Michigan State Win Ends Tar Heel Streak

A Final Four team from a season ago, eighth-ranked Michigan State wasn’t about to be intimidated playing second-ranked North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C.

“This is as good a place as I’ve ever played in,” Coach Tom Izzo said Wednesday night after Michigan State defeated the Tar Heels, 86-76, to hand North Carolina its first loss in a home opener in 71 years. “One advantage of playing in the Big Ten is we play in some tough arenas. We try to play with some toughness. I always say that good players don’t win games, tough players win games.”

Morris Peterson made 12 of 18 shots and scored a career-high 31 points as the Spartans (4-1) stopped North Carolina’s 55-game nonconference home winning streak.

“We got a chance to show the country we could come down here and beat one of the best teams in the country,” said Peterson, who also had five of Michigan State’s 15 steals.

The Tar Heels, unbeaten after three impressive victories in the Maui Invitational, last lost a home opener in 1928 to South Carolina. They were defeated for only the sixth time in 90 such openers in Chapel Hill.

“The best team won and by far the best-coached team won,” said North Carolina Coach Bill Guthridge, whose club was outrebounded, 43-28, and made only 33% of its shots in the second half.

“Coach Izzo had his team very well prepared and Coach Guthridge didn’t have his team very well prepared. We were outplayed and out-coached. I thought they were tremendous.”

No. 4 Arizona 86, Brigham Young 62--Rick Anderson scored 10 of his career-high 16 points in a crucial stretch of the second half as the Wildcats (5-0) ran away from the Cougars (2-1) at Tucson.

Michael Wright had 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the Preseason NIT champions end BYU’s shot at its first 3-0 start in eight years.

The victory was No. 400 for Coach Lute Olson at Arizona. He is 400-120 early in his 17th season.

Mekeli Wesley had 24 points and 10 rebounds for BYU, which was averaging 91.5 points after routs of UC Riverside and Southern Utah. Terrell Lyday scored 18 points.

No. 7 Auburn 65, Belmont 56--Mack McGadney had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers (3-1) overcame poor foul shooting to defeat the Bruins (3-2) at Auburn, Ala., for their 19th consecutive home victory.

No. 18 Tennessee 78, Miami of Ohio 59--Vincent Yarbrough scored 19 points to help the Volunteers (5-0) rout the RedHawks (1-2) at Knoxville, Tenn.

North Carolina State 61, No. 19 Purdue 59--Justin Gainey’s three-point basket with 15.2 seconds to play capped a rally from a 13-point deficit and lifted the Wolfpack (4-0) over the Boilermakers (2-2) at West Lafayette, Ind.

The loss was the first at home in a nonconference game for Purdue since Nov. 30, 1996.

Weber State 84, No. 20 Utah 72--Eddie Gill scored a career-high 25 points and Harold “the Show” Arceneaux, scoreless in the first half, added 15 as the Wildcats (3-1) defeated the Utes (2-2) at Ogden, Utah, to extend their home winning streak to 26 games.

No. 21 Oklahoma State 68, Wichita State 56--Alex Webber had 20 points, and the Cowboys (5-0) scored the final 15 points in rallying to beat the Shockers (2-1) at Stillwater, Okla.

No. 22 DePaul 104, Chicago State 57--Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons and Kerry Hartfield each scored 17 points as the Blue Demons (4-1) routed the Cougars (1-3) at Chicago.

No. 25 Gonzaga 71, Boise State 55--Axel Dench scored 12 of his 15 points in an early second-half run as the Bulldogs (4-0) turned a one-point halftime deficit into a 16-point lead and rolled over the Broncos (2-2) at Spokane, Wash.

Oregon State 66, Idaho 49--Deaundra Tanner and Josh Steinthal each scored 14 points to lead the Beavers (4-1) over the Vandals (1-4) at Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon State scored the first 18 points, holding Idaho scoreless for nearly nine minutes.

Arizona State 72, Colorado State 57--Eddie House scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the Sun Devils (3-2) rolled over the Rams (1-3) at Tempe, Ariz.