Tar Heels blitz Marquette in first half

NEWARK -- One Marquette brick at a time, North Carolina built its 81-63 Sweet 16 victory Friday night.

There was this nine-minute stretch late in the first half that told all, when Marquette's Golden Eagles -- more blind bats than Eagle-eyed -- missed 13 consecutive shots (and missed badly, barely finding the outside of the rim) while Carolina ran off 19 straight points, to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 27-10 lead.

Just to make matters worse during that stretch, Marquette lost the ball three times on steals and twice via offensive fouls.

The torture did not stop there, an ongoing Marquette de Sade experience that paused only momentarily at halftime, with Carolina up 40-15, then immediately resumed in the second half. As nearsighted as ever, still shooting as if playing in a strong wind -- or complete darkness -- Marquette fell behind by an outrageous 33 points at 51-18 with 17 minutes to play.

"The first half, we were pitiful," Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. "I thought we were completely uncharacteristic the whole first half, in every facet of the game."

Williams' counterpart, Carolina's Roy Williams, noted that he had "looked up at the scoreboard and it was 10-8 their favor, and the next time I looked was halftime and it was 40-15. Obviously, we played very well in the first half. Got some defensive stops, though we didn't shoot the ball exceptionally well ourselves. We were very lucky because they missed a lot of shots they normally make."

Marquette, which goes home with a 22-15 record, did pull within 14 points twice in the final four minutes, but the overall sense of the event was set in concrete by then: North Carolina (29-7) looked like the legitimate Elite Eight team it is, and Marquette -- so proud of cobbling together a deep NCAA run with five junior-college players -- looked in comparison to be a junior-college team.

Top bananas for North Carolina were its three spindly but assertive front-court stars: junior Tyler Zeller, sophomore John Henson and freshman Harrison Barnes. Zeller led all scorers with 27 points, took 12 rebounds and had four assists. Henson had 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Barnes totaled 20 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

"Very frustrating," said Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom, who was held nine points below his team-leading 16.0 average. "The inside presence of Zeller and Henson, those two played great together. We fought in the second half, but we dug ourselves a hole."

It was a crater, really. Six-for-30 from the field in the first half. Oh-for-eight on three-point attempts. And, even with a more competitive second half, Marquette was outshot in the game 42 to 36 percent, outrebounded 48-42. Marquette committed 18 turnovers to North Carolina's seven and had only eight assists to Carolina's 15.

"I know we did a great job forcing them out of their offense and not letting them make a couple of shots," said Zeller, who shot 10-for-19 and had three of Carolina's 11 steals. "If we can play like that, we'll be all right."