CHAPEL HILL — Harrison Barnes, the Tar Heels sophomore forward, has a message for Doug Gottlieb, the ESPN radio host and college basketball analyst: “Just text him,” Barnes told an ESPN employee who sat in on UNC’s press conference on Tuesday. “See if he can get that flight over to St. Louis. I’d love to meet him.”

The Tar Heels will travel to St. Louis later this week for the Midwest regional, but Barnes and his teammates were irked by a segment on ESPN in which the network’s analysts proclaimed UNC less of a national title contender because of Kendall Marshall’s injury.

CHAPEL HILL —  North Carolina coach Roy Williams spent part of his weekly radio show on Monday night explaining that he didn’t know whether Kendall Marshall would play on Friday night, that Williams wouldn’t know.

Yet on Tuesday when Williams met with reporters, he kept receiving variations of the same question: Might Marshall be available when UNC plays Ohio in the NCAA tournament Midwest regional semifinals?

CHAPEL HILL — From my stool at the bar at Top of the Hill where, as always, I enjoyed a nice crisp sweet tea on Monday while taking in Roy Williams Live. The highlights:

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall on Monday underwent surgery on his broken right wrist but his playing status remains unknown, according to a statement released by the university.

Marshall suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist during the Tar Heels’ 87-73 victory against Creighton on Sunday in the third round of the NCAA tournament. With the victory, UNC advanced to the Midwest regional semifinals in St. Louis, where the top-seeded Tar Heels will play Ohio on Friday night.

GREENSBORO — Kendall Marshall didn’t have to stop and talk. He could have remained in a training room. He could have told reporters he wanted some time to himself. He could have showed, dressed and walked to the bus without saying a word.

People would have understood.

But Marshall, who suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist on Sunday during North Carolina’s 87-73 victory against Creighton, did none of those things. After learning that he’d suffered a broken wrist, Marshall made his way into the Tar Heels locker room with a large bag of ice on his wrist.

His eyes were red and watery, and he’d just learned he’d suffered the first major injury of his career. But he found a chair, took a seat and spent the next several minutes answering questions – a lot of them the same as reporters rotated in and out around him.

Here’s Marshall, in his own words: 

GREENSBORO -- North Carolina sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall suffered a scaphoid fracture in his right wrist on Sunday night during the Tar Heels’ 87-73 victory against Creighton in the third round of the NCAA tournament Midwest region.

UNC’s medical staff hasn’t yet ruled Marshall out for the Tar Heels game on Friday against Ohio in the Midwest regional semifinals in St. Louis. To read up on scaphoid fractures, I recommend starting right here.

For a condensed version, here's a quick and dirty Q-and-A about the injury:

GREENSBORO — In the moments before everything changed, North Carolina celebrated its 87-73 victory against Creighton at the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday night in the third round of the NCAA tournament Midwest regional.

The Tar Heels (31-5), the top seed in the Midwest, spoke with pride and confidence about going to St. Louis later this week for the regional semifinals. They spoke with a sense of accomplishment after a thorough beating of the No. 8 Bluejays (29-6) – a victory that represented one of UNC’s most complete performances of the season.

John Henson, the UNC junior forward, spoke with resolve after returning from a wrist injury, and across the locker room P.J. Hairston, the freshman, was describing why the Heels’ 3-point defense had been so successful against Creighton, one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams.

It has been a long time since Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott experienced a defeat while sharing the same court. They won 53 consecutive games together at Ames High in Iowa, and back-to-back state championships.

Today they will be reunited, two sophomores who are the most recognizable faces of their teams – Barnes at North Carolina, McDermott at Creighton. The Tar Heels and Bluejays will play one another at 5:15 in the third round of the NCAA tournament Midwest region.

I wrote a story about their reunion that you can read right here, and for that story I spent some time on Saturday speaking with Vance Downs, who coached Barnes and McDermott at Ames High.

Here’ the interview:

GREENSBORO — During their playing days at Ames High in Iowa, Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott won 53 consecutive games and back-to-back state championships. They never lost.

Now they’ll meet again here on Sunday – Barnes the North Carolina sophomore forward, and McDermott, the Creighton sophomore forward, reunited again. The Tar Heels, the top seed in the NCAA tournament Midwest region, and the No. 8 Bluejays play one another on Sunday afternoon in the third round.

They spent plenty of time talking on Saturday about their relationship, and their past. Here they are, in their own words: