Florida State had already missed its first seven shots, but with an early 13-point cushion, UNC graduate forward Brady Manek leapt into the air, hoping to prolong the streak by contesting a running layup. It sailed wide.
After an outlet pass reached the arms of senior wing Leaky Black, Manek crossed the state insignia at mid-court and bolted into second gear for a slashing flush over a Seminole defender. 15-0.
Just 20 seconds later, he jumped again, and another shot clanked off the rim. He filled the lane carefully on the right side, but Black instead gave a gentle shovel pass to sophomore guard Caleb Love, who pulled a quick trigger as his triple ripped the net.
Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton stood several feet away from the scene of the crime and burned his second timeout of the half. The opposing sideline was equally shocked — except there were more hands blissfully waving in the air than sitting frozen on hips.
It was 18-0, but the Tar Heels’ fun was only getting started.
For the remaining 13 minutes of the half, the North Carolina men’s basketball team dimed, dunked and drained triples to put up crooked scores like 33-8 and 55-18, and by the end of the onslaught, the four Jumbotrons in the Smith Center displayed a score discrepancy the 36-year-old building had never seen at the half of a conference game: UNC 62, FSU 24.
“We knew what the score was, and each media timeout, I was just telling my teammates, ‘Stay on their necks, don’t let up at all,” Love said.
Even in a second half where the Seminoles outscored the Tar Heels by nearly 20 points, the home team still had 20 more to spare in a lopsided 94-74 win.
“One of the many things I’m so proud of about our guys is that when we get knocked down, we always get back up,” head coach Hubert Davis said. “We had a disappointing outcome against Duke just last week, and what was on the plate was for us to come and compete against two really, really good teams, and we did that.”
