AUSTIN — Isaiah Taylor found open space as he dribbled past his screening teammate and headed toward the free throw line.
There were just 30 seconds left, and with the score tied at 80 between the No. 3 North Carolina men's basketball team and Texas, the Longhorn guard put up a floater. As it clanged off the front of the rim, the open space was still there, and Taylor took the opportunity to corral the ball and put it back up to give Texas the lead.
Twenty seconds later, after the Tar Heels came up empty on the offensive end, Taylor sprinted down the court to find an open look. He pulled up at the 3-point line and launched a shot. It was long, but it bounced directly to senior guard Javan Felix, who, like he did the entire game, confidently put up his shot — this time as time expired.
"He had been making shots all game," said senior guard Marcus Paige. "So that was basically a practice shot for him."
Up. In. Ballgame.
Off their 15th and 16th offensive rebounds of the night, the Longhorns were able to hand North Carolina its second loss of the season to the tune of an 84-82 defeat.
It was the story of the game for the Tar Heels (7-2). Texas (6-3) hit a high percentage of its shots on the offensive end, but even when it didn't, the team was able to crash boards and get second chances.
Coming into the game, UNC was outrebounding opponents by a margin of 12.5 per game. Against Texas on Saturday, the Tar Heels were outrebounded 36-27. The Longhorns turned 16 offensive boards into 21 second-chance points, leaving Coach Roy Williams flabbergasted by what he saw.
"If I knew (what was wrong) I'd already fix the daggum thing," he said about his team's rebounding effort. "We've been rebounding pretty well but today Texas wanted the basketball a lot more than we did. (They) physically imposed themselves and their will on us."
