No. 1 North Carolina Falls to Maryland

Jan 19, 09:00 PM

But this time, there was no last-minute miracle.

North Carolina (18-1, 3-1 ACC) missed four shots in the final 14 seconds, halting an 18-game winning streak and securing Maryland's 82-80 upset. The defeat marked UNC's first loss at the Smith Center since last February, and will likely bounce the Tar Heels from the top of the national polls.

"I haven't done a very good job with this basketball team the last couple of weeks," said coach Roy Williams. "We've been living on the edge, and it finally caught up with us."

`It' came in the form of an unranked Maryland team that had lost to the likes of American and Ohio earlier this season, but boasted two things UNC has lacked at times, despite its previous down-to-the-wire victories at Clemson and Georgia Tech: consistent defense and consistent tenacity.

Maryland (12-7, 2-2), which had scored more than 80 points on only one other occasion this season, simply appeared to crave the victory more from the outset. By putting multiple defenders on Hansbrough, an All-American, slowing UNC's transition scoring, and getting 13 first-half points from James Gist, the Terps were able to take an 11-point lead near the beginning of the second half.

It was Carolina's largest deficit of the season, much to Hansbrough's disgust.

"Defensively, they got shots when they needed to," he said. "The first-half intensity was lacking. That's the game right there."

Although UNC mustered a comeback _ shooting 40.5 percent in the second half compared to 35.1 in the first, and doing a better job on the boards _ it never really slowed the Terps or dampened their confidence.

"I thought we were playing good enough defense over the last five games to be competitive," said Maryland coach Gary Williams, whose seven career victories over top-ranked teams is the most among active coaches. "Where we were struggling was scoring the ball."

Until Saturday.

Hansbrough knotted the score, 80-80, on a layup with 51 seconds left. But 20 seconds later, Bambale Osby, one of several Terps bombarding Hansbrough, scored the go-ahead points on a layup after Tar Heel Danny Green fell down in front him.

On UNC's ensuing possession, Wayne Ellington missed a three-pointer and Green missed a putback. The Tar Heels got the ball back, but Ellington missed a layup, leaving both teams scrambling for a loose ball. Maryland's Greivis Vasquez grabbed hold of it on the ground, but UNC had the possession arrow, and thus one more chance.

Although Hansbrough had a good look at the basket after Green's inbounds pass with 1.7 left, his three-pointer didn't connect.

"I always think my shots are going in," Hansbrough said. "But it just didn't go that way."

Hansbrough scored 13 of his team-leading 17 points in the second half; he also had 14 rebounds.

Gist led all scorers with 22, and pushed the Tar Heels to what players termed a "wake-up call."

At least maybe this one won't come at the last second.

"I feel like we've been hoping things would go our way, hoping that we knock down the big shot at the last second," junior Marcus Ginyard said. "But these games shouldn't come down to that. Things need to go our way a lot faster than the last second."

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