Heels Lose Focus At Maryland

I must admit that when Carolina was up on Maryland by 12 with just over seven minutes to play, I turned to "60 Minutes." It's a good thing I kept checking back in on the game. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed an 89-87 Maryland win.

Was it a great comeback by Maryland or a collapse by Carolina? I'd say a little of both.

"We could have given up. We're not going to give up," said Terps senior D.J. Strawberry who scored a career-high 27 points."We're going to keep fighting. I wanted to win so bad."

On this night, the Terps wanted to win more than Carolina. In sole possession of first place in the ACC and thinking that's where they'd stay, Carolina had this game in their grasp, but Maryland kept after them and as the Comcast Center began to warm to what was happening, the Heels began to wilt, little-by-little.

Up 77-65 and in control with just over seven to play, UNC let a streak shooter like Mike Jones go off. Jones is one of those guys who can be as hot as July afternoon or as cold as a bitter February night.

A streak shooter when he's on is as deadly as a rattler and everybody in the league knows that if Jones hits a few, you better get on him. Carolina couldn't. He scored 9 of his 18 points in a 16-3 Maryland run that wiped out the UNC lead and left the Tar Heels dazed and frustrated and wondering why the heck they lost a game they knew they should have won.

"This is very frustrating," says Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, who bullied his way to 22 points. "We can't crumble whenever the game gets tight. We have to get tough."

Getting tough is what Roy Williams is all about and he cringes when he sees that Maryland won the rebounding battle 46-33, including 16 offensive rebounds.

"They went after the basketball harder than we did," Williams said.

It cuts to Williams' very soul when he has to admit that his team didn't defend like he wanted it to, when his team is not the one quickest to the ball.

He's not pleased when he sees that Carolina shot just eight of 17 from the free throw line and was just 3-10 in the second half. For all his strong points, freshman sensation Brandan Wright doesn't shoot free throws well and with 3.5 seconds left, he had the chance to tie it up, but he couldn't get it done.

On this snowy night in College Park, Carolina felt that cold sweat of lost poise. That terrible feeling of having lost control.

"We lost focus. We didn't convert the way we should have down the stretch," UNC sophomore Marcus Ginyard said. "We had another breakdown. We keep fighting, hitting the same wall. It's making me a little nervous, honestly."

Carolina has the best talent in the ACC, but their anointment as king is anything but certain. With just a week left in the regular season, they're in a real fight to win the conference championship. The Tar Heels are left with a 10-4 record which is the same as Virginia Tech and Virginia.

There are two tough games to be played -- at Georgia Tech Thursday then at home with Duke on Sunday.

For all its woes on the road, Tech is a different team in Atlanta and when Duke comes in, you think you know but you never do.

Carolina is young and talented. Sometimes, talent will hide flaws and gives that false sense of security. Other times, it doesn't. It didn't on Sunday night.