After a half of action, the No. 5 North Carolina men's basketball walked into the locker room with a 42-33 lead over the visiting No. 11 Miami Hurricanes.
Both teams entered the game tied atop the ACC standings with 10 wins in conference apiece and looking to claim sole possession of first place.
As he has for much of the season, senior forward Brice Johnson paced the Tar Heels with eight points and seven rebounds. Sophomore wing Justin Jackson has scored a team-high nine points.
Coming off a deflating 74-73 loss to Duke in which the Tar Heels hit only one 3-pointer, UNC tripled that number in the first half with makes from Jackson, Theo Pinson and Marcus Paige.
On the defensive end, the Tar Heels held Miami to 12-of-34 shooting, including 2-of-11 from deep. That number was helped by Miami guard Sheldon McClellan sitting out for about six minutes in the first half after getting up a little shaky on an offensive rebound and putback by Jackson.
Both teams crashed the boards hard on offense, with Miami seizing 10 offensive rebounds and UNC grabbing only eight. But UNC earned 11 second-chance points from those rebounds, while Miami had only eight.
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