CLEMSON, S.C. — The final minute of regulation in the No. 14 North Carolina men's basketball team's 89-86 overtime win against Clemson (11-3, 1-1 ACC) on Tuesday is something Joel Berry will want to forget.
With his team ahead 77-74 with less than 30 seconds left, Berry watched as the Tigers' Marcquise Reed nailed a pull-up 3-pointer to tie the game right in front of him. On UNC's next possession, the junior point guard forced an entry pass to Kennedy Meeks. The ball was deflected and fell into the arms of Clemson's Avry Holmes, whom Berry had to foul to keep the Tigers from getting a game-winning dunk on the other end.
Holmes missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and the Tar Heels (13-3, 1-1 ACC) escaped Littlejohn Coliseum with a win against a quality opponent, but that final minute of regulation almost overshadowed the previous 19, where Berry put on a shooting display for the ages and kept his team within reach.
"He made some big baskets tonight boy ..." said head coach Roy Williams. "But I told him, I said, 'If you want to be the great player, you can't make those two turnovers in crucial situations.'"
Berry struggled mightily in North Carolina's ACC opener against Georgia Tech on Saturday. The junior hit just three of his 13 shot attempts, including 2-of-9 from 3-point range. He didn't shoot the lights out against Clemson in the first half, either, but he caught fire in the second.
As the Tigers clung to a lead thanks to a balanced offensive attack, Berry was pretty much the only Tar Heel hitting shots for the better part of the period. During a seven-minute stretch, the point guard scored 19 of his team's 23 points. He tallied 23 points in the half, ending the game with career highs in points (31) and made 3-pointers (7).
"I was really disappointed in my shooting the other day against Georgia Tech," Berry said. "And I just went back and I put up a lot of shots, because I know my team depends on me to hit shots and I want to be a big-time player for this team to help us win."
"So I just, once I came out tonight, I just felt good. I hit my first three, and it came off my hand and I was like, 'Yeah, this is gonna be a pretty big night.'"
It was a night the Tar Heels absolutely needed to leave Clemson with a win. Three days after having 20 turnovers against the Yellow Jackets, North Carolina coughed it up 18 more times against the Tigers. Berry accounted for five of those, but more often than not he was able to make up for his mistakes — and his teammates' — by carrying the scoring load.
