CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With 1:33 left in Saturday’s game against Clemson, Kendall Marshall wrapped a pass around a Tiger defender from the baseline to Harrison Barnes waiting at the 3-point arc.

Two seconds remained on the shot clock when Barnes hauled in the pass that no one could believe Marshall completed. One second was left when Barnes hoisted his sixth attempt from deep.

Zero when Barnes made his 24th point of the game.

The sophomore went wire-to-wire with his game for the first time in recent memory as he outscored the second highest scorer by 10 points in North Carolina’s 74-52 win in the Smith Center.

“I think Harrison’s becoming the kind of player everyone tried to make him out to be a year and a half ago,” said Marshall of Barnes, who was the first freshman to be named to the preseason AP All-America team. “That’s not to insult his game at all, sometimes players just have to grow into that. But I think he's done a great job of adjusting into that role and he’s been one of our main go-to guys.”

“Sometimes it’s going to be (Tyler Zeller) and sometimes it’s going to be Harrison, but lately it’s been Harrison that’s come through for us.”

Recently, Barnes would come alive in the second half after struggling through the first 20 minutes. He said on Friday that was an aspect of his game he was focusing to improve.

Within the first five minutes of the game, Barnes had four points, including a dunk, along with two rebounds.

“Usually if I rebound well, I’m more into the game,” Barnes said. “If you’re passive and always watching the rebounding then you’re not in a position to get out in transition and you’re not in the flow of the game. Rebounding offensively and defensively usually gets you in the game.”

The board work had been a point of emphasis for Barnes and head coach Roy Williams earlier in the season. The forward said he and Williams would have bets on what he would get if he grabbed ten rebounds in a game, though he was coy about what was actually wagered.

Against Clemson he pulled down seven, which makes 24 rebounds for Barnes in the past three games.

“We’ve continued to emphasize it and he’s continued to listen and get there more often and you’re seeing some of those fruits of the labor,” Williams said. “I do believe that we can’t just say ‘well John and Z are two of the five best rebounders in the league, we’ll let them get it.’ I’ve preached all year long for our perimeter guys to rebound the basketball.”

Defensively the Tigers didn’t have an answer for Barnes. Head coach Brad Brownell put both Tanner Smith and Milton Jennings on him, but neither could hang with the 6-foot-8 wing, whose lateral quickness was still not optimal due to a sprained ankle suffered three weeks ago.

Clemson drew within six midway through the second half, and that’s when Barnes took over. In the span of two and a half minutes, Barnes had four points, two steals and one rebound to push UNC’s lead back to double digits.

There’s something about orange that pushes Barnes to play his best. In the past three meetings with Clemson, the sophomore has posted games of 20, a career-high 40 in the ACC tournament and 24 on Saturday.

“He’s a great player and we don’t have a guy his size that matches up very well,” Brownell said. “You have so many guys that you’re trying to stop it’s hard to do a good job on him. Certainly he rose to the occasion last year in the ACC tournament and he made plays again today.”