CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ North Carolina was due for a letdown after emotional wins over Duke and N.C. State.
Theo Pinson made sure the Tar Heels had enough juice to handle Notre Dame on Monday night. The do-everything senior led the 14th-ranked Heels to a 83-66 win over the Fighting Irish for their third win in five days.
UNC (20-7, 9-5 ACC) was understandably sluggish in spurts. Even the late-arriving crowd took some time to get cranked back up after it had emotionally maxed out in Thursday's 82-78 home over Duke.
But Pinson scored nine of his 16 points after Notre Dame (15-11, 5-8) had cut UNC's lead to 58-57 with 9:38 left in the second half. Pinson also had with 10 rebounds and five assists for the Heels, who won their fourth straight ACC game.
Senior guard Joel Berry added 21 points and Cam Johnson had 13, including two on a crowd-pleasing dunk over Notre Dame guard Rex Pflueger during a game-turning 26-6 run.
The Tar Heels led 56-46 with 13 minutes left and then hit a wall. Forwards Martinas Geben (18 points) and John Mooney (18 points) were able to exploit UNC's defense inside and out. Mooney hit six 3-pointers and T.J. Gibbs followed up Mooney's sixth with a 3 that cut UNC's lead down to 58-57.
But Pinson responded and kept UNC's letdown from turning into a loss. Pinson followed Johnson's dunk with a three-point play and then a circus layup to stretch UNC's margin to 72-63.
UNC overcame a sluggish scoring effort by junior forward Luke Maye. Maye had a career-high 33 points in Saturday's win at N.C. State but was held to eight on Monday.
