No. 7 Florida built a 17-point first-half lead and weathered a furious second-half comeback from Carolina to defeat the Tar Heels 90-84 at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte on Tuesday night.

The Gators used red-hot three-point shooting to race ahead by double digits in the first half. Florida made six of its first nine threes, while UNC missed its first 11. That disparity helped Florida lead 20-10 less than eight minutes in and 35-18 less than 15 minutes in. The Tar Heels managed to trim the deficit to 46-34 at halftime, laying the groundwork for a rally.

That rally came as UNC roared out to an 11-0 run to begin the second half, cutting the Florida deficit down to 46-45. Though the Gators steadied themselves and built the lead back to six points, Carolina finally nosed in front thanks to a layup from Seth Trimble with 7:50 remaining. A jumper from R.J. Davis increased the UNC lead to 72-68, and the teams would trade jabs from there.

A layup from Elliot Cadeau gave Carolina an 84-82 lead with 2:13 to go, but the Gators tied it on their next possession and then took advantage of a Cadeau turnover to take the lead with less than a minute remaining. Florida then scored the game’s final four points from the free throw line, punishing the Tar Heels with second chances on the offensive glass. The Gators grabbed four offensive rebounds in the game’s final four minutes, all of which led to points. Florida finished with a 46-36 rebounding advantage and a 23-14 edge in second-chance points.

The Tar Heels shot 22-35 (62.9 percent) in the second half, but notably shot just 3-6 on free throws. Florida shot 16-20 from the stripe in the second half to offset its 12-31 (38.7 percent) performance from the floor.

Davis finished as UNC’s leading scorer with 29, though he did miss a critical free throw (the front end of a one-and-one opportunity) in the final minutes. With his performance, Davis passed Phil Ford to move into third place on Carolina’s all-time scoring list. Cadeau, Trimble and Ian Jackson each scored 11, with all of Jackson’s scoring coming in the second half.

The loss drops UNC to 6-5 overall on the season. The Tar Heels still have not beaten a non-ACC power-conference team this season, though they will have one more chance this weekend. Carolina will be back in action when it faces No. 18 UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 3 p.m.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Nell Redmond

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