North Carolina Still Can’t Be Stopped, 96-75

A season ago at this time, North Carolina’s proud program was reeling, off to the worst Atlantic Coast Conference in school history.

One year later, the same cast of characters is beginning to rewrite history.

Vince Carter scored 22 points and Antawn Jamison had 20 as No. 1 North Carolina put on an offensive clinic Thursday night at Chapel Hill, N.C., rolling past Georgia Tech, 96-75, for its 16th consecutive victory.

Jamison said he’ll never forget the shame he felt on campus after last year’s school-worst 0-3 start.

“Mentally, that is always going to be in the back of our heads,” Jamison said. “I think that’s really good. It is helping us out a whole lot. It’s making us more hungry, especially in ACC play.”

The Tar Heels, 16-0 overall and 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, have won 32 of their last 33. That’s the best 33-game stretch for North Carolina since the mid-1950s.

“That’s one of the best Carolina teams I’ve seen, they’re great,” said Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins, who has coached 37 games against the Tar Heels. “They’re awesome.”

Georgia Tech (10-4, 0-2) shot 27.9% in the opening 20 minutes and trailed, 53-33, at halftime.

No. 5 Arizona 94, Washington State 81--Miles Simon scored 17 of his 21 points with free throws as Arizona broke the Pacific 10 game open in the final minutes at Spokane, Wash.

Simon made eight free throws in the final 2:32 and was 14 of 14 in the second half as the Wildcats (12-3, 3-0) defeated the Cougars (7-6, 0-2) for the 25th straight time.

Washington State, playing its second game since losing leading scorer Rodrigo de la Fuente for the season, trailed, 66-61 with 8:30 to go. But the Cougars were outscored 28-20 in the final minutes, including 15-5 on free throws.

Illinois 76, No. 11 Iowa 64--Jerry Hester scored 20 points and made four of Illinois’ 11 three-point baskets in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.

Hester made three shots from behind the three-point arc during an 18-4 second-half run that gave Illinois (10-5, 2-0) a 14-point lead and control of the game.

The Illini also frustrated Iowa (13-2, 2-1) defensively, keeping the Hawkeyes from scoring in transition and making things difficult in the half-court with a sticky man-to-man.

Iowa, which had won seven straight, was averaging 88 points and had been held below 70 only twice. The Hawkeyes shot a season-low 36.2%.

Wake Forest 70, No. 24 Clemson 66--Tony Rutland redeemed himself after losing his starting job by scoring nine of Wake Forest’s last 17 points in an ACC game at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Rutland, benched after scoring a combined 11 points in the previous two games, finished with 12 points as Wake Forest (8-4, 1-1) defeated Clemson for the eighth consecutive time at home.

Clemson’s Tony Christie matched his career high with 15 points, including 12 in the first 11 minutes. The Tigers (10-5, 1-2) also got 13 from Terrell McIntyre and 10 from Greg Buckner, who spent much of the game in foul trouble.

OTHER GAMES

Todd MacCulloch had 30 points and a career-high 21 rebounds to lead Washington (9-2, 2-0) to a 92-70 victory over Arizona State (11-5, 1-2) in a Pac-10 game at Seattle. . . . Jeron Roberts scored 23 points and Wyoming (11-2, 1-0) shut down Texas-El Paso (9-3, 0-1) in a 65-46 Western Athletic Conference victory at Laramie, Wyo. . . . Forward Kevin Rice scored 21 points, 17 in the second half, to lead Utah State (10-4, 1-0) to a 70-62 come-from-behind victory over Pacific (8-7, 0-1) in a Big West Conference game at Logan, Utah. . . . Malcolm Johnson scored a career-high 38 points to lead Texas Christian (12-4, 1-0) to a 91-76 Big West victory over Fresno State (6-7, 0-1) at Fort Worth, Texas. . . . Jimmie Floyd scored 18 points and to lead Southern Mississippi (12-2, 1-0) to a 63-43 victory over Houston (7-6, 0-2) in a Conference USA game at Hattiesburg, Miss. . . . Melvin Levett scored 16 points, all in the first half, and Cincinnati (10-2, 2-0) held on despite a sluggish second half to beat Memphis (6-4, 2-1), 61-54, in a Conference USA game at Cincinnati. . . . Cameron Murray scored five points off two straight steals during a 16-1 run, sparking Louisville (7-7, 1-1) to a 73-57 victory over DePaul (3-10, 0-2) in a Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky. . . . Mateen Cleaves scored 11 of his 14 points during a 23-9 spurt at the start of the second half to lead Michigan State (9-3, 2-0) to a 63-40 Big Ten victory over Wisconsin (8-7, 1-2) at East Lansing, Mich. . . . Senior guard Roberto Bergersen scored 28 points to lead Boise State (9-5, 1-0) to a 90-73 victory over Cal Poly SLO (7-6, 0-1) in a Big West Conference game at Boise, Idaho.