Zeller leads UNC in 97-82 win against Appalachian State

A North Carolina starter from 1998 to 2002, Appalachian State basketball coach Jason Capel knows a thing or two about UNC’s fast break.

But despite that knowledge, and despite the time he spent preparing his players for Saturday’s matchup, there was little the Mountaineers could do to stop Tyler Zeller.

“Nothing can prepare you for a seven-footer running that fast,” Capel said. “It’s just impossible to do.”

And the Mountaineers learned that fairly quickly in their 97-82 loss at the Smith Center.

A Kendall Marshall jumper and a Harrison Barnes dunk may have started No. 5 UNC’s scoring attack, but in a performance dominated by Zeller, they were just the opening act.

From that point, the senior forward took the game for his own, scoring the next seven points to fuel the tail end of an 11-0 run. And by game’s end, Zeller had a double-double, snagging 10 rebounds to go along with his pace-setting 31 points — one point shy of his career high.

“As a team, we got to get better. We got to do a lot of things better.” Zeller said. “But personally, I think I did very well tonight.”

And it was fortunate for the Tar Heels (9-2) that Zeller was at his best.

The forward led what was otherwise a lackluster offensive showing.

Barnes — the team’s leading scorer entering Saturday — hit a 19-minute dry spell after his early dunk, as the Mountaineers kept him off the board for the remainder of the first half.

And the rest of the Tar Heel starting five, sans Zeller, didn’t fare much better.

Marshall, Dexter Strickland and John Henson combined to score 17 of UNC’s 48 first-half points.

Zeller alone scored 20.

“In the end it’s a ‘W,’ and it’s Christmas time. I’m not going to be a Scrooge by any means,” coach Roy Williams said. “We were really good for about the last four minutes of the first half and the first four or five minutes of the second half.

“And then we went brain dead there for a while.”

Part of that could be explained by the rigors of exam week. Williams said he had 11 players taking exams on Friday, and combined with a one-week layoff, the Tar Heels clearly weren’t sharp offensively in the early going.

Zeller, though, hardly seemed affected by that.

“I was very thankful to have finals over with, so I could just play basketball,” Zeller said.

“But I mean, it’s something that we’re young enough and we shouldn’t need any rest. Finals are tough. They’re exhausting. But we’re here to play basketball, so we got to be able to do that. ”

The final 20-minute frame featured a more potent, well-rounded UNC attack. Barnes opened the half with two dunks, tripling his output for the game, while Henson and guard Reggie Bullock added 10 and seven points respectively.

And those performances helped stave off a feisty Appalachian State squad.

Though they only led the contest briefly in the opening seconds, the Mountaineers narrowed the margin to as low as four in the waning minutes of the first half.

But, ultimately, Zeller’s 31 points quelled any worry of a potential upset.

“It was great, man. He played real well tonight,” Henson said. “He gave me an early Christmas present.”