“It was a lot of fun the first four or five minutes,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “But then it got a lot like work.”
It was the last time Maryland will come to Chapel Hill as a member of the ACC and with the Heels up late, the Carolina fans let them know about it with chants of A-C-C.
Despite double-digit leads for much of the game, UNC saw Maryland cut it to three in the first half before taking a 39-27 halftime lead and saw Maryland cut it to six in the second half before winning by 12.
Brice Johnson, off the bench, led the 11-2 late first half run with three buckets while Marcus Paige led the charge in the second half with 18 of his game-high 25 points.
Johnson had his best game in a long time, maybe all year, with an eight of eight performance for 19 points in 22 minutes of play.
An active James Michael McAdoo, along with a three by Leslie McDonald, highlighted the first couple of minutes as the Heels got out to a 12-0 lead and extended the margin to 19-3 after just five minutes.
The Terps went on a 16-3 run of their own to get back in the game. The Heels led by 13 early in the second half before Maryland went on a 14-8 run to get back in it again.
“They kept coming at us but we kept answering,” Coach Williams said, adding that his players are much more confident than they were a few games ago.
“They’ve bought into the sense of urgency issue that we’ve been preaching all year long,” he added.
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