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North Carolina
Lipscomb
No. 8 Carolina Opens Season With 80-66 Victory Over Lipscomb
November 12, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2010
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Harrison Barnes scored 14 points in his debut to help No. 8 North Carolina beat Lipscomb 80-66 in the season opener for both teams Friday night.
Tyler Zeller scored 15 points to lead the Tar Heels, who didn't have the easiest time with the Bisons before winning their opener for the 78th time in 80 years. North Carolina led by eight points at halftime and by 14 early in the second half, but didn't put the game away until the final five minutes.
Barnes finished 6 for 12 from the field in 27 minutes. Last week, he became the first freshman named to The Associated Press preseason All-America team since voting began before the 1986-87 season.
Sophomore John Henson had a huge game, finishing with 10 points to go with career-highs of 17 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Josh Slater scored 21 points for Lipscomb, which fell to 0-4 all-time against ranked opponents.
North Carolina certainly had no shortage of motivation considering coach Roy Williams and his players had stewed all summer over last year's miserable 17-loss season, which included a run to the NIT championship game just a year after winning a second NCAA title in five seasons. Barnes, widely regarded as the nation's top recruit, is supposed to provide North Carolina with some of the perimeter scoring it sorely lacked last season.
But his fellow freshmen also turned in strong debuts off the bench. Reggie Bullock had 12 points and knocked down two 3-pointers, while Kendall Marshall had 10 points and three assists--and found himself on the court instead of Larry Drew II as the Tar Heels sealed the victory in the final minute.
Barnes got on the board quickly, knocking down a midrange jumper from the left side about 15 seconds into the game. He got the Tar Heels' last basket of the half, too, using a pump fake to get Brandon Brown airborne then taking a step inside to calmly bury a jumper from the left wing just before the halftime horn for a 43-35 lead.
The Tar Heels pushed that margin to 50-36 on a stickback from Zeller with 17 1/2 minutes left, but North Carolina showed its inexperience by failing to put the game away. The Bisons hung around and slowly cut into the lead, getting as close as 59-56 on two free throws from Brown with 8:25 left.
North Carolina finally got some breathing room when Bullock scored on a stickback of his own miss, then Henson tipped in a miss from Bullock and Zeller followed with a hook shot to make it 69-58 with 4:53 left. Lipscomb got no closer than nine points from there.
