CORAL GABLES, Fla. — North Carolina wasn’t going to survive on poor 3-point shooting and little bench production for much longer.

The Tar Heels entered the game at Miami having shot remarkably poor from deep in the month of February while relying almost entirely on their starters for production.

And for the first half of Wednesday night’s game against the Hurricanes, it seemed the story would continue. But out of halftime, the No. 8 Tar Heels (22-4, 9-2 ACC) turned it around to get five 3-pointers and some help off the bench in the 73-64 win.

“It was one of those wins that you have to have to have a fantastic year,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

“I told the guys in the locker room when we start making some shots, we’re going to be a really good basketball team.”

From the start of February through Wednesday’s first half, UNC was shooting 6-for-31 from 3-point range. Additionally, in that same span the team had just 26 bench points over the three and a half games.

Williams told his team at halftime to stop worry about the negatives and keep shooting. The Tar Heels were down 35-30, trailing at the break for the fifth time all season, and the difference was in deep shooting. Miami (15-9, 6-5) had five 3-pointers to UNC’s zero in the first half.

“I’ve said for 24 years as a head coach, I like to have some balance,” Williams said. “We have to have some 3-point shots and we haven’t done that recently but when it starts doing that I think we’ll be really good.”

Barnes was coy on what Williams said exactly, but the coach got under his star sophomore’s skin and motivated the forward to hit some shots after his nine-point first-half performance. Just four minutes into the second half, Barnes hit the team’s first 3-pointer of the game.

“It was a nice relief, I’ll tell you that much,” said Barnes on seeing his first 3-pointer go through the basket. “Reggie (Bullock) stepped up big with 3s and it was good that we could finally get some shots going in the second half.”

Things came together in the second half as UNC’s defense tamed the hot hands of Kenny Kadji and Trey McKinney-Jones. Bullock knocked down two of his four second-half 3-pointer attempts while Barnes went 3-for-5 from deep.

“When you start hitting 3s, I know I don’t have to worry about offense as much and let them take over the game and try to knock some shots in,” said Tyler Zeller, who scored his least amount of points (9) since the Monmouth game on New Year’s Day.

Picking up the slack in some crucial minutes were Justin Watts and James James Michael McAdoo. The two forwards each had four points, which Watts getting both of his buckets on offensive rebounds. UNC’s bench finished with 12 points on the night.

Hairston returned from a one-game hiatus after nursing a sore foot to score four points, but his 3-point shooting woes continued. The freshman missed both his 3-ball attempts on Wednesday, marking the fourth-straight game in which he’s played that he hasn’t hit one.

“I got mad and screamed at P.J., ‘Make a daggum shot,’” Williams said. “It’s an easy game. If you’re a great shooter you ought to be able to shoot the ball in the game, in practice or in the backyard with the wind blowing. I still think we’re going to make it and I think we’re going to show it but we have to do it.”

Barnes finished with a team-high 23 points, 14 of which came in the second half in his usual form. He knows that 3-point shooting is a team weakness right now, but that isn’t going to stop him or any other Tar Heel from continuing to hoist it up.

“I think we have a unique collection of guys that, even if our shot isn’t falling, they’re still going to put it up,” Barnes said. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad; the jury’s still out. But I think we have confidence in our shooters and we’ll continue to make shots.”