ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NHL.com | NASCAR | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER

Men's College Basketball  
Scores/Schedules Rankings
Standings
Statistics
Transactions
Injuries
Message board
Weekly lineup
Teams
Recruiting
NCAA StatSearch



  Sunday, Dec. 17 1:30pm ET
Starters bounce back after bad practice
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- Jason Capel was nervous coming to the Smith Center Sunday, but not because No. 15 North Carolina was worried about playing Buffalo.

North Carolina's Brendan Haywood powers his way to the bucket.

The Tar Heels' top five players had such a poor practice Saturday that Capel wasn't sure coach Matt Doherty would even start the group.

He did and the starters produced a 95-74 victory over the Bulls. Joseph Forte had 23 points and Kris Lang matched his career high with 22 as the Tar Heels (6-2) shot a season-high 58 percent.

"We were prepared to come off of that bench, every one of us until he wrote the matchups on the board," said Capel, who added 16 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists for the second triple-double in North Carolina history.

Brendan Haywood registered the first Dec. 4 against Miami.

In fact, North Carolina's starters combined to score 84 points and hand out 21 of the team's season-high 29 assists.

"The (second) team won every competition, that was probably the worst thing," Doherty said when asked what disturbed him about practice Saturday. "I was frustrated. I got mad and talked to some people.

"A lot of that could be attributed to exams. That's a stressful time, but I don't want to give way to human nature, I don't want to give way to excuses. I want to be above that."

The 6-foot-11 Lang also had 22 points earlier in the season at No. 2 Michigan State.

North Carolina led by 13 early in the second half. Then Lang scored on a layup, a follow shot in the lane and a dunk in a span of 55 seconds, boosting the lead to 19.

Shortly thereafter, the lead reached 22 as Buffalo, playing its first road game of the season, had trouble holding onto the ball. The Bulls committed nine first-half turnovers, then lost the ball eight times in the opening eight minutes of the second half.

Jason Robinson led the Bulls (1-4) with a career-high 21 points, including 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

"We wanted to get as quick as we could in the second half because we couldn't find anything to make our guys grow," Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "I just wished we could have executed a little better and cut down on the turnovers early and maybe we could have made them a little nervous."

Ronald Curry, North Carolina's starting quarterback, made his first start of the season and third of his career at point guard, a position that has been a trouble spot so far.

Curry got the Tar Heels into their offense early, tossing the ball inside to big men Haywood and Lang, who were able to score over the smaller Bulls.

He also had two 3-pointers a minute apart in the second half. He finished with nine points.

Buffalo, playing its first game in 12 days, couldn't stay with the Tar Heels early, falling behind 22-10 after 7½ minutes, going five minutes without scoring.

The Bulls fell into a deeper hole when leading scorer Robert Brown picked up his third foul 4:11 before halftime as the Tar Heels took a 46-28 lead at the break.

 


ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Buffalo Clubhouse

North Carolina Clubhouse