Looks Like a Tar Heel Toehold on No. 1

Two days removed from beating No. 2-ranked Duke, North Carolina Coach Matt Doherty was concerned about a letdown Saturday against Georgia Tech.

It wasn’t even close.

The No. 4 Tar Heels eased Doherty’s concerns with a 23-0 run in the first half that proved decisive in an 82-69 victory over Georgia Tech at Chapel Hill, N.C.

With the victory, North Carolina--19-2 overall and a winner of 16 in a row--staked a claim to the No. 1 ranking as the only team in the top four not to lose this week.

Third-ranked Kansas lost to Missouri on Monday, the Tar Heels beat Duke, 85-83, on Thursday and UCLA knocked off No. 1 Stanford, 79-73, earlier Saturday.

Stanford’s loss went on the scoreboard with about 16 minutes left in the game, sending fans in the Smith Center into a chant of “We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1!”

“We heard it over the [loudspeaker], but Coach Doherty was yelling at us to not look at the scoreboard,” said center Brendan Haywood, who blocked five shots. “We knew what was at stake.”

North Carolina also improved to 9-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time since 1986-87. It is the Tar Heels’ best conference streak since winning all 14 games in 1986-87 and their first two of the 1987-88 season.

“It wasn’t an easy day to play on the heels of our game Thursday,” Doherty said. “I was worried about our emotional state and our concentration. I knew we’d want to have a good effort, but there’s sometimes a difference between wanting to have a good effort and actually playing with a good effort.”

North Carolina got off to a slow start, missing five of its first six shots in falling behind 11-3. The Tar Heels then had its decisive run.

Joseph Forte started it with a running shot at 13:52 and Adam Boone ended it with two free throws with 7:14 left. Forte scored seven of his game-high 23 points during the run.

“That run was obviously a back-breaker,” Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt said. “I was just hoping we would get a basket.”

Georgia Tech (12-8, 4-5) went seven minutes without scoring a basket until Tony Akins made a three-point shot with 6:44 left. The Yellow Jackets made only 13 of 36 shots in trailing 44-29 at halftime.

Georgia Tech used full-court pressure to go on an 11-2 run and pull within 70-62 with 4:34 left, but got no closer.

North Carolina held Georgia Tech to 35% shooting for the game, marking the eighth time in 10 games a Tar Heels opponent shot less than 40% percent. The Yellow Jackets were five for 23 on three-point shots.

Georgia Tech center Alvin Jones, who averaged 20.5 points in his previous five games, had 16 points, making only five of 15 shots and committing four turnovers. He had a game-high 18 rebounds, the most by an ACC player this season.

Lending support to Forte, three other North Carolina players scored in double figures--Kris Lang with 15, Julius Peppers with 14 and Jason Capel with 11.

No. 6 Illinois 84, Northwestern 59--The Big Ten-leading Illini (17-5, 7-2, coming off a loss to Penn State, made a season-high 12 three-point shots in 22 attempts against the Wildcats (8-14, 0-9) at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois reserve guard Sean Harrington made four of five three-point shots, including two that completed a 20-0 first-half run.

No. 8 Tennessee 72, Vanderbilt 50--The Volunteers (18-4, 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference) scored the game’s first 15 points at Knoxville, Tenn., then overcome the loss of point guard Tony Harris to a wrist injury to win for the first time in three games.

Jon Higgins, Tennessee’s best defender, took over for Harris and had 10 points and seven assists.

Vanderbilt (14-7, 4-5) had no double-figure scorers.

No. 10 Wisconsin 60, Michigan 41--Kirk Penney, averaging 9.4 points a game, overcame a poor start to score 23 and lead the Badgers (14-5, 5-3 in the Big Ten) past the Wolverines (9-11, 3-6) at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Penney missed six of his first seven shots but scored 13 points during a 23-5 Wisconsin run early in the second half.

