UNC basketball picks up important ACC road win with 77-66 victory over Florida State

North Carolina used its streaky shooting to build a big lead, but had to fight off a furious rally by Florida State to hold on for a 77-66 victory Monday at the Donald L. Tucker Center.

The Tar Heels (19-11, 11-8 ACC) made 14 3-pointers, which was one short of a tying their season high, and jumped out to a 43-25 lead at halftime.

R.J. Davis (game-high 19 points), Leaky Black (tied his career-high with 18 points), Caleb Love (16 points) and Pete Nance (15 points) each knocked down three 3-pointers to power the Heels’ 48 percent shooting from behind the arc.

Carolina now takes a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s regular season finale against Duke. The rivalry game will have the added importance of the Heels needing a win to shore up their NCAA tournament resume.

The Seminoles (9-20, 7-11) pulled off the biggest comeback in ACC history on Saturday when they rallied from 25 points down to beat Miami, 85-84, on a Matt Cleveland 3-pointer at the buzzer.

And despite trailing UNC by as many as 18 points, they slowly crept back into the game and pulled within four twice in the last three minutes.

But Davis scored on a bank shot and Black drove the baseline for a two-handed dunk with 1:33 left to keep FSU from completing its comeback.

Carolina pulled off the victory without leading scorer Armando Bacot being a factor offensively. Bacot had scored double figures in every game with the exception of the loss at Virginia when he was injured roughly 90 seconds into the game. Against the Noles, he didn’t score until 26 seconds remained in the game and he was fouled. Bacot had only four shot attempts from the field and finished with one point and eight rebounds.

Bacot picked up two early fouls and found himself sitting on the bench with 14:28 to play in the first half. Carolina’s offense got sloppy without him being a central focus too. The Heels had turnovers on four of their next five possessions and the only one that didn’t end that way was a desperation 3-point heave from Davis as the shot clock expired.

They totaled seven turnovers and made just three baskets during the eight-minute stretch that Bacot sat out.

But their 3-point shooting saved them from allowing the Seminoles to take the lead while they struggled.

Just two games ago, the Heels shot just eight percent (2-for-23) from 3 — the third-worst showing in program history — in their win at Notre Dame.

Against the Noles, they made 11 of 18 attempts from behind the arc in the first half. Five different Carolina players made at least one 3-pointer, including little-used reserve Dontrez Styles. The sophomore from Kinston hadn’t made a 3 since Dec. 13 against The Citadel, but had only appeared in six games since then.