Off the cuff: There were so many moments to remember in this classic overtime win over Ohio State.
There was the blocked shot by UNC's Tyler Nickel in the first half but most of the plays came in the second half and overtime.
There was the Leaky Black rebound of his own free throw miss that ended with a Caleb Love pass to Armando Bacot for a dunk that cut the deficit to just one at 46-45.
There was a big Love three from the top of the key that made it 68-63 with six minutes to go.
The Davis rebound of a badly missed Love three that turned into a basket and free throw was huge, pulling the Heels to within a basket at 69-67 with 4:32 to go.
After Black was wrongly called with a foul that led to a couple of Sensabaugh free throws, he came downcourt and drilled a three from the left corner to make it 71-70 Ohio State with 3:55 to go.
There was the sequence where Carolina held the Buckeyes to a shot clock violation and then Davis drove the lane to tie it at 72-72 with 2:08.
After a missed OSU free throw, Davis hit that step-back three on the right sideline to put the Heels up 75-74.
After Ohio State's Key hit a three with 32 seconds to go, Bacot tied it back at 77-all with 17 seconds to go.
After Sensabaugh hit yet another jumper in the lane, Carolina got the ball to midcourt and called timeout before Nance hit his patented turnaround jumper to send the game to overtime.
After a defensive stop in overtime, Love's driving basket to start the scoring turned out to be the winning points.
Key had a chance to tie it with time running out but Bacot's defense bother him on the three from the corner and he went up and down for a travel.
Davis, the New York native, wrapped it up for the Tar Heels with late free throws.
Davis said he fed off the New York energy in Madison Square Garden and he was surprised at the strong fan support.
After Hubert Davis chastised his team at the half for not playing with passion, enthusiasm and effort, Carolina wrestled back the momentum.
After getting so far behind, and with Sensabaugh seeming to have an offensive answer everytime the Tar Heels make a run, it took the entire second half and overtime for that momentum to pay off.
The three-point shot almost killed the Tar Heels against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes, averaging seven threes a game, hit seven in the first half - hitting 47 percent of them. Meanwhile Carolina was one of nine.
The second half, Ohio State only attempted four threes and hit two of them. Carolina did better hitting five of 17.
Neither team scored a three in overtime. The Heels shot just 21.4 percent from three for the game while OSU cooled off and finished at 35.5 percent.
Carolina 89, Ohio State 84 (OT) Tar Heels rally for a Miracle at Madison
North Carolina, down by 11 with seven minutes to go, rallied to force overtime on a last-second turnaround jumper at the buzzer by Pete Nance and went on to defeat No. 23 Ohio State 89-84 at Madison Square Garden. (12/17)
"We needed this win," Coach Davis said. "We needed a win against a quality opponent and we needed to win in a late-game situation."
The CBS Sports Classic game proved to be an instant classic for basketball fans. After an 18-2 Ohio State run in the first half, the Tar Heels trailed by 14 at 34-20 and it looked like anything but a good game.
The Buckeyes, who averaged seven three pointers a game, hit seven threes in the first half to take a commanding 44-35 lead into the half.
A sticky, scrambling Tar Heel defense, combined with an aggressive offense, got Carolina back into it early in the second half. A Caleb Love three and a Love dish to Armando Bacot for a dunk capped a 10-2 run that got the Heels within a point at 46-45 in the first four minutes of the second half.
But Carolina couldn't get over the hump and the Buckeyes rode the offensive play of Brice Sensabaugh, who led Ohio State with 22 points, to push the lead back up to 11 at 66-55 with just seven minutes to play.
A frantic 12-3 run over the next three minutes got the Heels within a basket at 69-67 with 4:32 to play. The biggest play came when R.J. Davis corralled an offensive rebound, put the ball in high off the backboard and was fouled for a three-point play.
Carolina was finally able to tie it at 72-all with 2:08 to play on a Davis drive to the basket. Then, the Heels got their first lead since it was 14-12 when Davis drained a step-back three in front of the Carolina bench to give the Heels a 75-74 lead with 1:26 to go.
A mid-range jumper by Sensabaugh gave the Buckeyes a 79-77 lead with just two seconds to go. After a timeout, UNC's Leaky Black advanced the ball to midcourt on a pass to Davis, leaving 1.2 seconds on the clock.
Coach Davis said he didn't really have a play for that situation but found one by inbounding the ball to Nance who hit a turnaround jumper from about 15 feet away to send the game into OT.
"We'd never run that play before (in practice)," Coach Davis said. "Pete loves that turnaround jump shot and he hit it."
The Tar Heels scored the first two baskets of overtime, one by Love and one by Bacot, and they never trailed again, hanging on for the big win.
Bacot led the Heels with 28 points and 15 rebounds while Love had 22 points and seven assists. Davis finished with 21 points including going eight of nine at the free throw line.
Carolina, 8-4 overall, plays Michigan in Charlotte on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
UNC's R.J. Davis had some big plays down the stretch including a game-tying drive to the basket and and go-ahead three late in regulation. (UNC Sports Information photo.)
