KNOXVILLE - North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams grew up in western North Carolina and began his storied career as a high school coach just 130 miles east of Knoxville.
So as Williams prepared to lead the Tar Heels on their first-ever visit to Thompson-Boling Arena, he knew he was bringing his defending national champions to play in "a pretty doggone good place" as he described it.
"One of the things I wanted to do is I walked over at halftime and I patted the floor with Pat Summitt's name, because that was pretty important to me," Williams said. "Pat was a great friend."
Perhaps the 67-old three-time national champion coach drew a touch of inspiration from the moment, because the message he conveyed in the locker room propelled his team to a come-from-behind 78-73 victory in a match-up of ranked non-conference opponents.
The 20th-ranked Volunteers (7-2) led 38-32 at halftime in front of a checkerboard, sell-out crowd of 21,678.
For the second time this season, a halftime lead over a top-10 opponent slipped away. The No. 7 Tar Heels (10-1) outscored Tennessee 46-35 in the second half by reducing their turnovers, upping their rebounding intensity and executing with precision late in the game.
North Carolina's Kenny Williams hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 32.7 seconds left to put North Carolina ahead 72-70 following a Tennessee turnover. Admiral Schofield then missed a jump shot with 16 seconds left, the Volunteers immediately fouled and Theo Pinson hit both foul shots to cement the Tar Heels' second straight comeback victory over the Vols. North Carolina won 73-71 in Chapel Hill last year.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said he thought his team played good defense in the first half before losing some aggression late.
"Again, we didn't finish it, and that'll be a great lesson," Barnes said. "I said before the game, this would not define us in any way, shape or form, win or lose."
The Vols host Furman on Wednesday and play at Wake Forest on Saturday with their early season resume still strong, even after letting the chance for a marquee win fall away Sunday.
Tennessee led by 15 points early during the 2016 match-up, and Williams felt like Sunday's game was playing out in similar fashion.
Then, some time just before or after his halftime tribute to Summitt, Williams came to a realization.
"I was surprised at halftime when I walked off the court and looked up and saw the score was 38-32," he said. "That was the first time I'd really looked at the score the whole half. I thought we were down about 20. I told them at halftime that I felt lucky, because I didn't think we'd played very well and we were just down six."
North Carolina star point guard Joel Berry picked up two fouls in the first half and played just nine minutes in the opening frame after scoring his team's first six points. Leading scorer Luke Maye also lagged early with just four points and a pair of turnovers in 12 first-half minutes for the Tar Heels.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee back court tandem of James Daniel and Jordan Bone rode hot shooting to account for 21 first-half points while Grant Williams and Kyle Alexander established the Vols in the paint. The Vols shot 45 percent in the first half but 31 perent in the second.
In the second half, Berry played all but one minute to finish with a game-high 21 points while Maye chipped in 11 second-half points to finish with 15 for the game.
North Carolina extended its all-time lead in the series to 10-1, but there was plenty of respect flowing from Williams toward Barnes and the Tennessee team that came up just short - again - on Sunday.
"I think they've got a chance to be really good," Williams said.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.