The North Carolina basketball team completed a dominating run to the Maui Invitational championship by rolling to a 71-56 victory against Wisconsin in the tournament final Wednesday night. Joel Berry scored 22 points and earned tournament MVP honors in leading the Tar Heels (7-0) to their fourth Maui title. They advanced to Final Four in each of the three previous years they brought home the championship trophy, twice winning the national championship. This UNC team beat its three Maui opponents — Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and host Chaminade — by a combined 90 points. Coach Roy Williams’ team used a stifling defense to make short work of the Badgers (4-2), holding them to just 38 percent from the floor. Wisconsin’s top player, Bronson Koenig, made just one of his 13 field goal attempts in the game. UNC, meanwhile, got another strong performance from senior big man Kennedy Meeks, who contributed 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to help the Tar Heels outscore the Badgers 36-16 in the paint. UNC also outrebounded Wisconsin 38-26 while limiting its opponent to four offensive boards. Isaiah Hicks added 14 points and Justin Jackson scored 12 to surpass the 1,000-point mark for his career. The Tar Heels next travel to Indiana as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge before finally returning home on Sunday, Dec. 4 against Radford.
