Top 25 capsules: No. 14 North Carolina pulls away late, tops Notre Dame 83-66

North Carolina beat its two biggest rivals, then pulled away late to beat Notre Dame to cap a demanding stretch.

The 14th-ranked Tar Heels are tired. They also might have found a groove.

Theo Pinson scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime to go with 10 rebounds, helping UNC pull away late to beat Notre Dame 83-66 on Monday night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for its third win in five days.

Things certainly look different from 10 days ago for the Tar Heels (20-7, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who were coming off their first three-game losing streak in four years and a win against a winless-in-the-ACC Pittsburgh team before the stretch. But they beat Duke at home on Thursday then won Saturday at North Carolina State in a pair of emotional rivalry games.

Martinas Geben and John Mooney each scored 18 points for the Fighting Irish (15-11, 5-8), with Mooney going 6 of 6 from 3-point range. But UNC – which shot 57 percent – later used its clinching run to turn a 67-63 margin into a 17-point bulge near the 2-minute mark.

(20) West Virginia 82, TCU 66: Teddy Allen scored 16 points, giving the Mountaineers (19-7, 8-5 Big 12) a needed spark off the bench for a win over the Horned Frogs (17-9, 5-8) in Morgantown, West Virginia.

James “Beetle” Bolden added 14 points, Daxter Miles Jr. scored 13 and Wes Harris had 11 points for West Virginia. The Mountaineers’ 38 bench points were its most in a Big 12 game this season.

Desmond Bane had 16 points, Vlad Brodziansky added 15 and Kouat Noi scored 12 for TCU.

West Virginia has had trouble holding onto leads throughout the Big 12 season but didn’t let the Horned Frogs come back from a 38-27 halftime deficit.