Marquette Marquette/North Carolina N. Carolina Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Brendan Haywood had 17 points, nine rebounds and blocked five shots as North Carolina (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) beat Marquette 84-54 Saturday for its 10th consecutive win.

North Carolina (13-2) has its longest winning streak since opening the 1997-98 season with 17 straight victories.

The Tar Heels held Marquette to 29 percent shooting, marking the eighth time in 10 games they've kept an opponent under 40 percent. Their first five opponents shot 40 percent or better.

North Carolina's turnaround started after a 93-76 loss to Kentucky on Dec. 2. That's when football players Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers joined the team, and Max Owens was healthy again.

"You're talking about three of our top nine guys in our rotation who are very athletic and good defenders, and all of a sudden we're pretty athletic and deep," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "Since that point we've turned up the heat on defense and I hope we can keep that going."

North Carolina gave Marquette (7-6) little room to move in the first half and built a 42-24 lead.

The Tar Heels' perimeter players pressured Marquette's shooters into mistakes and bad shots, and the 7-foot Haywood was inside to make sure no shots went uncontested.

North Carolina went on an 11-1 run in a span of six minutes to lead 21-12 with 10:22 left in the first half.

Haywood blocked three shots in the first half, and his putback made it 36-19.

"We never got into a rhythm or the flow early in the game, with foul trouble and things of that nature," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "I was just hoping we could hang in it as the game went along and have a chance to compete better in the second half."

Peppers, playing his first game since saying he would not enter the NFL draft, had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels.

He was 9-for-10 from the free throw line and gave North Carolina a spark by diving for a loose ball shortly after entering the game, then fed Haywood for a dunk on a pick-and-roll.

"He's decided not to enter the NBA draft today -- that's the press release today," Doherty joked. "What a basketball player. He's exceptional."

Marquette entered the game outrebounding teams by an average of six per game, but North Carolina nearly doubled the Golden Eagles at 50-26. The Tar Heels also had 19 offensive rebounds, including six by Haywood.

"We knew that would be the key to the game," Crean said. "We've got to get better at blocking out and we have to get better at blocking out shooters. That was not a very good rebounding effort by any stretch."

Joseph Forte, North Carolina's leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, finished with just 10, but spent most of the afternoon shadowing Brian Wardle.

Wardle, the only Marquette player averaging in double figures, finished with 17 points, but hit just 5-of-16 shots and had four turnovers.

Cordell Henry added 15 points and four assists for Marquette.

Kris Lang had 12 points and six rebounds for North Carolina. Jason Capel added 10 points.

Marquette had six more fouls than baskets (14-8) in the first half and shot 27 percent.

Marquette already had seven team fouls less than five minutes in and North Carolina made 10-of-16 free throws in the first half. The Tar Heels made 31-of-36 overall, while Marquette shot just 21.

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Marquette Clubhouse

North Carolina Clubhouse

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Brendan Haywood slams down a monster dunk off a Kris Lang miss.
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