Platinum performance

North Carolina didn’t need two 3-pointers in the closing minutes to beat Maryland. In fact, the Tar Heels wouldn’t usually take them, as they had a 19-point lead with two minutes remaining.

But because those 3-pointers came from walk-on players in their last game in the Smith Center, coach Roy Williams will cut them a break.

Seniors David Dupont, Patrick Crouch and Stewart Cooper each got the chance to start Wednesday night. And fortunately for the trio of walk-ons, the rest of the Tar Heels put them in a position to be on the court to finish their final minutes at home.

Crouch and Dupont made the best of their time on the court, each swishing in 3-pointers. Dupont’s hit the net just as the buzzer sounded on UNC’s 88-64 Senior Day victory against the Terrapins.

“I told (Maryland coach Mark Turgeon) that I’m sorry that he shot the ball at the end, but I said he is a senior walk-on and I’m glad he did it,” Williams said. “If it had been somebody else, I would not have wanted that. But I was glad that (Dupont’s) shot went in, glad that Patty’s went in.”

UNC surged ahead to a 16-4 lead less than eight minutes into the game. But instead of building on that lead, the Tar Heels traded baskets with the Terrapins and took an 11-point lead into halftime.
As Kendall Marshall sat on the cusp of breaking the UNC single-season assist record, the Tar Heels didn’t convert as many of his passes as usual, delaying his record-setting play until the second half on a Harrison Barnes field goal.

“First half I was very frustrated,” Williams said. “We had four pitch-aheads that we usually end up in two points. And we had … John (Henson) making a bad decision on the fifth one out of five fast breaks, and we got zero points. It was an 11-point game at halftime. It should have been much more.”

The impending record weighed on Marshall, too. He said that he was counting assists throughout the first half in anticipation of passing Ed Cota.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my eye on it,” Marshall said. “But in the second half I was like, if I get it or not, let’s focus on winning this game. It came a lot easier after that.”

A 5-0 spurt out of the intermission brought Maryland within six. But that was the closest the Tar Heels allowed the Terrapins to get all night. UNC responded with a 33-12 run to push its lead into the 20s, where it remained for the majority of the rest of the game.

UNC hammered the ball into the post, where Tyler Zeller and Henson combined for 49 points.
The Tar Heels forced 17 Maryland turnovers, eliminating the Terrapins’ chances of crawling back into the game.

“We cut it to six in the second half … I thought we kind of had control of the game,” Turgeon said. “We turned it over three straight possessions and took a bad shot in there, and it got away from us.”

A demanding second-half lead allowed the Blue Steel seniors to return to the court with two minutes left in the game.

Those minutes turned into fulfilled dreams for Crouch and Dupont.

“I don’t think you could have written a better storybook ending,” Marshall said. “I’m talking to Patty in the locker room, and he said that’s the best feeling he’s ever had in his life.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.