CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ If there was a one play, one moment, that defined No. 11 North Carolina's 96-83 victory against No. 9 Florida State on Saturday, it might have happened with less than four minutes to play, with the Tar Heels trying to figure out the Seminoles' defense, the shot clock winding down.
Junior point guard Joel Berry had the ball in his hands, dribbling, trying to find an opening. The shot clock showed four seconds, and then three, when Berry began his move inside, to where the Tar Heels were supposed to be at a significant disadvantage.
Jonathan Isaac, the Seminoles' 6-foot-10 freshman, was waiting down there, ready to send an errant layup attempt back from where it came. Berry went up, looking not entirely certain that it was the best of ideas, and somehow he managed to get a shot attempt up and over Isaac.
And somehow that attempt managed to go in. It gave the Tar Heels, who'd been trying for a while to pull away, an eight-point lead, and it gave the people at the Smith Center good reason to stand and erupt in a loud ovation, which they did.
About 15 seconds later, Isaac missed a 3-pointer that could have been pivotal had it gone in. When it didn't, it gave the crowd another reason to erupt and then it had even more reason seconds later, when senior forward Isaiah Hicks scored on a breakaway dunk.
The lead was 10 then, and it seemed as though the Smith Center roof was caving in on the Seminoles _ and, perhaps, the pressure of the moment _ that's because it was. Given that quick swing in momentum, a six-point lead turned to 10, the building rocking, it was all but over.
Indeed, this was one of those games where your ears hurt after it ended. The Seminoles, who trailed by 11 points on three separate occasions during the second half, trailed by three with eight minutes to play, and by four with about 5{ minutes remaining.
From there, though, UNC scored the next six points to stretch its lead back to 10 points with 3{ minutes remaining. Berry's shot to beat the shot block came in the middle of that run, between two Hicks dunks.
"I told him to make a dadgum layup," UNC coach Roy Williams said of Berry, who'd missed his previous two shots.
The Tar Heels won the game in large part thanks to their small lineup, which at one point late in the second half included no traditional post players. Williams said it was the first time in his 29-year head coaching career that he'd ever used such a lineup.
UNC used it with success on Saturday, and won a game that was pivotal in the early-season ACC race. The Seminoles entered the Smith Center unbeaten in conference play. They left with their first ACC loss after UNC's game-defining late run.
Berry (26 points), Justin Jackson (22) and Hicks (22) all scored at least 20 points for UNC. It was the first time three UNC players scored at least 20 points since the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
