North Carolina rallies, makes early statement in topping Kansas - ESPN

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina was hurtling toward yet another loss to fellow blueblood Kansas, down after a shaky half marked by turnovers and stagnant offense.

Charging out of the second half with rousing energy and an edge changed everything, both for Friday night's game and in validating Hubert Davis' retooling of the roster after the Tar Heels barely made last year's NCAA tournament.

By the end, the 25th-ranked Tar Heels had rolled to an 87-74 win against the 19th-ranked Jayhawks behind contributions from a star freshman, a transfer portal big man and a returning senior, who took on the toughest defensive assignment against Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson.

Trailing by 10 points in the first half and 37-29 at the break, North Carolina made 18 of 23 shots after halftime and shot 24 of 36 (66.7%) in the second half to score 58 second-half points against Bill Self's Jayhawks.

«It validates [Davis'] thoughts and the vision that he had,» said Seth Trimble, who had 13 of his 17 points after halftime while leading the defensive effort against Peterson. «It takes some early stress off of him, getting a big win like that. And it gives not only him, but this whole team a bunch of confidence going into the rest of the season.»

This was the kind of game that had been getting away from the Tar Heels far too often of late. UNC had lost eight of nine against AP Top 25 teams last season, including one at Kansas in which the Jayhawks blew a 20-point lead but hung on down the stretch.

Getting an opening-week win against Kansas, with fans participating in a whiteout largely triggered by a social media post by star freshman Caleb Wilson, was quite a change. It was UNC's first win against Kansas since November 2002, when Matt