Carolina dismantles Northwestern, makes Roy Williams happy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Roy Williams did not like how his team handled adversity against Northern Iowa. He's a little happier after his ninth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels methodically dispatched Northwestern, 80-69, Monday night in the second semifinal of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

"I was ticked off," Williams said of his response to the 71-67 Northern Iowa loss on Saturday. "I wasn't going to treat them with kid gloves. We screwed it up, and that's what I told them."

Williams let his players know his dissatisfaction.

"Of course coach was mad," forward Kennedy Meeks said. "We've got to move on to the next game. It's all about execution for our team. We've got to look at film and see what we did wrong and take care of them."

The Tar Heels will face Kansas State in the championship game Tuesday night after K-State defeated Missouri 66-42 in the first semifinal. Northwestern will face Missouri in the consolation game.

The Tar Heels blew open a close game Monday with a 23-5 run early in the second half. North Carolina (4-1) had six players in double figures, including forward Justin Jackson with 21 points.

Williams says there's still plenty to work on for his squad.

"Needless to say we feel better than we did on Saturday," he said. "We had three real good stretches where we were good on the offensive end and the defensive end. We also had two stretches where we were terrible defensively. But that's basketball.

"It's a game of runs. Everybody wanted me to be worried about (Jackson). I thought he played pretty well the last two games."

Williams lamented that the Tar Heels had not shot the ball very well the past few games.

"This is the first game all year where we've played against a zone the entire game. Down the line I think that will help us. We've got to get our big guys more movement. Just because somebody goes zone doesn't mean we shoot the 3-point shot all the time."

Northwestern coach Chris Collins accomplished what he wanted to.

"We all have amazing respect for Coach Williams and his program," said Collins, who had plenty of experience against North Carolina as a player and coach for 17 years at Duke. "To us they're similar to what we're going to face in our league. The ACC and the Big 10 are the two best leagues in the country, and for us this was like a Big 10 game in November.

"It's a great game to play if you learn from it and get better from it. They did what they did, they mashed us on the boards. But we did a really good job on the initial defense. We wanted them to shoot jumpers and they were seven of 24 from 3 (3-point range). I thought Jackson's activity along the baseline, his cutting and his offensive rebounding was the difference in the game."

Guard Tre Demps led Northwestern (3-1) with 21 points, including 17 in the second half. He was joined in double figures by guard Bryant McIntosh with 14 points, Scottie Lindsey with 11 and center Alex Olah with 10.

"Guys were getting shots and making plays and that opened up things for me in the second half," Demps said.

But there was not enough support for Demps. When he came out of the game with 8:42 left, he had scored 14 of the Wildcats' 15 second-half points.

North Carolina quickly opened another 10-point lead to start the second half, but just like in the first half, Northwestern responded. Demps scored the first 12 points of the half for the Wildcats. His second 3-pointer of the half cut the lead to 48-46.

But the Tar Heels proved too much, answering with a 12-2 run to grab a 60-42 lead, the largest of the game to that point.

Demps was finally joined in the Northwestern scoring column by forward Aaron Falzon with 12:26 left in the second half, but it was too late for the Wildcats.

North Carolina started quickly, assuming a 10-point lead at 18-8. But Northwestern ran off nine straight points to cut the lead to 18-17. The Tar Heels kept the lead most of the rest of the half but never could get comfortable.

When Olah hit a hook in the lane with 7:08 left and sank a free throw, the score was tied at 27.

Lindsey hit a 3-point shot from the right baseline, the Wildcats had their first lead of the game. They extended the lead to six points, but the Tar Heels finished the half on a 14-1 spurt to retake the lead at 43-36.