UNC Basketball: Players Who Must Step Up for Tar Heels to Win It All

The Tar Heels are a talented team with a shocking lack of outside shooting. With just a little three-point touch, they could make a real run through the tournament.

They have everything else in place. This team is first in the nation in rebounding, second in scoring and fourth in assists, but they are shooting just 34.7 percent from distance. 

That cannot continue if they want to be the kings of March Madness. Here are three players that can help them alleviate this problem. 

Harrison Barnes

Barnes is having a dynamic season. It is going to be hard for him to step it up, but that is what truly great players do when the stakes are at their highest. 

He has been far and away this team's best three-point shooter. He is shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc. 

Barnes is also scoring 18 points and grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game. These are excellent numbers all the way around. 

Despite this, he needs to take his game to yet another level. He needs to be the leader of this team on the court and drill all of his open shots. This is going to pave the way for everyone else to have success. 

Reggie Bullock 

The Tar Heels need someone besides Barnes to hit open shots. Defenses are going to slack off of guys not named Barnes and leave players open on the perimeter. Someone needs to make the defense pay for this. 

If Bullock could do this, it would be ideal. He has taken over the team's starting two guard spot and the strength of his game was supposed to be his shooting. 

He has been erratic, hitting just 38.7 percent of his outside shots. And the majority of those shots were open looks. 

He needs to start drilling those shots and make teams pay when they leave him open. 

PJ Hairston

Hairston has a picture perfect quick-fire release. That release, however, is broken. After a hot start, Hairston has hit a prolonged slump.

This has led to bricks, bad shot selections and turnovers. He is now hitting just 29.1 percent from beyond the arc. 

If he can get his groove back, he will be a huge boost off the bench and he can fill in both at shooting guard and small forward. 

This would give Roy Williams a ton of flexibility with his lineups and the kind of depth needed to make a deep run.