Like It Is

Hogs fight good fight, but Heels win decision

Arkansas guard Michael Qualls (24) drives up the court against North Carolina during the first half of an NCAA tournament third round basketball game Saturday, March 21, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Rick Wilson)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Mike Anderson came into Saturday night's NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina looking to take his third school to the Sweet 16.

He took Alabama-Birmingham in 2004 and Missouri in 2009 when the Tigers came within a field goal against eventual champion Connecticut of making the Final Four.

Anderson had never been more animated or vocal than he was Saturday night.

He did everything but rip off his coat and run on the court to "D" someone up. He coached. He pointed. He yelled and got on the officials like, well, like there was no tomorrow.

The Hogs fought and scrapped as hard as they have all season. They put their best defensive foot forward but struggled on offense. So did the Tar Heels, who were streaky.

North Carolina is a finesse team, and that's not usually good in the NCAA Tournament unless you can shoot free throws, and something must have happened at halftime in the officials' dressing room.

The teams combined to shoot 16 free throws in the first half, but the second half was outrageous as the teams combined to shoot 38. The calls didn't favor one team.

North Carolina made 23 of 30 free throws in the second half, but back-to-back three-pointers gave it a 71-61 lead with 7:19 to play.

Arkansas didn't fold as it pulled to within 77-70 with 3:42 to play behind a three-pointer by Anthlon Bell and two free throws by Michael Qualls, who followed that with a driving finger roll. Qualls had another phenomenal game, scoring 27 points.

North Carolina got a driving layup and 1 of 2 free throws, but Bobby Portis converted a three-point play for Arkansas. The Tar Heels milked the clock before turning it over, but the Hogs missed a three and North Carolina ended up making its 18th second-half free throw with 33 seconds to play for a 82-74 lead.

Ky Madden scored on a driving layup in less than seven seconds and Anderson called timeout to set his press, but the Heels hit three of their final four free throws to make the final 87-78.

Arkansas trailed only 39-36 at the half, but that was because North Carolina started the game colder than an Alaskan ditch digger in December. Then it was the Hogs who closed the opening half by struggling against the Tar Heels' zone defense.

It was 20 minutes of two teams that couldn't shoot straight and had troubled handling the rock.

The Tar Heels made 6 of 19 shots to start the game while the Hogs made 5 of their first 10 shots, including 2 of 4 three-pointers, and kept an early lead for 5:37.

Then an Arctic front hit Arkansas.

The Razorbacks were 2 of 17 to end the half, and at one time they missed 10 consecutive shots. Then Qualls, on the third try of that possession, put one down, drew a foul and cut the North Carolina lead to 33-31.

The only other field goal the Hogs had in the last eight-plus minutes was a three-pointer by Madden to give the Hogs a 34-33 lead with 2:55 to go in the first half.

That was the last of eight lead changes -- there were also seven ties -- as the Heels converted two free throws and scored off a rebound dunk.

It was an uncharacteristic first half for the Hogs. Arkansas turned it over 11 times and the Tar Heels converted them into 13 points, while the Razorbacks forced six mistakes that led to nine points.

It didn't help the Hogs that freshman point guard Anton Beard gave up 75 pounds when he took an early charge from Kennedy Meeks. Beard tried to continue playing but spent 16 minutes of the first half on the bench in his warmups. He did start the second half.

The teams missed a combined 51 shots in the first half.

Sports on 03/22/2015