news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL — Kendall Marshall held his own.

But when it really mattered, when the game was on the line in the final 10 minutes, he swapped defensive assignments with Dexter Strickland.

And Strickland — three fouls and all — defended the heck out of No. 9 Wisconsin's All-America point guard, Jordan Taylor, for most of the decisive final 10 minutes of No. 5-ranked Carolina's 60-57 victory Wednesday night.

Another All-American, Carolina's Harrison Barnes, played on a sore ankle and scored 20 points. Tyler Zeller scored 12 points, and John Henson finished with 17 rebounds, eight points and five blocks. They were the stars on the stats sheet in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.

But make no mistake: This one was all about defense out on the perimeter.

"Jordan Taylor just dominates the ball," Carolina coach Roy Williams said, "and I've got to congratulate Kendall and Dexter, because it's hard to guard that guy."

There was Strickland — denying the ball from Taylor, despite move after move after move in futile attempts to get open.

And there was Strickland — hawking the ball when it ended up in Taylor's hands, keeping his feet on baseline drives and generally making a nuisance of himself.

"Kendall guarded him early," Williams said. "... We wanted to make the switch sooner, but Dexter had three fouls."

Taylor finished with a team-high 18 points. But he shot just 6-for-20 from the field, 3-for-11 from 3-point range.

"He got 20 shots. In the gym in practice, he'll knock most of those down," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "... We needed to shoot it from some other spots, too, to take the pressure off of him."

The defense far from the basket was the difference for the Tar Heels, who were torched by the 3-point shot in their loss to UNLV.

But not this night.

Wisconsin came into the game shooting 47.2 percent from the arc, second best in the nation. Led by Marshall and Strickland, Carolina held the Badgers to 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Strickland shadowed Josh Gasser in the first half, while Marshall — who has struggled defending quick guards — did his best to limit Taylor.

Gasser came into the game averaging 10.2 points and shooting 15-for-21 (71.4 percent) from 3-point range. Carolina held him scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting, with two of those shots from beyond the arc.

"It's like Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) said in 'Airplane': You try to drag those guys up and down the court," Ryan said. "... That was as hard-fought a game as I've ever been involved in as a coach."

"Fantastic college basketball game," Williams said. "Not the prettiest game, but sometimes you've got to win that."

Note: Carolina shooting guard P.J. Hairston, a freshman from Greensboro who starred at Dudley High School, left the game with an injury in the second half. Hairston, who has been the Heels' sixth man, hurt his left wrist and watched the final minutes with an ice bag taped around the injury. He was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

WISCONSIN (6-1)

Evans 5-13 0-0 10, Bruesewitz 0-3 0-0 0, Berggren 6-12 0-0 14, Gasser 0-3 0-0 0, Taylor 6-20 3-6 18, Brust 4-9 0-0 9, Kaminsky 1-2 0-0 3, Wilson 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 23-64 3-6 57.

NORTH CAROLINA (6-1)

Barnes 6-12 6-7 20, Zeller 3-5 6-6 12, Henson 4-9 0-2 8, Strickland 4-6 1-1 9, Marshall 0-3 4-6 4, Hairston 0-4 0-0 0, Watts 0-0 0-0 0, Bullock 1-3 2-2 5, McAdoo 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-45 19-24 60.

Halftime—North Carolina 25-24.

Percentages—Wisconsin (FG .359, FT .500), North Carolina (FG .422, FT .792)

3-point goals—Wisconsin 8-28 (Taylor 3-11, Berggren 2-5, Wilson 1-1, Kaminsky 1-2, Brust 1-4, Evans 0-1, Bruesewitz 0-2, Gasser 0-2), North Carolina 3-9 (Barnes 2-3, Bullock 1-3, Marshall 0-1, Hairston 0-2).

Fouled out—Berggren.

Rebounds—Wisconsin 29 (Evans 7), North Carolina 42 (Henson 17).

Team rebounds—Wisconsin 3, North Carolina 3.

Assists—Wisconsin 6 (Taylor 4), North Carolina 9 (Marshall 7).

Blocks—Wisconsin 4 (Evans 3), North Carolina 6 (Henson 5).

Turnovers—Wisconsin 4 (Berggren 2), North Carolina 14 (Marshall 4).

Steals—Wisconsin 9 (Berggren 3, Brust 3), North Carolina 2 (Barnes, Henson).

Total fouls—Wisconsin 21, North Carolina 12.

A—21,750.

Officials—Karl Hess, Ed Corbett, Tony Greene.