Tennessee vs. UNC: Score and Reaction from 2016-17 Regular Season

The No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels are still undefeated at home this college basketball season, but they received a major scare from the 4-4 Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday.

Tennessee led the majority of the game at the Dean Smith Center and clung to a 69-68 advantage until Justin Jackson made a layup with less than three minutes remaining to give the Tar Heels the lead for good. 

Brandon Robinson extended the lead to 72-69 with a tip-in, but Tennessee's John Fulkerson cut the deficit to 72-71. However, the Volunteers allowed Kennedy Meeks to grab an offensive rebound in the final seconds and hit a free throw before Tony Bradley blocked the Volunteers' potential game-tying shot from Lamonte Turner in the lane to save the victory.

North Carolina earned the win without Joel Berry II, who is still out with an ankle injury.

Only three Tar Heels scored in double figures without Berry, led by 12 points from Kenny Williams. Nate Britt added 11 points, and Bradley chipped in 10 as part of a double-double with 10 rebounds. Bradley helped the Tar Heels out-rebound Tennessee 41-32, catching the attention of ESPN.com's Seth Greenberg in the process:

The rebounding advantage was critical because it helped North Carolina overcome an abysmal shooting performance from the free-throw line and deep. It shot just 13-of-24 from the charity stripe—compared to 12-of-15 from the Volunteers—and went a measly 2-of-17 from three-point range.

Jackson was 0-of-6 from downtown as part of his 3-of-15 mark from the field.

Tennessee was a surprising contender in Sunday's game, given that it lost to Chattanooga in its season opener and proceeded to drop two of its next three games to Wisconsin and Oregon. Still, it entered Sunday's contest with a three-game winning streak and was thriving without guard Jordan Bone, who is dealing with a stress fracture in his foot.

Bone scored 21 points in his team's season-opening loss, and Grant Ramey of 247Sports was surprised the Volunteers remained competitive without him:

Robert Hubbs III shouldered the scoring load without Bone, posting 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and Jordan Bowden chipped in 12 as the only other Tennessee player in double figures. It was a fairly balanced scoring effort for both teams, with nine Tennessee players and 10 North Carolina players finding the scoring column.

Despite the loss, Tennessee wasted little time seizing momentum and built a 30-15 advantage in the first half following a Bowden jumper.

North Carolina clawed back to within single digits at 44-36 by halftime and kept the momentum rolling out of the locker room when it climbed to within two at 44-42 with a Jackson layup.

It looked as if Tennessee may fade away following the Tar Heels' charge, but it absorbed the blow and exchanged mini-runs for the remainder of the game. North Carolina tied things at 50 and 52, but Tennessee never allowed it to grab the lead until Jackson's basket with less than three minutes left.

The Volunteers are not in the business of moral victories as an SEC squad, but Sunday would qualify as such against the mighty Tar Heels.

What's Next?

Next up for North Carolina is the highly anticipated showdown with Kentucky on Saturday. While it escaped with the win on Sunday, it will probably need to play much better to beat the Wildcats.

Tennessee faces winnable games against Tennessee Tech and Lipscomb before a clash with Gonzaga on Dec. 18.

Postgame Reaction

North Carolina's athletic program passed along head coach Roy Williams' postgame thoughts on its YouTube page:

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said, per Ramey, "I think we overanalyze things in sports sometimes. We needed to get a stop. And we didn't get one."

Had the Volunteers gotten that stop, they would have taken a monumental step toward putting their early-season struggles behind them.