Rice’s small dent in the box score, though, wasn’t as detrimental to the Eagles as the Tar Heels’ running game. UNC’s Brandan Wright, who scored 20 points on 10-12 shooting, dunked home uncontested breakaways all afternoon.
With the win, the Tar Heels move on to the ACC Tournament finals. The defeated Eagles return to Chestnut Hill to await their NCAA tournament destination on Selection Sunday.
Sean Marshall did his best Rice-in-the-quarters impression, hoisting the BC offense on his shoulders for long stretches and finishing with 23 points on 8-14 shooting. Jared Dudley, who was nearly incognito until the overtime period in Friday’s win against Miami, was just as inconspicuous in the first half Saturday.
When Dudley flipped on the switch in the second half (he scored 16 of his 20 points after the break), the Eagles momentarily had comeback dreams. A Dudley pull-up three with 11:28 remaining whittled what was once a 20-point lead down to 11. But the Tar Heels crushed BC’s fleeting optimism with a quick, 7-0 run. With 1:35 left, Wright capped off the scoring with yet another breakaway slam.
BC couldn’t have played worse in the first half. Rice and Dudley combined to go 1-for-15 from the field and Carolina’s run-happy guards (I swear someone shoots Ty Lawson out of a cannon after a rebound) turned all those bricks into fast break points. The Eagles’ game plan was obvious, but not properly executed: Rice, their point guard, bled 15, 20, sometimes 25 seconds off the clock each possession to slow the tempo, but when they sauntered toward the glass for their own misses, the Heels were already halfway up the floor. UNC’s speed and BC’s inability to retreat resulted in a one-sided first-half slugfest and the Eagles, down 38-23, were left lying on the mat.
Marshall, for what it was worth, kept the Eagles from complete extinction. The senior co-captain was 4-5 from the field and scored 10 first-half points. It wasn’t exactly Rice against Miami, but Marshall was BC’s only form of offense for a dangerously long amount time.
Right out of the locker room, first half mistakes were repeated in the second. On the first possession after the break, a Rice miss from behind the arc was grabbed by Reyshawn Terry and launched up court to a wide-open Wright, who shook the backboard with a two-handed dunk. Dudley, trying to channel his first-half frustrations, expanded his range and started to hit jumpers. He scored six of BC’s first 10 points in the second half, but it was only good enough to keep pace with Carolina, which maintained a 16-point lead.
For a moment, UNC fell asleep with the big lead. After BC’s gradually-improving freshman, Tyler Roche, knocked down a jumper, Marshall ran off seven-straight points to sneak within single digits. When he nailed a three over a defender, BC trailed just 60-51 with a 13-minute chunk still left on the clock.
Once those fleet-footed Tar Heels noticed what was happening, they didn’t like it. UNC went on a 12-3 run over the next four minutes, thanks to two more Wright dunks and two threes by Terry and freshman guard Wayne Ellington. The lead was 18. Marshall and Dudley scored 22 points in the final 14 minutes of the game, but none of their teammates chipped in. Against Carolina’s explosive offense, that wasn’t nearly enough.
Fortunately for BC, as most bball pundits believe, their season is not over. Selection Sunday might not be too generous to the Eagles - who have now lost five of its last seven – in terms of seeding, but they should be donning their dancing shoes next weekend.