CHAPEL HILL– UNC basketball made history Wednesday night. The Tar Heels became the first team to beat both the defending national champions and top-ranked team in the nation during the same season when ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ Carolina took down Michigan State in the Breslin Center.

***Listen to the end-game call***

MBB Update 1 (2)

That was Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network with the call. The roller coaster ride of a season rolls on for Carolina. The 79-65 victory improved UNC to 5-2 on the year and handed the Spartans their first loss of the season.

Coach Williams says upon Carolina’s arrival in Michigan on Tuesday night, for the first time ever, he made his team continue to watch film on the UAB loss. It wasn’t until the day of the game that the Tar Heels turned their attention to the Spartans.

“I still chewed them out during the course of practice. Last night when we got here, first time ever, made them continue to look at the tape of the UAB game for almost an hour last night. I told them at that point the UAB game was over with,” Coach Williams says.

The Tar Heels earned 19 second-chance points to Michigan State’s 10 points. And Carolina was physical inside. That fact was proven by their 44 points inside the paint. So not surprisingly, Coach Williams says he was excited about the intensity his team brought to the floor in their shocking upset Wednesday.

“We were really good. I’ll just tell you that’s exactly the way I felt. We were active. We were disciplined on the offensive end. We were active on the boards. We were aware of what was going on offense, much more so than we have been,” Coach Williams says.

Coach Williams says the biggest difference between the Michigan State win and the UAB loss was the “want to” in the players.

“UAB really wanted it so much more than we did. Today, Michigan State did not want it that much more than we did. I think the want-to is always something that has been extremely important to me,” Coach Williams says.

Next up for the Tar Heels is a home game against 4-4 UNC-Greensboro. But the biggest question is which Carolina team will grace the Dean Dome with its presence Saturday night?

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