UNC vs Maryland Game Thread

North Carolina coach Roy Williams was instrumental in helping Mark Turgeon get the job at Maryland.  Now he has to face his former assistant for the first time when the fifth-ranked Tar Heels travel to College Park for Saturday's ACC matchup. 

North Carolina (19-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) will play its fourth road game in its last six contests when it plays at Maryland (13-8, 3-4 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md.  After losing at Florida State to start this span on Jan. 14, Carolina has won four games in a row, including road games at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest and home games versus NC State and Georgia Tech. Maryland has lost four of its last five contests, including a double-overtime loss at Miami on Wednesday night despite Terrell Stoglin's career-high 33 points. Stoglin leads the ACC - and is fourth in the nation - with a 21.8 scoring average.

  The Tar Heels have dropped their last three visits to Maryland.

ESPN will televise the game nationally. Mike Patrick (play-by-play) and Len Elmore (analyst) will have the call. Both teams will close out the first half of conference play with Saturday’s game. 

North Carolina (19-3, 6-1) continues to lead the country in scoring (84.1 ppg) and rebounding (46.3 per game). The Tar Heels, however, are looking for improvement after shooting a season-worst 31.0 percent in their fourth straight win, 68-53 at Wake Forest on Tuesday.  "I told my team I'm tired of saying they're good shooters," Roy Williams said. "Start making the dadgum things in the game."

I agree with Roy, I want to see the Heels start shooting better on a consistent basis.  Zeller has played phenomenal in conference play, but everyone else needs to be more consistent. 

GO HEELS!! 

Well daggummit!!! I hope the Heels can play a masterful road game this wknd but I have an uneasy feeling about this one with Dook on the radar for next week. It's funny because i feel very confident that the Heels will beat Dook on Wednesday night. Classic look ahead game could be in store. Maryland can run a bit and is athletic. Hopefully they won't find miraculous shooting like every other team does against us (well except Wake). Hoping for any type of road win....easy, hard or ugly.....I don't care....just win!


GO HEELS!!!!! 

I see this game as a litmus test for the Heels for the remainder of ACC play if they can come out firing, have a high FG%, defend the 3 and improve the FT%. This is a much different team from last year and SHOULD get a W in College Park. We need to quit hearing how good these shooters are and actually show it. They'll need to lock-down Stoglin and put this game away early.



GO HEELS!!! 

CRYSTAL LAKE  - Maryland has always given us problems in College Park.  Always!  So lace up those shoes men and be prepared to cover one of the best SG in the conference.

GO CAROLINA - GO TO HELL dook

Latest word I'm hearing is Harrison Barnes might not play against MD today because of a sprained ankle. I hope he plays, but only if his ankle is close to 100%.. I would rather, if it is still bothering him, he sits and rests for Dook. This will not be an easy game, with or without him. I watched MD play Dook like a week and a half ago, whenever it was, and they made it a close game.

Guys please feel free to rest all your starters. Thank you. We need the game 10X more than you do so also have your teams FG% be the lowest of any game of the year. Under this handicap we have a chance. 

I wish we could help you out terpoboy, but we need it too.  We're sitting in a 3 way tie for first and first place in the ACC usually means a #1 seed in the south bracket.  Anyways, this will be an interesting game for the Heels.  Maryland has some length in the post and two quick backcourt mates.  Stoglin lit UNC up last year and will be a nightmare defensively.  Howard is capable of the big scoring number as well.  I think at the very least, Barnes will be limited this game.  I fully expect him to play, but maybe a few less minutes.  We need big numbers from Zeller, Henson, and either Bullock or Hairston.  We know beyond a reasonable doubt that Maryland will be red hot playing in front of their home crowd.  UNC will need to rebound the ball well and create some TO's.  They will need to minimize UM's second chance points.  If by chance Barnes doesn't play, Roy will have utilize timeouts to keep the kids fresh.   

I believe Barnes will be near a 100% for the game based on his play at Wake after the ankle sprain, Roy seems to exaggerate a lil bit when it comes to injuries, but hopefully it will be a blowout and the starters will only be needed for 20-25 minutes so they will be well rested for the beatdown of dook.


Heels 88- Terps 68  

Harrison Barnes ’ sprained left ankle has improved to the point that he practiced on Friday. But that doesn’t guarantee he’ll play against Maryland on Saturday. “If it swells up again after practice, we won’t know that until after we get to Maryland,” coach Roy Williams said. “He said it felt better.”

I agree Tarskin, Roy had listed McAdoo as doubtful a few times already, and he played.  I really doubt Barnes sits this one out.

I say the game will be closer though.  I'll say UNC 77 Maryland 72.   

I was reading an Adam Lucas article on tarheelblue earlier that said UNC has won at Wake and Maryland in the same season only twice in the last 20 years. I know that both teams are going through rebuilding stages right now, so this could be a good year to break that trend, but I've seen stranger things happen. Just like in 2010 I thought that would be Clemson's year to finally win one in Chapel Hill since our PG was insanely horrible, but we fought through and won.

dook is just around the corner. I agree this could be a trap game and Maryland could catch us looking ahead. The fans in College Park ALWAYS get riled up when we come to town. Let's go take their brownies.

this game will come down to barnes playing i think that its as simple as if he plays we win by 15-20 and if he doesnt it will be a whole lot closer. I still think we can win if he doesnt play. once again we have the edge inside and we should control the boards a huge key will be to limit stoglin hes the one guy who can go off and single handedly take over the game

score if barnes plays 74-61
score if barnes doesnt play 68-65

lets win this one and have some nice momentum going into the all important puke game. 

*meant to say if barnes plays we win by 10-15

This game is a dangerous game and we don't come to play we could and will lose . I watch the terps vs duke game and it was very close we have to be ready. Personally I would give Barnes limited minutes depending on how % wise he feels. If he's 80 plus that limit his minutes use him if game is super close. Were gonna need PJ and mcadoo to put some pts into the pot as well as Kendall. I like kendall assist is always on my mind persona but if your open take some three. We gotta start the tempo from tip off or we will be in a dog fight

From the Official UNC Twitter feed <s>@</s>UNC_Basketball: "just finished morning shootaround...Barnes's ankle held up fine and he should play when Tar Heels take on Terps today at 4 p.m."


GREAT NEWS!!


Also noted: Happy 21st birthday to <s class="hash">#</s>UNCBBall guard Leslie McDonald, born on this day in 1991.   


Happy Brithday Leslie, wish you were playing this year!   

Good news now we need to jump on the terps early so Barnes can give that ankle more rest

All I want guys...is a return to the traditional acc teams dominance...NC, md, nc st, yes even duke, not just nc/duke every year. the acc has gotten weak besides these 2 teams. Have you looked at the acc's RPI as a conference...it's pathetic I think 4th or 5th nationally. Next year it's not even acc anymore just a massive mix of acc/big east. No more tradition, no more playing teams 2X...sux.

This game is getting ugly. Terps are throwing everything at us and its working. Refs are letting Terps frontcourt body our shooters and they are hitting every miraculous shot they put up while we cant find the bottom of the net. Zeller/Henson's jump hooks always start to stop dropping when we get down. They need to get it together quick.

This one's in the books. Good hustle by the Terps. We needed this test before the Tobacco Road showdown.

Great come from behind win for the Heels.  After getting out-hustled in the first half, I was happy to see them match the Terp intensity and wear them down in the second.  Not trying to be a homer here, but did anyone else think that was one of the worst officiating jobs this season?  And I mean both ways. 

Marshall was terrible in the first half, but somehow managed 16 assists.  He was only credited with 6 turnovers, but some of his passes hit other players (like Zeller on the side of the head and Henson's feet).  Outside of Henson, the team shot well from the free-throw line and from three-point range.  Seems like we struggle from three on the road, but i'll take 44%, even at home. 

Good win Heels!  Now go pound dook.

Very proud of the Heels today. they kept their composure and got it done!!! Roy's post game comments hilight how big of a win this really was. He stated that this type of game gets a team ready for Tournament play. I agree. They played tough and kicked it up a notch when they needed it. GUT CHECK WIN ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!  I knew this was going to be a tough game and only wanted a win by any means necessary! Tallahasse seems light years away at this point. Now on to Puke and an expected beat down of the she-devils in Chapel Hill...


GO HEELS!!!!!