Freshman Leslie McDonald scored a season-high 16 points and North Carolina snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Wake Forest 77-68 on Saturday.
Will Graves had 13 points and Larry Drew II added 10 points for the Tar Heels (15-14, 4-10 Atlantic Coast Conference).
The defending national champions, who entered having lost 10 of 12, avoided falling below .500 by locking down on Al-Farouq Aminu and winning their first road game this season outside of the Triangle.
Ari Stewart had 16 points to lead the Demon Deacons (18-8, 8-6). L.D. Williams finished with 14 before fouling out in the final minute, and his 3 pulled Wake Forest to 71-68 with 57.3 seconds left.
McDonald followed that with a layup 7 seconds later, then drew a key charge on C.J. Harris with 42 seconds to play. North Carolina was 4 of 6 from the free throw line after that.
