Clemson vs. North Carolina: Game Notes from the Tar Heels' Win over the Tigers

Clemson had never won at North Carolina going into their game Saturday. The trend continued, as UNC continued its series dominance with a shooting clinic from Harrison Barnes.

The game started out slow with both teams failing to convert their initial opportunities, but things started picking up after that, as Clemson jumped out to a quick lead. That would be it, though; the Tar Heels took apart the lead, accelerated out in front and never looked back. 

The win was the result of two things: rebounds and Barnes. The Heels dominated on the glass, ending up with a +14 margin, and Barnes had one of his smoothest-looking shooting games of the season. 

There is a lot that can be said about how well UNC played as a whole, but to keep it short and to the point, we'll focus on the rebounding aspect, the Barnes aspect and a couple other statistics that helped the victory along. 

Clemson isn't a strong team on the boards, so too much shouldn't be made of the rebounding dominance the Heels showed, but the performance allowed them to, more or less, put the game away early. Then, general solid defensive play stopped a potential Clemson run in the second half.

The Tigers had cut the lead to under 10 points when the crowd in the Dean Dome rose to their feet and let out a challenge to pick up the home team, which worked remarkably well. 

The next five Clemson possessions did not reach the rim, and UNC stretched the lead back out to a comfortable level behind a flurry of Barnes shots and Marshall passes. The defensive lockdown put Clemson on the ropes, and they were unable to handle the increased pressure, throwing away their only opportunity to try to close in on the Heels.

Marshall's 11th game of the season with 10 or more assists wasn't one of his best, looking at the assist-turnover ratio, but it got the job done; 13:3 is excellent with any other player, but Marshall has been playing so far above and beyond this season that it almost seems like an average performance from him—especially considering he has three games this season with a ratio of better than 8:1 and six more that pushed the 4:1 ratio he enjoyed against the Tigers.

Despite his quality with the pass, there can still be the usual comment made about how Marshall's shooting game needs to be better. UNC will make it the rest of the season and however much longer Marshall stays in Chapel Hill, and they will be fine.

However, there were too many times against Clemson when he had an open, unguarded shot, but couldn't take it with confidence. This works to his advantage on one hand, giving him more time to play a smart pass, but it sure would be nice to have the ability to make the defense think twice about leaving him open.

Just about everything to do with Barnes' game was perfect. He hit the floor, he scrapped, he rebounded, he created his own shot, he scored from the paint and behind the arc, and he played tight defense.

Barnes has now gone for 20 or more points in 11 of UNC's 27 games and three of the past five. Early in the season I speculated as to whether or not Barnes would be able to reach is potential, and over the past two weeks of playing, I'm having the same confidence boost I had when he took over last season. You always know he's a very good player with the potential be very great, and there's never a lacking in general confidence, but the boost that he gives when he's playing his elevated game is incredible.

The three-pointer Barnes hit to close out his performance as the shot clock was winding down with a minute and a half to play was the best exclamation point he could have put on a tremendous night. 

Tyler Zeller ended up with 14 points and seven rebounds, which is a respectable enough game. But, like Marshall, Zeller's game is only average when looking at the rest of his season, especially the past few weeks where he's been averaging 18.6 points per game and 10 rebounds. That is indicative of how well Zeller has been playing since the end of January. 

All things considered, a good game from UNC as they extended their record winning streak at home over Clemson and stay on pace in the three-way tie at the top of the ACC standings. March is going to be fun.