By R.L. Bynum

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Injuries were a big reason North Carolina wasn’t at full strength most of the season, and they were a huge factor Monday as the Tar Heels’ season ended emotionally.

But No. 20-ranked and No. 6 Carolina nearly overcame it all before dropping a heartbreaker 71–69 to No. 12-ranked and No. 3-seed Ohio State at the Schottenstein Center in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“I asked them to make shots, make plays, be stars. We asked them to be hard to beat. We thought those things would get us to a Sweet 16,” Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “They did all of those things. But you’ve got to be so good to win in March, and we just were not quite good enough. We had a few too many careless turnovers. We won’t like some of our fouls; we won’t like some of our missed layups.”

Junior guard Deja Kelly landed awkwardly after running into Eboni Walker’s screen with seven minutes left and the Tar Heels (22–11) trailing by 12. Fellow starting guard Eva Hodgson left the game early in the fourth quarter with a concussion.

Kelly hurt a knee and was carried off the floor, then assisted as she walked to the dressing room shortly afterward.

“As soon as I went down and they were taking me back, the only thought in my mind was what’s the score? What’s the time, and what do I need to do to get back on the floor?” said Kelly, who returned 4½ minutes later and finished with a game-high 22 points with five rebounds.

The information that came back was good, as her teammates scored nine consecutive points after she left the game.

“There’s one thing we say before every game is that we got each other’s backs,” said junior Alyssa Ustby, who collected 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. She missed five regular-season games with a lower-body injury. “So, when Deja went out, we huddled together, ‘guys we got this, we’re doing it for Deja and we’re doing it for all of us to give us the best chance to win.”

Kennedy Todd-Williams, who got 14 of her 16 points in the second half, scored seven points while Kelly was out of the game with true freshman Paulina Paris and redshirt freshman Kayla McPherson on the court.

“We just fought with the younger guys in there,” Todd-Williams said. “They definitely locked in. I thought that was a big moment for us because both Deja and Eva had gone down, and I thought that was a really big moment and a key turnaround for us.”

Paris gave UNC its only lead of the game at 67–66 with 2:04 left on a transition layup to cap an 8–4 run.

“At that moment, we were just trying to have Deja’s back and we were trying to win that game,” Paris said. “A few of them went down, but we had to do what we had to do.”

Kelly being such a fierce competitor, there was no way she wouldn’t return if it was possible.

“It was up to the doctor,” Kelly said. “But I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. So, really, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

After a Jacy Sheldon layup and free throw gave the Buckeyes a 69–67 lead with 38 seconds left, UNC turned the ball over when redshirt freshman forward Teonni Key drew an offensive foul.

The Buckeyes turned the ball over before a short Kelly jumper tied it with 9.8 seconds left. Ohio State retook the lead on Sheldon’s driving jumper with 1.8 seconds left. Todd-Williams’ inbounds pass intended for Alyssa Ustby instead bounded off the rim, ending the game.

“We brought Deja to the ball, so we knew that would draw a crowd,” Banghart said of the final play. “We liked the matchup of Alyssa on [5-10 guard Rikki Harris]; they came out in that matchup. So, with 1.8 seconds left and you saw how the game was being called. We weren’t expecting that to be helpful. So we were trying to get her at the rim.”

Banghart says her mom calls her a “happy idiot,” saying an example of that is that she doesn’t worry about injuries during a game.

“So Deja out, she means a lot to our program, but look who we do have,” Banghart said. “Yeah, it is a microcosm [of our season], so it’s easy to talk about, that we’ve had a lot of adversity. We haven’t practiced as a whole group much.”

It was an emotional final college game for Hodgson, who was out for eight regular-season games with an upper-body injury. She appeared to have been crying as she came out for second-half warmups. Kelly consoled her as they walked back onto the court.

“She just cares so much, and she just wants to be good for us, good for the team, and contribute in any way that she can,” Kelly said of Hodgson. “I was just talking to her and reminding her how much we need her and how — no matter how her shots were going and no matter how the game was going — just that we had her back just like she’s had ours all year.”

After not getting off a shot in the first half, Hodgson made two 3-point attempts in the first four minutes of the second half, channeling her emotion well. But she got banged up in a play around the lane in the first minute of the fourth quarter. She was slow to get up and tried to walk it off.

Hodgson, who was getting medical attention after the game and couldn’t talk to the media, told the athletic trainer she was fine. But her night and career were done, and she was clearly emotional sitting on the bench.

Ohio State’s leading scorer Taylor Mikesell led the Buckeyes (27–7) with 16 points, guarded by Hodgson, McPherson and Paris.

UNC trailed for all but 62 seconds after Ohio State scored the first eight points.

It took over four minutes for UNC to score, getting an Ustby inside basket. Sheldon scored the Buckeyes’ third 3-pointer with 5:33 left in the first quarter to give them an 11–2 lead. UNC went from making one of its first eight shots to hitting five of its last six in the quarter.

Carolina sliced its deficit to one with eight consecutive points, six from Kelly. A Kelly jumper made it 16–14 Buckeyes after one period.

After Ohio State went on a 6–0 run to start the second quarter, pushing the lead to eight, a pair of Kelly free throws cut the Buckeyes’ halftime lead to 33–28, as 20 of UNC’s points came inside.

An 8–2 Buckeyes run to start the second half gave them their biggest lead of the game at 10, but Hodgson’s second 3-pointer cut it to six less than a minute later. Two Todd-Williams free throws cut it to one, but Ohio State’s 6–1 run to finish the quarter gave it a 51–46 lead going into the final period.

