College basketball winners and losers: North Carolina saves season, Auburn dominates

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It’s not even the end of December and North Carolina badly needed a win.

The schedule was tough, and almost every test resulted in a loss. The promise that came with a top 10 preseason ranking was fading; and the Tar Heels were headed toward spending the rest of the season on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bubble

But the Tar Heels finally came through with a defeat of UCLA in New York City.

What has hurt North Carolina for much of the season has followed the same script: slow starts that mostly has been too much to overcome. It happened against unbeaten Florida team. UNC managed to lead in the second half before the Gators rallied.

Against UCLA it looked like it was headed down the same path. The Bruins came out hot, and after the Tar Heels showed some fight, UCLA got the lead to 16 points with 12 minutes left. Then North Carolina stopped making mistakes. The baskets started to go in. Senior guard RJ Davis overcame some earlier mistakes by hitting the game-winning free throws to knock off the Bruins.

Come tournament time, North Carolina will benefit from playing one of the nation’s toughest non-conference schedules All five losses have been by teams ranked in the top 20. Saturday’s victory was the second Quad 1 win for the Tar Heels. They’ll need more to justify putting a spot in the field.

Still, there’s most of the ACC schedule to play, and Hubert Davis’ squad has some much-needed momentum heading into January, making North Carolina one of the biggest storylines from the past weekend of hoops.

North Carolina forward Jae’Lyn Withers (24) looks to pass the ball as UCLA guard Lazar Stefanovic (10) defends during the first half at Madison Square Garden.

Auburn looks like the best team in the country

Yes, there’s no No. 1 next to Auburn’s name. Nevertheless, the Tigers are playing like the top team in the nation after another crushing win over a ranked team.

Purdue hung around for about eight minutes before Auburn went on a 16-2 run over a seven-minute span. It was…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball-winners-losers-north-111029747.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-23 11:10:00

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