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NO. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 78, NO. 20 TENNESSEE 73
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- North Carolina passed the kind of road challenge it wanted to face before starting Atlantic Coast Conference competition.
Kenny Williams sank a go-ahead three-pointer with 35 seconds left as the seventh-ranked Tar Heels rallied past No. 20 Tennessee 78-73 Sunday.
This was the first game North Carolina (10-1) played all season that was decided by a single-digit margin. Even its lone loss of the season was a 63-45 blowout against No. 2 Michigan State.
"This will be good for us," Williams said. "Every game in the ACC is like that. To have this experience and know we can pull it out, I think it will come in handy down the road."
North Carolina capitalized on a 9-0 run in the final minute to win for the fifth consecutive time and ended Thompson-Boling Arena's hex on defending national champions.
Tennessee (7-2) had won each of the last five times it had hosted a defending national champion, a string that included victories over Connecticut (in January 2012), Florida (February 2007 and February 2008) and Kentucky (February 1999 and February 2013).
"We always say we need a game like this to help us later on down the road," said North Carolina's Joel Berry II, who scored 21 points. "We hadn't had a game like this. For us to be able to thrive in this situation and be able to get the momentum back on our side was a great thing. It was all about the defensive end. We got stops."
Luke Maye and Williams added 15 points each for North Carolina. Grant Williams scored 15 points to lead five Tennessee players in double figures.
Tennessee led by as many as nine points in the second half and was ahead 70-67 before North Carolina took control down the stretch.
North Carolina began its rally when Berry hit two free throws with a minute left to make it 70-69. Maye then stole an errant pass from Lamonte Turner to set up the shot by Williams, whose three-pointer off Theo Pinson's assist put North Carolina ahead 72-70.
After Tennessee's Admiral Schofield missed with 18 seconds left, Pinson hit 2 free throws, made a steal and added 2 more foul shots to make it 76-70.
Tennessee cut the margin to 76-73 on Jordan Bowden's three-pointer with 7 seconds left, but Berry sank 2 free throws to seal the victory.
The Vols said afterward they could learn from this kind of loss.
"We get many opportunities during the year," Grant Williams said. "This one won't define us."
Berry said Pinson reminded the Tar Heels these are the types of games they'll have many more of once conference play begins.
"(We're) getting our guys to realize that the game might not be pretty, you might not hit shots but the one thing you can do is defend, get offensive rebounds, get defensive rebounds," Berry said. "Sometimes you've got to squeak out a game like that. Some of our guys that are young grew up today and understand that every game is going to be like this from now on."
NO. 5 ARIZONA STATE 76, VANDERBILT 64
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Tra Holder scored 25 points, Shannon Evans II added 15 and No. 5 Arizona State overcame a dismal start to beat Vanderbilt.
Arizona State built a national buzz with last week's road victory over Kansas and its highest ranking in 36 years.
The Sun Devils (10-0) looked nothing like the team that won at Allen Fieldhouse in the opening minutes against Vanderbilt (3-7), falling into a 13-0 hole as they tossed balls out of bounds and directly to the Commodores.
Once they got rolling, there was no stopping the Sun Devils.
Sharp at both ends, Arizona State used a 26-3 run spanning halftime to turn what started out as an embarrassing performance into a runaway that had Wells Fargo Arena the loudest it's been all season.
Mickey Mitchell provided the Sun Devils a spark off the bench, playing solid defense while grabbing 13 rebounds. Arizona State hit 14 of 28 shots in the second half to remain one of the nation's four undefeated teams.
Saben Lee had 24 points to lead Vanderbilt, which shot 4 of 30 from three-point range.
NO. 21 BAYLOR 118, SAVANNAH STATE 86
WACO, Texas -- Jo-Lual Acuil had career highs with 31 points and 20 rebounds and No. 21 Baylor had a 21-0 first-half run to rout Savannah State.
The Bears (9-2) led by as many as 31 during a first half in which they shot 62 percent (21 of 34), including 53 percent from three-point range (9 for 17). Savannah State had a 14-2 run in the second half to get back to 78-68 with 10:56 left before the Bears put it away.
Manu Lecomte added 25 points for Baylor, King McClure had 19, Nuni Omot 18, and Mark Vital 12.
Savannah State scored all but four of its 37 first-half points from beyond the arc. The Tigers (3-10) didn't attempt a two-point shot until 13:48 to go in the first half, and they missed their first five inside the arc before Ralueke Oriza's dunk with 7:54 left in the half.
They were a little more balanced in the second half and finished shooting 38 percent (30 for 79), but the vast majority of their attempts were from outside, where they finished 20 for 51 (39 percent).
Dexter McClananahan led Savannah State with 22 points, and Austin Dasent had 18.
Sports on 12/18/2017