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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- Jason Capel was nervous coming to the
Smith Center Sunday, but not because No. 15 North Carolina was
worried about playing Buffalo.
|  | | North Carolina's Brendan Haywood powers his way to the bucket. |
The Tar Heels' top five players had such a poor practice
Saturday that Capel wasn't sure coach Matt Doherty would even start
the group.
He did and the starters produced a 95-74 victory over the Bulls.
Joseph Forte had 23 points and Kris Lang matched his career high
with 22 as the Tar Heels (6-2) shot a season-high 58 percent.
"We were prepared to come off of that bench, every one of us
until he wrote the matchups on the board," said Capel, who added
16 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists for the second
triple-double in North Carolina history.
Brendan Haywood registered the first Dec. 4 against Miami.
In fact, North Carolina's starters combined to score 84 points
and hand out 21 of the team's season-high 29 assists.
"The (second) team won every competition, that was probably the
worst thing," Doherty said when asked what disturbed him about
practice Saturday. "I was frustrated. I got mad and talked to
some people.
"A lot of that could be attributed to exams. That's a stressful
time, but I don't want to give way to human nature, I don't want to
give way to excuses. I want to be above that."
The 6-foot-11 Lang also had 22 points earlier in the season at
No. 2 Michigan State.
North Carolina led by 13 early in the second half. Then Lang
scored on a layup, a follow shot in the lane and a dunk in a span
of 55 seconds, boosting the lead to 19.
Shortly thereafter, the lead reached 22 as Buffalo, playing its
first road game of the season, had trouble holding onto the ball.
The Bulls committed nine first-half turnovers, then lost the ball
eight times in the opening eight minutes of the second half.
Jason Robinson led the Bulls (1-4) with a career-high 21 points,
including 5-for-7 from 3-point range.
"We wanted to get as quick as we could in the second half
because we couldn't find anything to make our guys grow," Buffalo
coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "I just wished we could have
executed a little better and cut down on the turnovers early and
maybe we could have made them a little nervous."
Ronald Curry, North Carolina's starting quarterback, made his
first start of the season and third of his career at point guard, a
position that has been a trouble spot so far.
Curry got the Tar Heels into their offense early, tossing the
ball inside to big men Haywood and Lang, who were able to score
over the smaller Bulls.
He also had two 3-pointers a minute apart in the second half. He
finished with nine points.
Buffalo, playing its first game in 12 days, couldn't stay with
the Tar Heels early, falling behind 22-10 after 7½ minutes, going
five minutes without scoring.
The Bulls fell into a deeper hole when leading scorer Robert
Brown picked up his third foul 4:11 before halftime as the Tar
Heels took a 46-28 lead at the break.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Buffalo Clubhouse
North Carolina Clubhouse
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