The Tar Heels’ defense hasn’t always been consistent, but it was there when they needed it as they topped Pittsburgh 88-71 to advance to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament Thursday.

After falling behind 8-0 to open the game, UNC locked down the Panthers at the end of the first half to capture the lead. Over the last four minutes of the first half the Tar Heels scored 10 consecutive points.

“Well it made me not go crazy as I was going to go at halftime that’s for sure,” said head coach Roy Williams. “We did stop them on six straight possessions.”

Brice Johnson

Brice Johnson. (Photo by Todd Melet)

The second half began as a back-and-forth struggle, until UNC turned it on again defensively and outscored the Panthers 12-1 from 10:48 to 6:22.

Unexpectedly leading the charge was freshmen shooting guard Kenny Williams, who hit his first three pointer of the season during that stretch. He had been 0-12 coming into the game.

Roy Williams said he was impressed with his freshman’s effort defensively on Pitts’ leading scorer Jamel Artis.

“We’re not saying Kenny is going to guard Jamel Artis like that the whole game,” he said. “But he never got to the basket against him for three straight possessions and I think that was big for us.”

On the other side of the ball, Brice Johnson and Joel Berry combined for some of the most efficient offense the Tar Heels could ask for.

The two combined to go 15-19 from the field for 39 points, but Berry credits his 7-8 from the field to the work done by his big men.

“We were able to get the ball inside,” Berry said. “Brice gave us a big lift, Isaiah came in and gave us a big lift, so just having that balance of the inside-outside attack, that helped us out a lot. When Brice is scoring in the post like that it helps us out a lot.”

The Tar Heels will play Friday night at 7 against Notre Dame, which rallied from 16 points behind in the second half to defeat Duke in overtime, 84-79. UNC lost to the Irish in South Bend, 80-76, in their only meeting during the regular season.

Make sure to tune in to WCHL for play-by-play from every ACC Tournament game.

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