Ohio State took a 12-point lead with an 11–4 run to start the fourth quarter.

NOTES — Ohio State officials weren’t happy with the 4 p.m. weekday start because the crowd of 5,186 was, as they expected, smaller than the 6,827 that turned out for Saturday’s doubleheader. It contrasted the capacity crowd of 8,333 UNC dealt with in the second round a year ago at Arizona when it beat the Wildcats 63–45. … The arena was quickly converted after the game for The Killers’ concert that’s set for Tuesday. … UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham, who was already in Columbus as the men’s tournament selection committee representative at the men’s first- and second-round games at the Columbus Blue Jackets’ arena, was at the game. … Ohio State tied the series at five wins each with its second consecutive victory over UNC, and has won two of three meetings in Columbus. Carolina won the only previous NCAA tournament meeting 86–84 on March 23, 2015, in a second-round game in Chapel Hill. … Ohio State’s 21 turnovers were its most since committing 24 against Maryland on Feb. 5. … Carolina’s 18 turnovers were its most since committing 21 in a 45–41 home win at Duke on Feb. 26. … Ohio State shot 50%, only the third time all season a UNC opponent has shot at least 50% and first time since December. The Buckeyes shoot 54.2% in the second half.

No. 12 Ohio State 71, No. 20 UNC 69

UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	10:00	Kelly	Hodgson	Todd- Williams	Ustby	Poole	2–11
2–11	4:44		McPherson				2–0
4–11	3:48					Adams	8–4
12–15	1:02					Key	2–7
14–22	7:37(2)			Hodgson	T-W	Ustby	2–2
16–24	6:15		Hodgson	T-W	Ustby	Adams	3–3
19–27	4:42		Paris				3–0
22–27	3:15					Poole	6–6
28–33	1:19					Zelaya	0–0
28–33	0:29			McPherson			0–0
28–33	Half		Hodgson	T-W		Poole	8–9
36–42	6:06			McPherson		Adams	2–2
38–44	4:33		McPherson	T-W			5–2
43–46	1:17					Poole	3–5
46–51	End 4th					Adams	0–4
46–55	9:24		Hodgson				4–3
50–57	7:51		McPherson				0–5
50–62	6:59	Paris					9–0
59–62	4:19					Key	4–4
63–66	2:33	Kelly		Paris			4–0
67–66	2:22				T-W	Ustby	0–2
67–68	0:38			T-W	Ustby	Key	2–3
69–71	Final

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record
	November
9	Wednesday	W, 91–59	Jackson State	Home	1–0
12	Saturday	W, 75–48	TCU	Home	2–0
16	Wednesday	W, 93–25	South Carolina State	Home	3–0
20	Sunday	W, 76–65	James Madison	Harrisonburg, Va.	4–0
			*Phil Knight Invitational*
24	Thursday	W, 85–79	Oregon	Portland	5–0
27	Sunday	W, 73–64	No. 17 Iowa State	Portland	6–0
	December		*ACC/Big Ten Challenge*
1	Thursday	L, 87–63	No. 2 Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	6–1
7	Wednesday	W, 64–42	UNCW	Home	7–1
11	Sunday	W, 99–67	Wofford	Home	8–1
16	Friday	W, 89–47	USC Upstate	Home	9–1
			*Jumpman Invitational*
20	Tuesday	L, 76–68	No. 18 Michigan	Charlotte	9–2
			ACC season begins
29	Thursday	L, 78–71	Florida State	Home	9–3, 0–1 ACC
	January
1	Sunday	L, 68–65	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–4, 0–2 ACC
5	Thursday	L, 62–58	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	9–5, 0–3 ACC
8	Sunday	W, 60–50	No. 10 Notre Dame	Home	10–5, 1–3 ACC
12	Thursday	W, 70–59	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	11–5, 2–3 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 56–47	N.C. State	Home	12–5, 3–3 ACC
19	Thursday	W, 61–56	No. 13 Duke	Home	13–5, 4–3 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 70–57	Georgia Tech	Home	14–5, 5–3 ACC
26	Thursday	W, 72–57	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 6–3 ACC
29	Sunday	W, 69–58	Clemson	Clemson	16–5, 7–3 ACC
	February
2	Thursday	W, 73–62	Virginia	Home	17–5, 8–3 ACC
5	Sunday	L, 62–55	Louisville	Louisville	17–6, 8–4 ACC
9	Thursday	L, 75–67	Syracuse	Syracuse	17–7, 8–5 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 73–55	Boston College	Home	18–7, 9–5 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 77–66, OT	N.C. State	Raleigh	18–8, 9–6 ACC
19	Sunday	W, 71–58	Wake Forest	Home	19–8, 10–6 ACC
23	Thursday	L, 61–59	No. 4 Virginia Tech	Home	19–9, 10–7 ACC
26	Sunday	W, 45–41	No. 13 Duke	Durham	20–9, 10–8 ACC
	March		*ACC Tournament*
2	Thursday	W, 68–58	Clemson	Greensboro	21–9
3	Friday	L, 44–40	No. 13 Duke	Greensboro	21–10
			*NCAA tournament*
18	Saturday	W, 61–59	St. John’s	Columbus, Ohio	22–10
20	Monday	L, 71–69	No. 12 Ohio State	Columbus, Ohio	22–11