National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
North Carolina 75, Florida 64
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, November 28, 2014
Where: Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort, Nassau
Officials: # Don Daily, # Gary Maxwell, # Bert Smith
Attendance: 3298

No. 6 North Carolina 75, No. 16 Florida 64: Using a balanced offense led by Kennedy Meeks’ 18 points and a stingy defense that limited the Gators to 32.8 percent shooting, the Tar Heels captured fifth place in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

North Carolina (5-1), which led by as many as 18 points, shook off a first-round upset loss to Butler and put together impressive back-to-back wins over No. 23 UCLA and Florida. Meeks was one of five Tar Heels in double figures which included other starters Marcus Paige (16 points), Justin Jackson (12), Brice Johnson and J.P Tokoto (10 apiece).

The Gators were led by Kasey Hill, who scored a career-high 20 points while Michael Frazier II added 17 while helping Florida (3-3) climb back into the game with 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Second-leading scorer Dorian Finney-Smith, who has been bothered by a hand injury, was 2-of-10 from the floor and finished with four points before fouling out.

Florida started the game 0-of-10 with four turnovers until Hill hit a pull-up jumper to stop a 12-0 North Carolina run. Tokoto canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half, and the Tar Heels had a 39-23 lead at intermission.

When the Tar Heels went through a scoring dry spell (2-of-10 to start the second half), the Gators were able to overcome a slow start and cut the Tar Heels lead to 69-62 with 1:08 left after a put back by Chris Walker. But North Carolina made 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to settle matters.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Gators G Eli Carter, who missed Thursday’s game against UAB with an ankle injury, was 0-of-4 from the field and scored one point. ... The Gators misfired on 10 of their first 11 3-point attempts. … Jackson came into the game shooting 2-of-9 from 3-point range but drained 2-of-3 against the Gators.
Top Game Performances
 
North Carolina   Florida
Kennedy Meeks 18 Scoring Kasey Hill 20
Marcus Paige 4 Assists Eli Carter 2
Kennedy Meeks 13 Rebounds Michael Frazier II 9
Marcus Paige 9 Free Throws Made Kasey Hill 10
Justin Jackson 4 Steals Dorian Finney-Smith 3
Brice Johnson 2 Blocks Jon Horford 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
North Carolina 75 45.1 6-12 23-31 15 33 7 9 19
Florida 64 32.8 6-27 18-23 10 35 5 11 16