updated 11:05 p.m.

CHARLOTTE -- North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he was concerned about his team’s lack of NCAA experience.

So perhaps it was fitting that with the second-round game on the line Friday night, the Tar Heels got the most out of the player that had played in the postseason the most.

Junior forward Tyler Zeller – who logged a total of 32 minutes during UNC’s six-game national title run in 2009 – scored 25 of his career-high 32 points in the second half of the second-seeded Tar Heels’ 102-87 victory over No. 15 seed Long Island University.

Tar Heels sophomore John Henson added a career high 28 points (including 20 in the first half) at Time Warner Cable Arena, and freshman Harrison Barnes chipped in 24 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.

But it was Zeller’s poise (and points) that secured the game down the stretch; as a result, Carolina (27-7) will either face either seventh-seeded Washington or No. 10 seed Georgia in at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

CHARLOTTE -- North Carolina shooting guard Dexter Strickland’s right knee injury – revealed for the first time by coach Roy Williams at the end of a Wednesday news conference – is a slightly torn meniscus, the player said today.

“But it’s not swollen, it’s not hurting,”’ the sophomore said. And judging by his dunks during the Tar Heels’ open practice, it shouldn’t be a factor when his team plays Long Island on Friday.

Strickland said he’s not sure whether he hurt the knee during UNC’s Feb. 6 win over Florida State, when he collided with a photographer on the baseline, or during a later practice. He was given the option of having surgery, but that might have meant missing the rest of the season. And as long as he wouldn’t do any further damage, he opted to play with the pain.

North Carolina's loss to Duke in the ACC championship game this afternoon turned out to be a big problem in the NCAA pairings.

As the No. 2 seed in the East, the Tar Heels do get to start in Charlotte.

But if the top four seeds advance to the regional semifinals in Newark, N.J. (March 25 and 27), the chalk pairings would be UNC vs. Syracuse (3) and Ohio State (1) against Kentucky (4).

Talk about a tough ticket to find.

By contrast, Duke got rewarded for the most part by winning the ACC.

updated 6:12 p.m.

GREENSBORO -- When Duke seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler came off the floor to bear hugs from Mike Krzyzewski in the final minute Sunday, even North Carolina coach Roy Williams stood up and applauded.

Smith and Singler captured their third straight ACC tournament title, the Blue Devils’ 10th in the past 13 years, with a 75-58 defeat of top-seeded North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum.

GREENSBORO -- Duke and North Carolina in an ACC championship game.

Makes all the sense in the basketball world, right?

It hasn’t turned out that way since 2001, when Duke won 79-53 in Atlanta.

GREENSBORO --  After watching Harrison Barnes light up Clemson for 40 points Saturday in North Carolina’s improbable 92-87 ACC semifinal overtime win, I get the feeling we all just saw the best game Barnes will ever play in a Tar Heel uniform.

Maybe I’m wrong and Barnes, a precocious freshman, won’t come out early for the NBA draft. Maybe the impending possible lockout will keep him in school. Or maybe he just likes school and wants to stay like Tyler Hansbrough (who also once hit 40 points as a freshman) did for four seasons.

But when you can do something like that, it’s hard not to hear the siren song of the NBA.

A pair of former UNC basketball players in Japan contacted school officials that they are doing OK following today's earthquake.

Will Graves, who was dismissed from the team this fall and is now playing professionally in Japan, contacted UNC officials to let them know that while his home has lost power, he is doing fine.

Another former UNC player, Jackie Manuel, who also plays in Japan, contacted coaches and players soon after the earthquake with news that he is OK.

Graves would have been a senior forward and a contender for a starting position this season with the Tar Heels.

GREENSBORO -- North Carolina gave a double jolt of caffeine to the ACC tournament Friday – first by nearly losing to Miami, then by clawing back from a 19-point deficit to beat the Hurricanes on a buzzer beater by Tyler Zeller.

Zeller’s layup just before the buzzer – off a beautiful feed from Kendall Marshall – gave North Carolina a 61-59 ACC quarterfinal victory that seemed very unlikely until the final minute. The result: a crowd of more than 23,000, made up of 90 percent Tar Heel fans, got scared and then got overjoyed.

GREENSBORO -- First, North Carolina turned Greensboro Coliseum into what used to be known as Carmichael Auditorium on Friday.

Then, just for the sake of hysterics, the Tar Heels and their fans reached back across the ages and produced the same sort of basketball magic long associated with the arena that Dean Smith’s teams made famous for staging improbable comebacks.

Rattled into the role of overwhelmed fall men were the Miami Hurricanes, who never trailed in this ACC Tournament quarterfinal until it mattered – the last shot.

That was when Kendall Marshall found Tyler Zeller for a game-winning, left-handed point-blanker and a 61-59 Carolina win.

updated 4:52 p.m.

GREENSBORO -- Miami coach Frank Haith thought the ball was going to Harrison Barnes.

UNC forward John Henson thought the ball was going to Harrison Barnes.

Based on the freshman’s two previous game-winners this season, most of the 20,000-plus in attendance at Greensboro Coliseum probably thought the ball was going to Harrison Barnes, too.

But with the clock winding down Friday, UNC point guard Kendall Marshall drove to the basket, and passed the ball to junior forward Tyler Zeller – whose buzzer-beating layup solidified an improbable 19-point comeback and 61-59 victory in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.