Joel Berry's heroics keep North Carolina afloat in ACC with win over Clemson

Joel Berry wouldn’t let North Carolina’s ACC title hopes fade away. Not this early. Not without a single win on the board.

With an 0-2 conference record looming in the rafters of Littlejohn Colliseum as the Tar Heels trailed Clemson early in the second half Tuesday night, Berry did what so many Carolina fans had been waiting for him to do: He took over, and led the 14th-ranked visitors to a 89-86 overtime victory over the surging Tigers.

First, just minutes after halftime, Berry got Jaron Blossomgame on a switch and beat Clemson’s star to the front of the rim for a finger roll. Then he floated home a baseline runner, and the very next possession splashed a corner three. And two minutes later, another.

Now his hands were clapping, his feet bouncing, and the threes raining. Berry hit back-to-back jumpers off the bounce, one from beyond the arc, to turn a 64-60 deficit into a 65-64 lead. A quick-release three from the right wing with under eight minutes remaining gave him a career-high 26 points.

And if all that wasn’t enough — and it wasn’t, because the Tar Heels weren’t providing their star guard with much offensive help — then Berry decided to pull from 30 feet:

Berry’s 21-point second-half scoring binge allowed North Carolina to keep pace with a Clemson team that was on the verge of its 10th-straight win. And despite it, the Tigers hung right with the favored visitors. Marcquise Reed’s three-pointer with 22 seconds left knotted the game at 77, and Avry Mitchell went to the line with five seconds on the clock and a chance to take the lead. But Mitchell missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Tar Heels got the better of a back-and-forth overtime period.

Berry’s whole night was a vast improvement on his previous three performances. After missing two games with an ankle injury, he had battled a stomach virus, and gutted out 20-plus minutes each against Northern Iowa, Monmouth and Georgia Tech. But not many of them were quality minutes. Berry was 0-for-4 against Monmouth, then 3-for-13 in a stunning loss to the Yellow Jackets.

In fact, that Berry’s struggles ran concurrent to North Carolina’s struggles was no coincidence. The junior point guard is the Tar Heels’ only reliable volume scorer in the backcourt —Nate Britt still doesn’t have much of a jumpshot, and Kenny Williams is often the fifth option when he’s on the floor. And in addition to Berry’s errant shooting, his distribution had been lacking, especially against Georgia Tech when he tallied just one assist.

Berry might not be fully recovered from the illness. He looked gassed down the stretch, and made a few mistakes late in regulation that could have cost Carolina the game. In overtime, he didn’t appear to have the energy to overcome Clemson’s attempts to take him out of the game, and as a result Carolina’s offense labored.

But Berry had enough in the tank to give Roy Williams and his teammates exactly what they needed. They needed a catalyst, and Berry gave them that and more. He finished with 31 points, and the Tar Heels held on.

They also held on to their presumed place in the ACC title race. It feels somewhat premature to make such a declaration, but North Carolina wasn’t just facing a significant early deficit to a number of other powerful contenders. It was a possession away from failing to take advantage of the early portion of a backloaded ACC schedule. Of the Tar Heels’ eight February and March games, six are against the quartet of Duke (twice), Virginia (twice), Louisville and Notre Dame. If Carolina heads into February tangled in the middle of the conference, its chances of a regular season title will be slim. Tuesday night was crucial for avoiding that scenario.

It was also crucial for Berry individually. After a wonderful first three games in November, his non-conference season was stop-start, rudely interrupted by multiple factors, including, but not limited to, health. If the Tar Heels are to touch the level of success of last year’s Final Four team, they need Berry at his best — like he was for most of his 41 minutes at Clemson.