It was antsy for a while, but what a weekend for Carolina.
The Tar Heel basketball team fell behind yet another opponent by double figures in the first half, but turned it around in the second to record its best win so far this season.
And the UNC football team had to wait to watch the ACC championship game to find out if Clemson would win and give Mack Brown and his guys their coveted bid to the Orange Bowl.
Roy Williams’ Tar Heels, with the second-best recruiting class in the country, were facing a rival blue blood program with the TOP-rated newcomer freshmen and graduate transfers.
And while neither team played well in the first half, with Kentucky outbattling Carolina on the offensive and defensive backboards, a late scoring run evened the game and left the Heels with a manageable 38-34 deficit at halftime.
The second half proved to be their best stretch of the season, becoming the aggressor and getting some unexpected help from the bench to outscore the Wildcats 41-25 in the 12-point victory.
The help came from freshman sub Kerwin Walton, who hit all three of his 3-pointers, and fellow frosh Puff Johnson, who showed signs of why he could become the scoring weapon Carolina needs from the small forward position. They sparked an 11-1 run that put the Tar Heels ahead for good.
It’s amazing how bad the 1-5 Wildcats are with such a highly touted roster. Olivier Sarr, a 7-foot transfer from Wake Forest did not take a shot or score before fouling out in the second half. Kentucky is a mess, trying to play without a true point guard to get the ball inside.
In the crucial football game, Clemson broke out to a 24-3 lead at halftime, and you got the feeling that if the rout continued the College Football Playoff selection committee would not pick Notre Dame, which in that case would have taken the Orange Bowl spot that automatically goes to the next highest available ACC team.
But it all worked out, and in his second year back in Chapel Hill, Brown is taking his Tar Heels to the Orange Bowl for the first time in school history and to a major New Year’s Bowl for the first time in 70 years. What a nervous-yet-wonderful weekend for all who cared.
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