North Carolina men’s basketball rallies from 16 down to beat UCLA

NEW YORK — With each team looking for the slightest edge and UCLA trying to hang on while North Carolina tried to complete a massive comeback, it wasn’t about how much blue was in their blood, but how much ice was in their veins .

Needing a basket to avoid a total collapse, the Bruins put the ball in the hands of their most fearless player. Sebastian Mack couldn’t give his team the finish it wanted.

Mack backed off a defender before his short turnaround jumper was off the mark with less than a second remaining, sealing the No. 18 UCLAs 76-74 losses in a CBS Sports Classic game at Madison Square Garden, the Bruins practically gave it away after building a 16-point lead midway through the second half.

UCLA’s Dylan Andrews put North Carolina in position to come right back and end the Bruins’ nine-game winning streak after dropping an inbounds pass out of bounds for a turnover with 21 seconds left and the Tar Heels down by one point.

North Carolina’s RJ Davis drove and was fouled, sending him to the free throw line for the shots that gave the Tar Heels a 75-74 advantage with 13.6 seconds left.

Trailing by 16 points midway through the second half, the Tar Heels stormed back after UCLA’s Tyler Bilodeau picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench. When he returned, North Carolina was down by just three points.

Mistakes, sloppy play and missed free throws were a big culprit for the Bruins (10-2). Skyy Clark missed the front end of two one-and-one situations and Bilodeau missed three of four attempts in the final minutes.

Bilodeau finished with 26 points, most of which came over the game’s first 30 minutes.

Ian Jackson scored 24 points off the bench for North Carolina (7-5), which has won seven straight in the series.

UCLA’s Sebastian Mack shoots in the first half against North Carolina on Saturday.

(Frank Franklin II/Associated Press)

The Bruins appeared to be on the verge of a runaway victory when Bilodeau rattled in a three-pointer — his fifth of the game on as many attempts — to give his team a 59-43 cushion. But soon the whistle blew, Bilodeau was called for his fourth foul, and the momentum shifted dramatically.

The start of the second half was delayed by several minutes due to the need to clean up some pitch breakdown. Both teams went back through a layup line similar to pregame drills during the delay.

Things got worse for the Bruins 12 seconds into the second half when Eric Dailey Jr. made his third mistake and went to the bench, never to return.

Bilodeau appeared to go one for five in the game’s early going, with the junior forward scoring all of UCLA’s points in the first 5½ minutes. After he made two three-pointers, a turnaround jumper where he was fouled and a jumper, the scoreboard could have read Bilodeau 11, Tar Heels 9.

A heavy dose of Mack towards the latter part of the first half helped the Bruins build a much larger lead. Mack’s back-to-back three-pointers extended UCLA’s lead to 31-18, and he went on to throw two nice passes — including a perfect lob — to William Kyle III for dunks.

UCLA’s 40-32 halftime cushion wasn’t any bigger because the Bruins kept sending North Carolina to the free throw line — leading to the Tar Heels making 10 of 16 free throws — and ended the half with 10 turnovers to North Carolina’s 11.

There was more yuckiness to come for the Bruins.