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Barnes was given the moniker "Barnesbot" by fans for his emotionless knack to rip an opponent's heart out. Or pulling off an incredible play sans any sort of acknowledgement for the human life around him. He was all business, even when he was good. Really good. That super sturdy posture, a look-ahead, killer-eyed demeanor. All that was missing was the emotion.

Against Kentucky, Barnes found his mean streak. Very mean. He'd shown it here and there in recent weeks, but nothing like the verbal sparring match he and Wildcat DeAndre Liggins had for the majority of the second half. They stole evil looks at each other -- most frequently when the other was looking away.

"Sit your [expletive] [expletive] down," Barnes scolded Liggins at one point in the second half after Liggins picked up a foul and Kentucky coach John Calipari immediately tugged him from the game. After the vigor and intensity from the game wore off, Barnes easily praised the player who held him in check for a large portion of the game.

"DeAndre Liggins, you know, I mean, he's a good player," Barnes said. "Known for his defense, mostly, but he has an offensive game as well. Just being able to go against him, that was great."

The spirit from Barnes on Sunday night was great to see, but soon after he helped bring North Carolina back to within two, 67-65, with a personal 8-2 run, he never scored again. His emotional excursion didn't lead to his lack of production; it's just unfortunate the two never locked together for long stretches of play.

"I was trying to give my team what it needed," Barnes said. "We were short on scoring; I tried to take it

upon myself to will my team to win. And, unfortunately, I came up short."

Barnes finished with 18 points in the loss. He didn't lead the team in scoring -- that was Zeller, who had 21 and joined Barnes on the East Regional All-Tournament team -- and grabbed six rebounds. Barnes forced the issue at times. He was 2-of-9 from 3-point range.

He only got to the foul line twice, making two of those three shots.

His potential remains largely untapped. He'

s seen as a top-five pick in this year's NBA Draft. But he's just a freshman. Like Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, he wasn't asked to join his coach in front of the horde of media in the postgame press conference. Unlike Sullinger, Barnes didn't sit in the locker room and make a definitive declaration about his future.