Lethargic first half dooms Rebels in loss to Tar Heels

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - One team was out of sorts, sluggish and slow to realize the game started, and senior guard Dexter Strickland helped make sure North Carolina took the opposite approach.

"We came out ready to play with a lot of energy," he said.

Strickland got the Tar Heels off to a running start and filled the closer's role in the final two minutes, finishing with 16 points in a 79-73 victory over 20th-ranked UNLV on Saturday at the Smith Center.

When it was over, North Carolina coach Roy Williams jogged off the court while thrusting a fist into the air for the crowd of 20,888, exhibiting an enthusiasm the Rebels lacked for most of the first half.

Anthony Bennett, Anthony Marshall and Katin Reinhardt each scored 15 points for UNLV, which dropped to 11-2 - and possibly out of the Top 25 polls - with the end of its nine-game winning streak.

One team was "hyped up and ready to play against a ranked team," Rebels coach Dave Rice said, and it was not his team.

The unranked Tar Heels (10-3) took a 15-point lead in the first half and led for all but 25 seconds after halftime.

"We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole," said Marshall, who ran a scattershot offense early in what nearly turned into a one-sided game. "Losing hurts. But there's a lesson from every loss."

UNLV emerged from its hole to take its only lead, 49-48, on Reinhardt's 3-pointer with 14:01 left. North Carolina scored the next six points before Marshall's 3 from the left corner pulled the Rebels within 57-56 with 10:06 remaining.

The game still was up for grabs when Strickland beat the shot clock with a 15-foot jumper with 1:32 to go, and he added a free throw to put the Tar Heels ahead 75-69 with 1:01 to go.

P.J. Hairston hit two 3-pointers and had 15 points for North Carolina, which shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55) from the field. James Michael McAdoo added 13 points and nine rebounds.

Williams obviously enjoyed the Tar Heels' first win of the season over a ranked team, and they got a measure of revenge more than a year after UNLV stunned then-No. 1 North Carolina 90-80 in Las Vegas.

"Needless to say, we feel very good," Williams said. "Those are the kind of moments I coach for. It was fun to have some excitement in the locker room. Vegas' team is really good. We played the best defense we've played all year long in the first half."

The Rebels unraveled offensively, committing 17 turnovers and missing 10 free throws, and they were even out of sync in trying to explain what went wrong.

"As a team, we played on our heels," Marshall said.

Asked what led to UNLV's offensive inefficiency, Bennett said, "No one was scared, no was playing back on their heels. I don't know what happened. I'm not even sure. We can play better."

Despite the Rebels' issues, Reinhardt made 4 of 5 3-pointers to trigger a rally, and Bennett (13 rebounds), Marshall (eight assists, one turnover) and Bryce Dejean-Jones (14 points) played key roles in a comeback that fizzled in the final minute.

"Sometimes you forget that (Bennett) is a freshman because he is so advanced in what he's able to do," Rice said. "(Marshall) has played in a lot of big games, and he gave us what we needed. He was terrific. He kept us in the game.

"We are very disappointed with the result. There are no moral victories for our program. We're way past that."

UNLV failed to take advantage of two surprising breaks. Junior forward Mike Moser, out since Dec. 9 with a dislocated right elbow, made an unexpected return and hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds before halftime to cut the Tar Heels' lead to 39-30.

"I wasn't limited," said Moser, who made the call to play after feeling good in warmups. "I was kind of playing a different role, so I guess trying to catch a rhythm was kind of tough."

Moser played 12 minutes off the bench, which was more than North Carolina could get from Reggie Bullock, the team's No. 2 scorer and rebounder. It was announced before the game that Bullock suffered a minor concussion in practice and was ruled out.

"We knew we were going to have to step it up because of the loss of Reggie," Strickland said. "They beat us up last year. We felt like we had a great chance to reverse that. Coach was hyped up about the game and so were we."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.