North Carolina pulled off the kind of comeback that could change the course of its season. The Tar Heels rallied from a 16-point deficit against No. 11 Florida State for a 78-70 victory before a spirited crowd in the Dean E. Smith Center.
It was the 900th career win for coach Roy Williams.
It was UNC's first win over a ranked team in four tries and just its second Quad 1 victory in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). After having their NCAA Tournament worthiness rightfully questioned following an 83-70 loss to Marquette on Wednesday, the Tar Heels gave a performance that made it OK to believe in them again.
Carolina erased a 12-point halftime deficit by scoring on eight of its first nine possessions to start the second half. Freshman center Walker Kessler, who started the second half for Armando Bacot, led the charge for the Tar Heels. He scored eight of his career-high 20 points during the opening five minutes and punctuated it with a dunk that gave UNC its first lead, 46-44, since the opening minutes of the game.
Kessler quickly endeared himself to the crowd, a majority of which were students, with blocked shots, face-up jumpers and drop-step dunks. He was an unlikely spark, who may have been playing more minutes just because of Bacot’s foul trouble in the first half.
It didn’t matter why he was out there though, just that he performed. At one point in the second half, the Smith Center crowd began chanting, “Wal-ker, Kess-ler.”
The Tar Heels definitely got a boost from the crowd, which the university didn’t announce it would allow until Thursday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Once the state announced it was easing restrictions and permitting 15% attendance for indoor arenas, UNC came up with a plan to allow 75% of its tickets, about 2,400, to go towards students.
