Tar Heel Post
 
North Carolina came away with the win Tuesday night, but it was not their best outing so far. The final score was 78-64.

 
Wake Forest goes to Chapel Hill at 8:00 on Tuesday to face the North Carolina Tar Heels. Wake Forest is 8-17 overall and 1-9 in the ACC with their lone ACC win coming against Virginia. UNC comes in with a 18-6 record overall and they are 8-2 in the ACC. 

 
In an ugly matchup between the Tar Heels and the Tigers, the Heels came out on top in the end by a score of 64-62. There were two huge plays at the end of the game when Harrison Barnes posterized Milton Jennings and Kendall Marshall stole the ball and took it to the basket for a score. It took free throws to put away the Tigers as they caught on fire and hit 3 long three-pointers at the end.

 
 
 
The Tar Heels roll into Little John Coliseum on Saturday to face the Clemson Tigers. The game will start at 1:00. This is a big game for the Tar Heels as they cannot afford to lose two in a row. Clemson will be a tough matchup at Little John. Clemson has won four out of their last five games and come in fourth in the ACC standings. According to CBS Sports RPI, Clemson has an RPI of 63 while UNC comes in 15th.

 
The Tar Heels are definitely on the rise, but they need to improve in some key areas. Here are my three key areas of improvements as we head into the second half of the season:

  1. Free-throw shooting: You could have guessed that one. Free-throw shooting is very important down the stretch in close ball-games. With better free-throw shooting they likely would have made the lead to great for Duke to overcome. They absolutely must get in the gym and improve. The two I would make shoot the most are John Henson and Dexter Strickland because they absolutely scare me when they go to the line

 
The Tar Heels rolled into Durham and took an early 8-0 lead. The Heels were up by 14 at halftime, but it just was not enough as Duke won 79-73. The Tar Heels dominated inside but Nolan Smith and Seth Curry combined for 56 of Duke's 79 points. 

 
The biggest rivalry in college sports continues Wednesday night when the the Tar Heels roll into Durham. Not only is it a heated rivalry, but they are playing for first place in the ACC. The Heels lead the series 130-99 all-time. Coming off of two losses to Duke last year, the Tar Heels are looking for the win.