College basketball schedule and results: North Carolina holds off NC State

Dunking runs in the family for Wyoming senior Larry Nance Jr. His father won the first ever NBA dunk contest. He’s had a few great ones during his three and a half years with the Cowboys, too. Add this one to the highlight mix.

For more on Nance Jr. and the Cowboys, read our recent profile of the program.

North Carolina led by as many as 12 points in the second half, but wound up coming just a few inches away from being taken to overtime by rival NC State.

The Tar Heels, who never trailed in the second half, led by as many as five in the game’s final minute before a back-and-forth battle of free-throws began. UNC had seemingly put the game away for good when Marcus Paige’s two free-throws with just over a second to go made the score 81-78. Then, after a length of the court baseball pass, Isaiah Hicks inexplicably reached in and fouled NC State’s Abdul-Malik Abu on a shot from inside the arc, keeping State’s hopes alive.

The common thought after the first two months of the 2014-15 college basketball season was that Kentucky was the best team in the country, and that Duke was the only squad with a legitimate chance of stopping them.

It made sense. The Blue Devils were loaded with NBA talent and had rolled through their first 14 opponents, a stretch that included arguably the season’s most impressive victory, an 80-70 win over Wisconsin inside the Kohl Center.

Duke is struggling in the first half against Miami, but plays like this one remind you just how talented the Blue Devils are. That’s a freshman making that play -- one of three on Duke that could be taken in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft.

Cliff Alexander was hit with a technical after this dunk for flexing and staring down the Oklahoma State bench. It was probably worth it.