CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — It took 43 seconds for the North Carolina Tar Heels’ night to unravel on them in a 79-67 loss to Illinois.
That is how long it took for Tyler Zeller to pick up his second and third fouls, a little more than 10 minutes into the first half. The third foul was a cheap bump on a passing Demetri McCamey, sending Zeller to the bench.
In those 10 minutes, Zeller was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring eight of UNC’s 14 points. Fellow post man John Henson and Zeller were torturing Illinois with post moves, and scored 12 of the first 14. As soon as Zeller was on the bench, Illinois went on a quick five-point run.
“It’s very tough, especially considering playing as well as I was to start with,” Zeller said. “It’s kind of discouraging, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to play for the rest of the half. I never really got back into it the way I should have.”
UNC gamely held its own against the Fighting Illini for the rest of the half on the back of John Henson, who scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in the half. But the Tar Heels just could not keep up down the stretch.
Zeller started the second half, but the damage was done. Illinois had a seven-point lead, and Zeller had lost his steam.
The Illini quickly expanded the lead to 11 after intermission by getting the ball inside, where Zeller could not be aggressive because of his foul predicament. For the game, Zeller was limited to 20 minutes.
“I know that I did something stupid that hurt my teammates,” he said. “I want to be able to be out there, helping them out, but instead I can’t because I have three fouls.”
Williams tried to coax his team back into the game, three times subbing out all five players at once, only to watch the deficit grow larger.
Preseason first-team All-American Harrison Barnes continued to struggle, going 2-for-8 in the first half and 2-for-9 in the game, good for eight points.
