CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The North Carolina Tar Heels lead the nation in scoring and rebounding. They showed Miami they can be good on defense, too.

Sputtering on offense and evenly matched on the boards, No. 8 North Carolina used smothering defense to erase an eight-point deficit in the second half and beat Miami 73-64 Wednesday night.

The Tar Heels, who came in averaging 83.5 points, shot only 38 percent and went 5 for 18 from three-point range. But they forced turnovers on four consecutive possessions in the second half to get back in the game, and held Miami without a point for nearly five minutes down the stretch.

“Defensively we can be a very good team,” said center Tyler Zeller, who scored just nine but had three steals. “We can win games in the 50s and 60s. And when we start making shots, hopefully we can win by a bigger margin.”

North Carolina (22-4, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) took a half-game lead over Duke and Florida State atop the league standings.

“It was one of those wins you have to have to have a fantastic year,” coach Roy Williams said. “It was a tough win, it was an ugly win in some ways. To be able to grit it out defensively – we did some better things there. That’s a huge benefit to win games when you play ugly.”

Miami (15-9, 6-5) lost to the Tar Heels for the 18th time in their 20 meetings, including two defeats this year.

“We played a very solid first half,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said. “But we never played great, and what we’re looking for is for this team to become a great team.”

NO. 3 MISSOURI 83, OKLAHOMA ST. 65: In Columbia, Mo., Marcus Denmon scored 17 points to lead five teammates in double figures and the Tigers avenged an earlier defeat with a rout of the Cowboys.

No. 16 MURRAY ST. 75, SE MISSOURI ST. 66: In Cape Girardeau, Mo., Donte Poole hit four three-pointers and scored 25 points as the Racers, despite a poor game from leading scorer Isaiah Canaan, clinched its third straight Ohio Valley Conference title with a victory over Southeast Missouri State.

No. 24 WICHITA ST. 73, MISSOURI ST. 58: In Wichita, Kan., seven-foot center Garrett Stutz hit four three-pointers and scored 21 points to lead the Shockers to a victory over Missouri State that clinched at least a tie for the Missouri Valley Conference title.

Stutz finished 7 of 8 from the field and had 10 rebounds for the Shockers (23-4, 14-2), playing their first game as a ranked team since 2006-07.

Women

No. 1 BAYLOR 83, OKLAHOMA ST. 52: In Stillwater, Okla., Brittney Griner had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Kimetria Hayden scored a season-high 20 points and top-ranked Baylor remained perfect.

No. 5 DUKE 67, VIRGINIA TECH 45: In Durham, N.C., Tricia Liston scored 17 points to help Duke.

WEST VIRGINIA 60, No. 21 RUTGERS 50: In Morgantown, W.Va., Christal Caldwell scored 16 points and Asya Bussie had a double-double as West Virginia beat its second ranked team this week.