Barnes torches Tigers

GREENSBORO – Harrison Barnes is winning.

For the second game in a row, North Carolina’s talented freshman carried the Tar Heels in the first half of an ACC Tournament game when the rest of the team couldn’t produce any offense. But this time, Barnes had an even bigger second half and finished with 40 points.

Barnes’ point total was the seventh 40-point performance in the ACC Tournament and the most scored by a freshman in a tournament game.

“Lennie Rosenbluth, whose jersey’s in the rafters retired, had 45; Charlie Scott, whose jersey’s in the rafters twice, had 41,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

But neither of those former UNC stars did that as an underclassman.

“I remember one of those games when I was a student when Charlie made his last nine shots to win the ACC Tournament final,” Williams said. “Harrison’s in big-time company there.”

Barnes said it’s an honor to be in the same sentence with those former great ACC players, and what he did was certainly impressive. What makes Saturday’s performance different from any other big game for Barnes was his consistency.

The freshman has scored in bunches to start and finish games. He’s even played complete all-around games, but this was the first time Barnes has poured in points for the entire game.

“He just wants to eat, so I’ve got to keep feeding him,” UNC point guard Kendall Marshall said. “Every time I see him he’s calling for the ball, you know he wants it. He wants to be a killer out there so I’m going to keep giving it to him.”

When North Carolina finished the first half down 38-28, Barnes was a big reason wasn’t down by 20 points. He had scored 16 of those 28 points, and he started the second half the same way.

After a miss by John Henson, Barnes corralled the rebound and put it back in. He was responsible for a lot of UNC’s 29 second-chance points, whether off rebounds he had or opportunities his teammates created. Barnes finished the game with eight rebounds.

“Harrison Barnes was outstanding,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We couldn’t guard him. We couldn’t stop him. He was a real difference maker for them.”

But after Barnes scored the opening basket of the second half, he wasn’t much of an offensive difference maker for the next seven minutes. Barnes didn’t score again until he converted two free throws with 11:25 left in the second half.

If Barnes had erupted before, he exploded from that point on.

In the last 17 minutes of the game, including overtime, Barnes scored 22 points on 5-of-5 shooting. It didn’t seem like he could miss. He even shot 10-for-11 from the free throw line for the game.

“That’s what he does,” Henson said. “He takes the shots with five seconds left the same way he takes the shot with 20 minutes left.”

Barnes seemed to have fun on the court. He’s vocal and at one point appeared to spread his arms like wings after burying a 3-pointer, in reference to his nickname, the Black Falcon. Barnes neither confirmed nor denied this.

But despite his hot touch, Barnes remained serious and stoic for the majority of the game and held that poise even after it was over.

“I tried to fill in for what the team needs,” Barnes said. “Today we had a lack of production on the offensive end and I tried to make up for that.”

With 40 points, Barnes more than filled the void.
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