After surviving Harvard’s upset bid Thursday night, the fourth-seeded UNC men’s basketball team turns its attention to fifth-seeded Arkansas for a Round of 32 meeting Saturday night at 8:40 p.m. in Jacksonville.

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17 turnovers. That’s a stat that’s had Roy Williams scratching his head since the Harvard great escape.

But it’s not a new dilemma. The Tar Heels, sporting a 25-11 record overall; have struggled to take care of the basketball all season long.

Justin Jackson came up big Thursday night (Todd Melet)

Justin Jackson came up big Thursday night (Todd Melet)

Nevertheless, they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and after a narrow 67-65 victory in round two of the NCAA Tournament, Coach Williams is relieved.

“Right now I feel like I won the lottery. Tommy Amaker did a much better with his team than I did with mine. We were extremely lucky. It’s the luckiest I’ve ever felt after a basketball game in my entire life,” Coach Williams says.

UNC freshman Justin Jackson emerged as the hero against Harvard, scoring the game’s final four points when all the momentum was going the other way.

Jackson says he was mentally prepared to step up and take the final shot.

“If I was open, I was going to shoot it. If they come up on me, I wasn’t going to, but they backed off,” Jackson says.

Everybody’s a winner come tournament time. They all know how to win. That’s why any slips in concentration can prove especially fatal.

Jackson says the Tar Heels can’t afford to take the pedal off the metal at this point.

Theo Pinson is back healthy and adds to UNC's depth off the bench (Todd Melet)

Theo Pinson is back healthy and adds to UNC’s depth off the bench (Todd Melet)

“There were times that we were all the way in it. Then there were lulls where I don’t know what it was, we just kind of relaxed. Harvard’s a great team and took advantage of that,” Jackson says.

Arkansas, 27-8 overall, slipped by Wofford, 56-53, in a back-and-forth game that featured 18 lead changes, 10 ties and neither team ahead by more than five points.

Razorback head coach Mike Anderson says he’s just fortunate to still be dancing.

“What a gutsy performance. It was a game that was played at their pace. We were fortunate to be on the winning side. They just ran out of time. Thank goodness they ran out of time. But we executed when we had to,” Coach Anderson says.

The Tar Heels will have to look out for SEC Player of the Year Michael Qualls. The junior guard scored 20 points Thursday night and can morph into a one-man highlight reel at times. The guy’s been a regular on the SportsCenter Top 10 plays segment.

Arkansas guard Michael Qualls is a game-changing player for the Razorbacks (Wholehogsports.com)

Arkansas guard Michael Qualls is a game-changing player for the Razorbacks (Wholehogsports.com)

Can the Tar Heels contain him Saturday? It will be an intriguing proposition for junior forward J.P. Tokoto and company.

But Jackson is more concerned with the play of his own team. In particular, he says the lapses in concentration that have plagued Carolina for the majority of the season have got to be wiped out.

“It’s not ‘is what it is’. It’s the first round game and Harvard is a great team. We just got to go back and change it. Next game, we can’t have that because the next game will be even harder. We’ve talked about it all season, but it’s the NCAA Tournament, so we’ve got to change it,” Jackson says.

If the Tar Heels can cut out the sloppy stretches of basketball and avoid turnovers, they’ve demonstrated a strong proclivity to scoring on offense and should be in good shape. But if the erratic play continues, Saturday could very well be the final destination in UNC’s postseason journey.