GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team hosted North Carolina for the first time in program history Tuesday night as the Spartans fell to the Tar Heels 79-56 at the Greensboro Coliseum in front of 11,108 fans, the second-largest crowd for UNCG since moving to the Greensboro Coliseum full time in 2009-10. The Spartans had their three-game winning streak snapped with the loss as they fall to 4-7 on the year while North Carolina improves to 7-3.

“First off I wanted to say how gracious we are to coach Williams bringing his team here as I know that is not something he has to do,” head coach Wes Miller said. “It is really special for them to do that and it was a special night for our program. I didn't think we played well tonight. I was disappointed that we didn't have the same approach we had Saturday night at ETSU. We didn't score early and that affected us. We got frustrated and got away from the team we want to be on every possession. We are a better team than we showed tonight. We are a young team that can learn from this loss and get better collectively.”

Junior forward Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) led three Spartans in double figures with a team-high 17 points as he was 6-of-7 from the field but just 5-of-12 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) added 13 points, a career-high nine rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench in 34 minutes of action. Senior Nicholas Paulos (Salt Lake City, Utah/New Hampton School) rounded out the Spartans in double figures with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from long range.

UNCG connected on just 35.7 percent (20-of-56) from the field, just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from long range and only 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from the free throw line. The Spartans were out-scored 40-19 in the first half but only were out-scored 39-37 in the second half.

North Carolina finished the game shooting 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field but hit just 3-of-14 (21.4%) from distance. The Tar Heels did their damage on the glass, out-rebounding the Spartans by a 51-26 margin, including 20 offensive rebounds as they scored 44 points in the paint. Kennedy Meeks finished the game with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field while Joel James added 11 points.

North Carolina jumped out quickly on the Spartan, opening to a 23-4 lead just over 10 minutes into the game. The Spartans connected on just 2-of-19 to start the game and committed four miscues in the opening run. UNCG started to settle down in front of the large crowd but North Carolina extended the lead to a first-half best 39-12 with 3:09 remaining.

The Spartans closed the first half on a 7-1 run to head into the locker room trailing 40-19. Paulos started the run with a 3-pointer while sophomore forward Jordy Kuiper (Groningen, Netherlands/Canaries Basketball Academy) hit a pair of free throws. Baldwin closed out the half with a jumper after beating his defender off the dribble with two seconds remaining.

The Spartans hit just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from the field and only 1-of-10 (10%) from long range in the first half. UNCG was also out-rebounded by a 30-12 margin, including 10 on the offensive glass for the Tar Heels. North Carolina opened the game shooting 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from the field despite hitting just 1-of-9 (11.1%) from long range.

The Spartans narrowed the gap to 44-24 early in the second half as Paulos hit a 3-pointer but North Carolina was able to keep the Spartans at bay for most of the second half. UNCG was out-scored by only two points in the second half, 39-37, as Locke led the way with 13 points in the second half. Baldwin and Paulos each added nine second half points in the loss.

The Spartans return to action Saturday afternoon as they host former Southern Conference rival Elon at 2 p.m. The game will be video streamed online in full HD on the SoCon Digital Network for free.

-UNCG-