UNC vs. Miami: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

No. 15 North Carolina got back on track in a much-needed way Saturday as it defeated rival Miami (FL) 73-64 in an important ACC battle at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida.

The Tar Heels bolstered their NCAA tournament hopes significantly by improving to 20-9, while perhaps dashing the Hurricanes chances of going dancing. Miami is now 18-11, and it may very well have to win the ACC tournament in order to get chosen by the selection committee.

As for UNC, it needed a big win in order to prevent itself from falling into another extended funk, according to Chris Moore of ACCSports.com:

"

Pretty good game from UNC today. Miami can be dangerous at times. Things could have really been rolling downhill with a loss.

— Chris Moore (@_camoore) February 28, 2015"

Junior forward Brice Johnson paced North Carolina with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while junior guard Marcus Paige added another 17 points in the Tar Heels' strong performance.

Here is a closer look at how UNC managed to escape hostile territory with a conference victory in its back pocket.

Score Breakdown

Team	First Half	Second Half	Total
North Carolina	32	41	73
Miami	30	34	64

Recap and Twitter Reaction

The 2014-15 season has been a roller coaster for North Carolina, and Saturday's clash with Miami seemed to be a microcosm of that.

UNC entered the contest with some added motivation as Feb. 28 would have been the 84th birthday of the late, great Tar Heels head coach Dean Smith, according to Go Heels TV:

Coming off Tuesday's disappointing loss to NC State, North Carolina looked much better and more focused in the early going. That was key due to the fact that the Hurricanes have had the tar Heels' number in recent years, per CBS Sport College Basketball on Twitter:

UNC also had the benefit of playing a Miami team that was a bit shorthanded. According to Matt Porter of The Palm Beach Post, point guard Angel Rodriguez didn't start due to a wrist injury:

Rodriguez is Miami's second-leading scorer with nearly 13 points per game, and its leading distributor with 4.4 assists per contest.

While the junior transfer had been struggling, he played extremely well in Miami's win over Florida State Wednesday. Per Christina De Nicola of FoxSports.com, sophomore guard Davon Reed felt as though the team was inspired by Rodriguez's confidence and stellar play.

"

He's a leader of this team and I know it's been a lot of pressure on him, but we go as he goes, so when he has the best success we all do and kind of feed off his vibe and how he's playing. We see shots go down for him and create shots for other people. It just made the game easier.

"

Rodriguez ultimately played limited minutes Saturday as he dished out one assist and didn't attempt a shot.

Without that presence in the lineup, it took the Canes some time to settle in. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 12-4 lead, but Miami chipped away and shaved the deficit to three points with just over four minutes left in the first half as Miami went cold.

The Tar Heels were able to inflate it back to seven, though, as they stopped the bleeding, according to Andrew Carter of The News & Observer:

Miami kept coming at UNC, however, and had a chance to take the lead with a late three-point try. The shot went begging, but Miami entered the half with momentum on its side despite trailing 32-30.

The Tar Heels came out of the half hot as they extended the lead to 38-30 within the first few minutes. Just as they did in the first half, though, they started to waste possessions and let Miami back in it.

North Carolina didn't allow the Canes to jump out in front despite threatening in the first half, but that changed in the second.

The Heels led 47-42 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, but they were soon shocked by junior forward Ivan Cruz Uceda as he hit a pair of trifectas within 35 seconds of each other to put Miami on top 48-47.

According to Daniel Wilco of The Daily Tar Heel, it marked Miami's first lead since early in the contest:

It would have been easy for North Carolina to fold at that point, but that wasn't the case as Paige hit a three-pointer about a minute later to put the Tar Heels back on top 50-48.

After Miami tied it at 50-50 with roughly nine minutes left, UNC went on a 23-14 run to close the game and never gave up the lead again.

Johnson, Paige and freshman swingman Justin Jackson were monsters down the stretch as they combined to score North Carolina's final 16 points with many of them coming at the charity stripe.

Per Carter, the Tar Heels really came together late to defeat an opponent that they needed to beat:

While nothing is guaranteed, Saturday's win will make it very difficult for North Carolina to fall short of the NCAA tournament. Conversely, Miami has an uphill climb ahead of it.

The Tar Heels have run the gamut from awful to fantastic this season, and they were both at times against Miami.

If they can carry over their play from down the stretch to the remainder of the season, though, they have a chance to do something special.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter