So the question is whether North Carolina, with a win over Clemson and an ACC title, would be ranked ahead of Ohio State or not?
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UNC loves to run, and Maryland has the horses to keep up.
Fedora said there have been points during his time in Chapel Hill that he wondered what in the world he’d gotten himself into. The senior quarterback has often been labeled as a primarily run-first quarterback and has had a knack for key turnovers, but has become an all-around yard producing machine at the helm. A convincing win in Chapel Hill would make a strong case for Maryland taking the “1” from Kentucky. They actually made you miss them, and only two years after leaving the ACC. It always seemed like it would take more time to heal these wounds.
“I’m glad we got him”, Turgeon said.
“The first shot went down – it wasn’t a great shot – but I was feeling it, so I shot it”, Paige said. A catch there puts State in Carolina territory, perhaps leads to a score, and turns rather than adds to the massive momentum monster of suck before the game got so far out of hand. The offense functioned well with sophomore Justin Jackson stepping up with consecutive games of 21 and 22 points. On the next possession, Paige saw an opening, drove the lane and was fouled.
For his part, Williams said it brought him back to the past. He’ll facilitate and be a second or third option. KenPom had them ranked in the top 20 in adjusted tempo in both 2013 and 2014.
This is the 180 meeting between these two schools as they used to play regularly as members of the ACC but this is the first non-conference meeting between them in 55 years.
That was the among the most important questions surrounding Paige’s return: Would he be in shape or would there be any rust? But, I do feel comfortable saying that Maryland will be fighting an uphill battle on the boards tonight.
Maryland committed 13 first-half turnovers and trailed by that margin at one point, but pulled within 41-35 with a late surge thanks largely to Trimble and Sulaimon. Forward Brice Johnson (13 points, 10.3 rebounds) has been a force inside, collecting five double-doubles in six games, and frontcourt mate Kennedy Meeks (14.3 points, 7.5 rebounds) is off to a solid start. “At the end of the day, I mean, it’d be hard to say I tuned [the crowd noise] out, because there’s 20-plus thousand people, but I tried my best to try and invest all my energy into my team”. If Jake Layman has more rebounds than shot attempts, the Terps should be in good shape.
Two top-10 teams delivered a top-10 game with Melo Trimble and Marcus Paige exchanging 3-pointers throughout the second half.
After North Carolina finally pulled away in the final five minutes, Paige went to the foul line to try to close things out.
UNC coach Roy Williams said on Monday that Paige would start tonight, likely alongside Berry.
In that respect, Maryland was not alone Tuesday night.
Since then, Carolina has won 11 straight games, reaching their largest win total since 1997, and has clinched a berth into the ACC Championship Game against undefeated Clemson. They were also 19-for-27 from the free-throw line.
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In the second half, the Terrapins came back to tie it up at 67 a piece, but Maryland was never able to take a lead outright and couldn’t quite overcome the Tar Heels when it came down to the last few minutes of the game. Their last game was a 80-63 win over Cleveland State where they came out sluggish and let the underdog hang around in the first half.
