over a minute left. Then with just 30 seconds to go, Berry capitalized off a Seminole turnover to hit another three in transition to cut the deficit to one.

After a pair of missed free throws by Phil Cofer of FSU, the Tar Heels got the ball with nine seconds left down by one. Berry couldn’t hit the same floater he used to beat Wake Forest and after North Carolina missed a heave at the buzzer, the Tar Heels fell.

After a slow start, Berry led the comeback effort for North Carolina 12-3 (1-1), finishing with 28 points even if it did finish short. Williams went silent in the second half, scoring only two points to finish with 18.

For Florida State 12-2 (1-1), Angola had 20 to lead the team while CJ Walker had 18 points. Terance Mann had 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists, which was important because Cofer, who had a career-high 28 in his last game, went 2/11 for just five points. He was averaging 14.5 ppg coming into the game.

This was an important game for the Seminoles, as this was the second of three straight games against top-15 teams to open ACC play. The team could’ve easily started 0-3 in league play, so Saturday’s game versus Virginia won’t be a must-win game.

For North Carolina, the defense hasn’t been there for them much lately. They continue to do well on the boards, with 18 offensive rebounds, but also keep putting themselves in double-digit deficits that they have to climb out of, leaving them with little energy at the end.

Next: Missed chances a theme in latest ACC power rankings

In the grand scheme of things, Florida State grabbed another quality to help with their seeding come March and North Carolina continued to struggle finding scoring outside of Berry and Maye.