Barnes sparks Tar Heels to 83-74 win over Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Before his team’s 83-74 victory against Maryland on Saturday, North Carolina sophomore forward Harrison Barnes wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play three minutes or 30 minutes, and he wasn’t sure of how good he could be regardless of how much he played.

All he knew, he said later, is that he wouldn’t let the sprained left ankle he’d suffered earlier in the week keep him on the bench. As it turned out, Barnes didn’t stop playing even after he sprained it again.

“It was a lot of pain,” Barnes said after he scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half. “It was like somebody shot me in the ankle. I think that’s about how much pain there was. Because it was already hurt. Then you do the same thing again to it, it [was] a lot of pain.”

He spoke on a padded table outside the Tar Heels’ locker room, surrounded by reporters, going through post-game stretches with a trainer. He said he entered the game feeling about 60 percent healthy but asked if there was a chance he’d miss it, Barnes didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“Thought never crossed my mind,” he said. “I was always going to try to go out there and do as much as I could.”

Barnes’ effort personified the kind the Tar Heels gave against the Terrapins. UNC before Saturday had found itself in few of these kinds of games – ones in a hostile environment, with the score close and the final possessions precious.

The fifth-ranked Heels 20-3, 7-1) trailed 40-37 at halftime and a loud, crass crowd at the Comcast Center roared while the Terrapins (13-9, 3-5) extended the lead to 48-39 with 17:24 to play. About 30 seconds earlier, Barnes went to the bench after re-injuring that left ankle. He wasn’t there for long.

“We were in the same situation we were in at Florida State,” he said, referring to that 33-point loss in Tallahassee last month. “You know, down at halftime, come out, they have a little bit of momentum. And we were strong enough to fight through it.”

At halftime, UNC coach Roy Williams questioned his team’s toughness. He reminded his players that there had been five loose balls during the first half, and Maryland had come up with every one of them.

“A lot of it,” UNC senior forward Tyler Zeller said, “was just picking up the intensity on our part.”

After the Terps’ initial surge to start the second half, Williams said his team played its best defense of the season. Maryland scored eight points in the first 2:36 of the second half, and just nine points during the next nine minutes.

During that span, UNC went on a 20-9 run that ended with Barnes’ 3 with 9:19 to play. That shot put the Heels ahead 59-57, and they never trailed again.

Barnes made just 5 of his 15 field-goal attempts. Still, Williams said, “He has a tremendous ability to make shots and a tremendous confidence that he’s going to make them.”

With about a minute to play, Barnes made a jump shot from the right side that put UNC ahead by six. In addition to those clutch shots from Barnes, UNC received 22 points in 22 minutes from Zeller, who played just eight minutes in the second half due to foul trouble.

John Henson added 17 for UNC and Kendall Marshall, the Heels’ sophomore point guard, finished with 9 points and 16 assists, which tied his personal best for a conference game. Afterward, Marshall said he felt a sense of pride he hadn’t yet experienced this season.

“This is probably the best I’ve felt after a game for our team,” Marshall said. “I felt like I had to go around and give all my teammates a hug, you know, ‘good job’ – just because I felt like we really came together to get that done.”

Outside the locker room, a trainer was already tending to Barnes. He said his ankle never felt better on Saturday than it did at the end of the game, after a victory he played a large role in securing.

Photo: UNC's Harrison Barnes drives to the basket against Maryland's Alex Len for two of his 18 points in the second half. ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com