COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Two-Game Losing Streak for Tar Heels

North Carolina went from second in the nation to second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in an evening, which is not all that unusual this season.

The Tar Heels have gone from first in the country to something less in a night three times since December.

The last time was on Saturday, when they lost to Georgia Tech.

Clemson gave North Carolina something it seldom sees, a losing streak, beating the No. 2 Tar Heels, 77-69, behind the three-point shooting of Jeff Brown at Clemson.

Brown sank five from long range and finished with 17 points.

North Carolina (20-5, 8-4) trails Duke in the ACC.

“This puts a damper on our hopes for the regular-season ACC title, but everything else is still available to us,” Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith said. “Now, we’ve got to worry about Virginia.”

North Carolina is home on Saturday against Virginia, which beat the Tar Heels at Charlottesville earlier this season.

Clemson (13-11, 4-7) led all but the first 55 seconds of the second half, outshooting the Tar Heels 44%-30%.

N.C. Charlotte 64, No. 5 Louisville 62--Freshman Shanderic Downs scored a career-high 14 points as North Carolina-Charlotte pulled off the biggest home upset in school history.

The 49ers (13-8, 6-3 Metro Conference) had lost five of eight coming into the game, but slowed Louisville’s up-tempo game and won without making a field goal in the final five minutes.

Louisville (20-3, 9-2) saw its 10-game winning streak snapped.

The Cardinals could have tied the score with three seconds left, but Clifford Rozier--who shoots 57% from the free-throw line--missed his first attempt and Louisville committed a lane violation on the second attempt to turn the ball over.

Notre Dame 68, No. 22 Marquette 58--Monty Williams scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half as the Irish overcame a horrid first half of shooting to win at Milwaukee.

Ryan Hoover added 20 points, 14 in the second half, as Notre Dame (10-14) won for the fifth time in six games.

Jim McIlvaine’s 13 points led Marquette, which fell to 17-7 with its second consecutive home loss. The Warriors lost to Cincinnati in double overtime Sunday.

Marquette was only four of 10 at the free throw line.

OTHER GAMES Orlando Williams scored 25 points and Oregon (7-13, 3-8) ended a 27-game Pacific-10 Conference road losing streak over three seasons with an 86-71 victory over Washington (4-17, 2-10). . . . Eddie Hill scored 22 points to lead Washington State (16-8, 6-6) to a 101-64 rout of Oregon State (6-14, 2-9) at Pullman, Wash.