No. 11 Virginia 82, No. 16 Wake Forest 71--Donald Hand had 21 points and Adam Hall had 17 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers (16-4, 5-4) past the Demon Deacons (15-6, 4-5) at Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia had climbed to No. 8 nationally with a 10-0 start before a 96-73 loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 2. The Demon Deacons have lost six of nine improving to 12-0 in that game--going 0-6 on the road.

No. 12 Syracuse 54, North Carolina State 53--The Orangemen (18-3) shot 29% in the first half and trailed by 11 points with 5:26 left at Raleigh, N.C., but went on a 16-4 closing run.

Syracuse was 17 for 50 from the field before making six of eight shots down the stretch.

Preston Shumpert led Syracuse with 25 points and Damone Brown got the game-deciding layup with 17.6 seconds.

North Carolina (10-10) is 0-6 against ranked teams this season.

No. 13 Florida 82, No. 25 Georgia 71--The Gators (15-4, 5-3 in the SEC) made 15 of their final 18 shots in the first half at Athens, Ga., in gaining consecutive victories over ranked opponents for the first time since 1974.

Florida beat No. 8 Tennessee Tuesday and led by as many as 16 points against Georgia (13-9, 6-3). The Bulldogs defeated Tennessee last Saturday to move into first place in the SEC Eastern Division and the national rankings, but has lost its last two games, both at home.

Brett Nelson, the SEC’s leading scorer, led Florida with 18 points.

No. 14 Georgetown 94, West Virginia 77--Demetrius Hunter and Mike Sweetney both had career-high point totals for the Hoyas (18-3, 5-3 in the Big East) in their victory over the Mountaineers (12-7, 3-5) at Washington.

Hunter scored all of his 19 points in the first half and Sweetney had seven of his 20 points in a decisive 14-2 run in the second half. Victor Samnick had 10 of his season-high 14 points in the first half.

No. 15 Iowa State 84, Kansas State 78--The Cyclones (19-3, 7-2 in the Big 12) used a one-sided advantage in free throws to beat the Wildcats (8-11, 2-6) at Ames, Iowa, and set up a battle for the conference lead against Kansas on Monday night.

Iowa State made 19 more free throws (30-11) and had 30 more attempts (42-12) than Kansas State. The Cyclones’ Jamaal Tinsley made 11 of 14 free throws in scoring a career-high 26 points.

Kansas State’s Larry Reid had 30 points, making seven of nine three-point shots.

No. 17 Alabama 76, Louisiana State 66--Rod Grizzard scored 18 of his 25 points and made all eight of his free throws in the second half as the Crimson Tide (17-4, 6-3 in the SEC) pulled away from the Tigers (11-8, 1-7) late at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The game had 25 ties and lead changes. Alabama was down by eight with seven minutes left but LSU didn’t get a field goal in the final 4:30.

No. 19 Fresno State 86, San Jose State 75--Chris Jefferies scored 23 points to lead the Bulldogs (18-3, 7-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) past the Spartans (10-10, 2-7) at San Jose.

Fresno State had a winning streak ended at 13 games by Hawaii in Honolulu Thursday night--a 91-73 loss that was its worst in two years.

Darnell Williams had 17 points and 11 rebounds for San Jose, which had lost 11 of its last 12 to Fresno State.

No. 23 Notre Dame 75, Pittsburgh 67--Troy Murphy and David Graves each scored 24 points at Pittsburgh as the Irish (14-5, 5-2 in the Big East) extended its winning streak to five games. Murphy has scored in double figures in 70 consecutive games, while the point total was a season high for Graves.

Ricardo Greer, the leading scorer for Pittsburgh (12-8, 4-5) at 16.3 points per game, played only 16 minutes because of back spasms and had nine points.

No. 24 Oklahoma 72, Texas A&M; 63--The Sooners (17-4, 6-3 in the Big 12) made all 16 of their free throws in the second half at College Station, Texas, to extended their win streak to five.

Oklahoma had four double-figure scorers, led by Aaron McGhee at 22 points. Texas A&M; (6-15, 0-9) got 18 points from Bernard King.