Maryland 92, Tar Heels 71
Carolina suffers biggest loss of season

With North Carolina down just four with 13 minutes to play, no one would have expected Carolina would lose by 21 points, the Tar Heels largest margin of defeat this season. But in just two minutes, Maryland went on a 10-0 run to go up by 14 and went on to defeat the Heels 92-71 in snowy College Park. (2/7)

The loss drops the Tar Heels to 13-10 overall and puts them in great danger of not making the NCAA tournament as Terrapin fans reminded the Heels over and over with poor sportsmanship chats of "N-I-T, N-I-T." Of course, the Terrapins know a little more about the NIT than the Heels do.

The loss was the fourth in the last five times against Maryland and the seventh time Carolina has lost on a Super Bowl Sunday.

Maryland hit seven of its first nine tries from three-point land and threatened to blow the Heels out early, working up a 32-16 advantage. But the Tar Heels chipped away and after Leslie McDonald sank a long two, Carolina was within four at 34-30.

Down 10 at the half at 44-34, the Tar Heels trimmed it to just five by the first TV timeout after John Henson threw down a driving dunk to make it 52-47. Less than two minutes later, UNC's Will Graves scored in the lane to draw it to three at 54-51.

Behind by just four at 58-54, Maryland sank a couple of threes and Carolina turned the ball over a couple of times and quickly it was 68-54. That 10-0 run was just part of a 34-17 run throughout the remainder of the game.

Maryland, which shot more than 60 percent in the second half, had 16 second-half fastbreak points compared to just two for Carolina. Greivis Vasquez had 26 points and 11 assists to lead the Terrapins (16-6, 6-2) while Marcus Ginyard got his shooting eye back to score 17 to lead Carolina.

"To say we're struggling would the the biggest understatement of my life," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "But no one is going to feel sorry for us."

Williams said it's not comfortable to be 2-6 in ACC play. "I've never been in this situation before," he said. "It's not good."

Carolina hosts rival Duke Wednesday night.

Readers weigh in on Tar Heels' troubles. Click here.

Despite strong play most of the game, North Carolina started slow and ended slow to lose its fifth conference game 74-70 at Virginia Tech. (2/4)

The Tar Heels fell behind by 12 early in the game but came back to take a 35-33 halftime lead. With the Heels ahead 41-40, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney took over offensively and led the Hokies on a 14-6 run capped by a pair of long threes that put the home team up 54-47. The Heels never got the lead back after that five-minute run.

But the Hokies' leads were small and the Heels cut the margin to two points on several occasions including with just 1:08 left after a steal and layup by Larry Drew II that made it 69-67.

But Virginia Tech hit free throws down the stretch and Will Graves' three attempt, that would have cut the lead to just one, went all the way down and popped out. Carolina, while scoring on some free throws, only scored two buckets in the last seven minutes of the game.

It was a frustrating loss for the Tar Heels who outrebounded the Hokies and shot better from the field. But Carolina was just 20 of 30 from the free throw line and the Heels turned the ball over 19 times.

Carolina was hurt by Deon Thompson's foul trouble (he eventually fouled out with nearly three minutes left and just eight points). Ed Davis led the Heels with 15 minutes while freshmen John Henson and David Wear got their season highs with 14 and 12 points.

Delaney led the Hokies, now 17-4 and 4-3 in the conference, with 21 points.

Carolina, which drops to 13-9 overall and 2-5 in the ACC, plays at league leader Maryland Sunday afternoon.

Boxscore

Editor's Note: HeelPrints has chronicled the UNC basketball, baseball and football seasons for 2008 and 2009. Since the vast majority of comments I get about the site relate to basketball and since this isn't a paying job for me, I have decided to limit my coverage and analysis to basketball. Baseball and football will remain archived and if I have comments or opinions I want to make on those or any other sports at UNC, I will make them here on the front page and then archive them in the corresponding sports section. Thanks for all the positive comments I have received about the site. Should I get sponsorship in the future, I will reconsider adding baseball and football again. Ironically, my favorite sports to watch in person are baseball and football. But my first connections to UNC came from watching Dean Smith's basketball teams on TV or listening to them on the radio in the days before all the games were televised. It should come as no surprise that people pay more attention to the basketball coverage. Thanks for your interest in this site.

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Other archived headlines:
Shorthanded Heels get big game from freshmen in opener
Season Review: UNC baseball had one of its best years in 2008
Carolina basketball's run ends after comeback falls short
Tar Heels run out of gas against Fresno State
Season Review: Carolina ends season where it wanted - in Omaha
Flack does it in the clutch again as Tar Heels fight on
Federowicz heroics keep UNC alive in College World Series
Carolina in the College World Series again
UNC is one win away from third straight trip to the World Series
Carolina baseball advances to host Super Regional starting Saturday
Heels defeats UNC-Wilmington 7-3 with five-run inning
UNC's wins over Miami vault Heels to No. 1 in the nation
Carolina baseball reaches 40-game win mark
Tar Heels take two of three from Florida State

Also, check out my articles for the UNC alumni Web site on Carolina's 8-4 win over LSU, the 5-3 loss to Fresno State, the 7-3 win over LSU, the 4-3 victory over Fresno State and the season-ending loss to Fresno State.