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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- A week off worried Gary Williams. He
let his third-ranked Maryland Terrapins know about it before
meeting North Carolina.
|  | | Maryland's Lonny Baxter gets past North Carolina's Brian Bersticker for two of his 16 points. |
"He told us North Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the country last
year and they had a week off and they went to Clemson and lost,"
Terrapins forward Byron Mouton said following a 92-77 victory over
the Tar Heels on Sunday night. "He wanted us to be mentally tough
and not get into the same situation.
"We looked at it and said, `Yeah, we know it's the ACC and on
any given night somebody can win,"' Mouton added. "We came out
prepared to get the win."
Maryland wasn't particularly sharp a week before its Atlantic
Coast Conference showdown with No. 1 Duke. Then again, the
Terrapins were facing a North Carolina team they beat by 33 points
a month ago.
Maryland matched its best overall and ACC starts in school
history, getting 18 points from Juan Dixon in the 15-point victory
despite shooting just 46 percent against the worst defensive team
in the ACC.
"In some areas we were rusty, but we'll just have to get back
to practice and tighten things up," said Lonny Baxter, who had 16
points as did Mouton.
The Terrapins (19-3, 9-1) registered their 19th victory after 22
games for the sixth time in school history. The most recent was in
1999.
The only other time Maryland won nine of its first 10 league
games was 22 seasons ago.
"The reason we're so successful right now is we're more mature
and we've got guys from last year who knows what it takes," Mouton
said. "After the loss against Duke we didn't get down because we
knew we were going to play them again back home."
The victory kept Maryland one-half game behind Duke for first
place in the ACC race. The teams, each with one conference loss,
meet next Sunday in College Park, Md.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels (6-15, 2-9) matched the school record
for defeats in a season. It happened twice in the early 1950s.
North Carolina also set a record for ACC defeats in what has been
a disastrous second season for coach Matt Doherty's inexperienced
team. The program's previous worst ACC season was 6-8 in Dean
Smith's third season in 1963-64.
Kris Lang led North Carolina with 23 points, while Jawad
Williams, a freshman who has shown steady improvement, had 21
points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
"Our effort was good," Doherty said. "I thought the fans'
support was fantastic and we're going to keep knocking on the door
and hopefully we'll get a win here soon.
"Maryland is a well-oiled machine," added Doherty, whose team
has lost 10 of 11 overall and eight games in the Smith Center.
"They've got experience, they've got talent and they've got good
coaching."
North Carolina surrendered a school-record 112 points to
Maryland on Jan. 9, en route to the 33-point loss.
At least this time, the Tar Heels showed signs of life in the
second half after going down by 17 at the break.
A 3-pointer by Brian Morrison pulled North Carolina to 58-44
with 15:05 left, but Dixon made two shots behind the arc over the
next 3½ minutes to push Maryland's lead to 19.
Chris Wilcox then put the margin over 20 a minute later with a
slam dunk and two free throws as Jason Capel fouled out with 10:27
left and North Carolina was on its way to its eighth ACC defeat by
double digits.
"It shouldn't be hard to play a game," Gary Williams said.
"We had some guys who carried practice into the game as far as
intensity level and we had to get some guys up to play. That's not
like our team. We're usually really ready to play. This is a good
group of people."
With about a minute left and the game well in hand for Maryland,
one North Carolina fan yelled at Williams: "Hey Gary, please beat
Duke."
The Terrapins made 12 of their first 18 shots to go up by 14
points less than nine minutes in.
The biggest concern for Maryland in the first half was the
health of Wilcox, who hit his head when he crashed to the hardwood
after fouling Capel. The sophomore was on the floor for several
minutes, but left under his own power and was back in the game
minutes later. | 
