Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Eighth-ranked Maryland, a two-point favorite on its home court, overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to defeat the Tar Heels 86-73 before a raucous, sellout crowd of 14,500.
``I've said some things along the line that eventually we had to back up,'' sixth-year Maryland coach Gary Williams said. ``We're not a great program yet, but we're getting there.
``We got to the Sweet 16 last year and that was nice. Iowa was No.1 when we beat them while I was at Ohio State, but in coaching we tend to be current.''
It was the Terps' first victory over a No.1-ranked team since 1986, when Maryland defeated North Carolina in its first season at the Dean Smith Center. The Terps had lost at Carolina, 100-90, when the Tar Heels were ranked No.1 earlier in the season.
``I've been thinking about this game basically since we lost to them the first time,'' said Joe Smith, Maryland's sophomore center. ``If we had beaten Georgia Tech [on Saturday], maybe this would have been for No.1, but at least we're No.1 in the conference.''
Junior guards Johnny Rhodes and Duane Simpkins had 21 points apiece to share scoring honors for Maryland, which improved its record to 18-4 overall and 8-2 in the ACC. The Tar Heels slipped to 18-2 and 8-2 with their first loss in 10 games.
``They really took it to us,'' said Dean Smith, North Carolina coach. ``Either they have an amazing new offense or our defense was non-existent. I think it was the same offense very well-executed.''
The Terrapins appeared tight to start the game, as did their coach. Official Mike Wood whistled Williams for a technical foul for arguing a call with slightly more than two minutes elapsed.
North Carolina scored 10 consecutive points in taking a 10-4 lead and later enjoyed an 11-0 run in extending the margin to 30-16 with 8 minutes, 23 seconds remaining before halftime.
Williams reacted by calling his second of three allotted timeouts - and the second in the space of 45 seconds - but the Terps got the message and scored 20 points in less than six minutes to go ahead 36-35.
``You don't want to know what I said,'' Williams said. ``You don't like to waste a timeout to tell a team to play hard. That's one of my pet peeves, but that's what we told them during the first timeout and they didn't listen.''
Rhodes scored 11 consecutive points for Maryland, including a pair of 3-pointers and a three-point play. Simpkins and Mario Lucas also made 3-pointers during the surge.
Depth-shy Carolina plays more zone defense than almost anybody in the ACC and no doubt thought a 2-3 would be effective against the Terps, hitting an ACC-low 5.4 3-point field goals per game.
Rhodes, who had not scored more than 10 points in Maryland's five previous games, had 13 by the half. He made four of five 3-point shots to help Maryland finish 7-of-16 from behind the arc.
Joe Smith, who early in the game went over the 1,000-point mark for his career, avoided the foul trouble that limited him to 20 minutes in the first game and finished with 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
Smith got the best of his Carolina counterpart, Rasheed Wallace, who needed a late 3-pointer to score a team-high 15 points. ACC scoring leader Jerry Stackhouse had 13 points, three in the second half.
``All I can say is, Jerry Stackhouse had one field goal in the last 25 minutes,'' said Exree Hipp, Maryland's forward. ``He's very aggressive going to the basket, so we felt, if we kept him outside, even if he made a couple of baskets, he wouldn't be as consistent.''
Maryland shot 63.0 percent in the second half and 53.3 for the game, compared to a season-low 40.9 for the Tar Heels. It was a big switch from Saturday, when Maryland gave up 100 points to a Georgia Tech team without inside threat James Forrest.
``Generally a loss like that wakes up a team on a winning streak and it gets a renewed effort,'' Dean Smith said. ``I hope we have a renewed effort defensively.''
by CNB