CHICAGO (Sporting Alert, Box Score) — Brice Johnson and No. 24 North Carolina stopped the four game win streak of No. 12 Ohio State with an 82-74 victory in the CBS Sports Classic at United Center on Saturday.
- 24th Ranked North Carolina Win 3rd Game Over Top 25 Teams
- Brice Johnson Was Lethal From The Floor With 8-for-10 Shoot
- Ohio State Shot Less Than 36 Percent In Second Defeat Of Season
No. 24 UNC tops No. 12 Ohio State, 82-74, for its third Top 25 victory of the season. pic.twitter.com/tR0VXv4xbs
— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) December 20, 2014
Johnson scored 18 points on an impressive 8 of 10 shooting to go along with his nine rebounds, and Marcus Paige added 16 points and four assists, despite going just 4 of 12 from the floor.
“Brice was great today,” Paige said.
Justin Jackson supported well with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds for the Tar Heels (8-3), which picked up its third win against top 25 teams this season.
North Carolina also had wins over then-No. 22 UCLA Bruins and then-No. 18 Florida Gators.
The team is now 3-1 against top 25 ranked teams on the season, losing only to undefeated top ranked Kentucky.
Marc Loving collected 19 points and hit 5 of 8 from three-point distance, and four boards for the Buckeyes, with Sam Thompson ended with 17 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the defeat.
D’Angelo Russell had 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in a solid outing, while Shannon Scott finished with 10 points, eight helps and six boards for Ohio State, which only other defeat this season came against No. 4 Louisville on Dec 2.
Kennedy Meeks grabbed 13 rebounds for North Carolina, who dominated the Buckeyes 53-39 on the boards in the contest.
Both teams started the game on balanced terms, but the Tar Heels exploded midway in the first half to open up a 43-31 advantage at halftime.
Roy Williams’ team used another big run in the second half to stretch their advantage to 50-66 with 9:37 left in the game.
Ohio State came as close as seven points after Loving made a three-points to cut the score to at 77-70 with 1:24 remaining, but Thompson made two buckets in the last 0:23 for North Carolina to hold off the run, despite struggling at 15 for 25 from the free throw line in the second half.
The Buckeyes entered Saturday’s game ranked third in FG pct at 53.7 percent and were averaging 84.2 points per game, but were held to 35.2 percent in the defeat.
“That’s one of the best defenses in the country, and you look at the size, you’re going to have to make some tough shots in order to beat those guys just in terms of their length,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.
Matta added that his squad has been playing well this season, but admits losing both games against ranked teams proves that his setup is not where it needs to be.
“We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and say, hey, we’re not there yet, which is fine, but we’ve got to look at all the little things that we have to do to get better and get that established,” Matta said.
“Knowing that it’s, I don’t want to say it’s early, but it’s still December. We’ve got January, February, March still to play basketball.
Ohio State will play host to Miami (Ohio) on Monday and North Carolina entertains UAB next Saturday.
Official Box Score
Ohio State Buckeyes vs North Carolina
12/20/14 12:00 pm at United Center (Chicago, IL)
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TEAMS: Ohio State Buckeyes (9-2)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
12 Thompson, Sam....... f 6-13 1-5 4-4 2 2 4 4 17 1 1 2 0 33
2 Loving, Marc........ f 6-15 5-8 2-2 2 2 4 4 19 0 4 1 0 32
23 Williams, Amir...... c 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 3 1 0 0 4 1 19
0 Russell, D'Angelo... g 4-17 3-10 0-2 0 8 8 4 11 5 2 0 3 38
3 Scott, Shannon...... g 3-8 0-3 4-4 2 4 6 4 10 9 3 0 1 33
1 Jae'Sean Tate....... 3-6 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 1 6 0 0 1 1 12
15 Williams, Kam....... 0-4 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 10
31 Lee, Anthony........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 9
33 Bates-Diop, Keita... 2-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 0 0 1 0 5
55 McDonald, Trey...... 1-3 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 3 3 0 0 1 0 9
TEAM................ 3 3 6
Totals.............. 25-72 10-29 14-18 14 26 40 24 74 17 10 11 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 13-40 32.5% Game: 34.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-17 23.5% Game: 34.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 13-16 81.3% Game: 77.8% 2
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TEAMS: North Carolina (8-3)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Brice Johnson....... f 8-10 0-0 2-2 1 8 9 2 18 0 0 1 1 28
13 J.P. Tokoto......... f 3-7 0-0 2-5 3 5 8 3 8 6 2 0 2 30
3 Kennedy Meeks....... f 3-10 0-0 2-4 5 8 13 2 8 2 2 2 0 28
44 Justin Jackson...... g 4-10 0-2 3-7 2 2 4 1 11 5 1 0 0 24
5 Marcus Paige........ g 4-12 2-8 6-9 0 3 3 3 16 4 4 0 0 33
0 Nate Britt.......... 1-1 0-0 4-4 1 2 3 1 6 1 1 1 1 14
1 Theo Pinson......... 0-5 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 12
14 Desmond Hubert...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
2 Joel Berry II....... 2-2 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 5 4 0 0 0 11
22 Isaiah Hicks........ 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 1 0 10
42 Joel James.......... 3-4 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 1 8 0 2 1 0 10
TEAM................ 3 4 7 1
Totals.............. 29-65 3-13 21-33 18 35 53 16 82 23 15 6 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-33 51.5% 2nd Half: 12-32 37.5% Game: 44.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 0-5 0.0% Game: 23.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 15-25 60.0% Game: 63.6% 4
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Officials: Roger Ayers, Doug Shows, Michael Stephens
Technical fouls: Ohio State Buckeyes-None. North Carolina-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Ohio State Buckeyes........... 31 43 - 74
North Carolina................ 43 39 - 82
Points in the paint-OSU 20,NC 34. Points off turnovers-OSU 16,NC 13.
2nd chance points-OSU 12,NC 16. Fast break points-OSU 16,NC 11.
Bench points-OSU 16,NC 21. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-OSU 2nd-00:04, NC 2nd-02:45.
Largest lead-OSU by 2 1st-19:21, NC by 18 2nd-10:41.