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Tar Heels Hit The Road To Face Maryland Sunday
Feb. 23, 2007 North Carolina (24-4, 10-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) will try to maintain its first-place status in the conference standings when it visits Maryland (21-7, 7-6 ACC) at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md., on Sunday afternon. The game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net. Carolina enters the weekend in sole possession of first place in the ACC standings at 10-3. The Tar Heels took over the conference lead after their 83-64 win over NC State on Wednesday night and Virginia's (9-4) loss at Miami. Virginia Tech (9-4) is also a game behind Carolina in the ACC standings after its win over Boston College (9-5) on Wednesday night. Sunday's game will be the first meeting this season between Carolina and Maryland. Last year, the Tar Heels swept the season series, winning by 15 in College Park and by 24 in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press poll and No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week. Maryland is unranked but is coming off an impressive, 73-55 home victory over Florida State on Wednesday Night. The Terrapins have won four games in a row to move above .500 in ACC play for the first time this season. THE SERIES VS. MARYLAND LAST SEASON IN COLLEGE PARK The Tar Heels held the Terrapins, who entered the game as the ACC's top scoring team, to just 22 second-half points and 26.5 percent shooting after halftime. Maryland's 62 total points were 20 points off its average entering the game. Terry scored 14 of his 20 points after halftime and Tyler Hansbrough scored 11 of his 15 after intermission. Noel had 15 points and seven rebounds in the first half, going 5 for 8 from the field before the break. Noel had totaled 16 points and 14 field goal attempts in his three previous games combined entering the game at Maryland. Terry posted his second career 20-point game and his first since scoring a career-high 25 in the Dec. 3, 2005, win at Kentucky. Both teams started slowly, with Maryland hitting just 2 of its first 11 shots and UNC 3 of its first 10. Noel scored 11 of the Tar Heels' first 17 points. Hansbrough, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, took his first field goal attempt at the 5:55 mark of the first half and was held to one free throw attempt in the game, a season-low. Carolina won despite committing 24 turnovers, 15 of which came in the first half. The 24 Tar Heel miscues were their second-most this season, trailing only the 25 they committed at Virginia Tech on Jan. 10 and at USC on Dec. 21. Carolina broke Maryland's 14-game home winning streak that dated to UNC's win in the Comcast Center in Feb. 2005. UNC has won two in a row at Maryland for the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. LAST SEASON IN CHAPEL HILL Tyler Hansbrough led the Tar Heels with 21 points and seven rebounds. David Noel had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Marcus Ginyard had 12 points in 18 minutes of action. Carolina shot only 41.1 percent from the floor, the first time in five games it did not make at least half its shots. The Tar Heel defense held Terp leading scorer Nik Caner-Medley to 10 points on 3 of 16 shooting. UNC took a 25-14 lead at the 8:22 mark of the first half and the Terps could never get any closer as the Tar Heels cruised to the win. After UNC led by 17 at halftime, Maryland cut the lead to 11 before Noel hit two straight field goals to start a 19-10 run to put UNC up by 20 and the game out of reach. WILLIAMS NEEDS ONE VICTORY FOR 100 WINS AT UNC The fastest ACC coach to 100 wins at a conference school was Duke's Vic Bubas in 128 games. Williams would become the fourth Tar Heel head coach to win 100 games at UNC, joining Dean Smith (879, from 1961-97), Frank McGuire (164, from 1952-61) and Tom Scott (100 from 1946-52). CAROLINA NEARING 25 WINS
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