University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Head to Maryland For Saturday Afternoon Contest
February 21, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2003
CHAPEL HILL - Carolina will play a crucial Atlantic Coast Conference road game when it faces defending NCAA champion Maryland on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Comcast Center. The game will be televised regionally by Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot.
Carolina (14-11, 4-7 ACC) is coming off a 93-57 non-conference win over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday night. UNC lost at Clemson 80-77 last Saturday but has won two of its last three ACC games.
The Tar Heels are tied with the Tigers for seventh place in the ACC at 4-7, a half-game behind Virginia and Georgia Tech and one game better than last-place Florida State. After Saturday's contest against the Terrapins, three of Carolina's four remaining ACC games will be played at home in the Smith Center.
No. 13/13 Maryland (16-7, 8-4 ACC) is coming off a 75-70 loss at Duke on Wednesday night.
Earlier this season in Chapel Hill, Maryland got 16 points and 10 rebounds from center Ryan Randle and 20 points from Drew Nicholas in an 81-66 Terrapin win on Jan. 22, 2003, in the Smith Center. The Terps led by as many as 17 points late in the first half before UNC fought back to pull within eight at the break. Carolina then scored the first eight points of the second half to pull within two at 41-39 before Maryland pulled away late.
Rashad McCants led all scorers with 26 points and had eight rebounds for Carolina. Jawad Williams had 18 points and seven boards for UNC, while Raymond Felton had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Maryland shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the contest while Carolina shot just 34.8 percent. The Terps out-rebounded the smaller Tar Heels, 45-35.
"They're big, athletic, skilled, experienced and very good," Carolina head coach Matt Doherty said Friday morning of Maryland's post players. "We can try to do a better job of boxing out and not letting them get the ball where they want to get it. We're going to stick with the same lineup we've started the last couple of games, and hopefully it'll pay off if their big men have to come out and guard us on the perimeter."
The Tar Heels lead the series with Maryland, 107-51. The Terps have beaten Carolina three times in a row, but UNC swept a pair of meetings from the Terrapins in 2000-01.
Carolina is 43-31 against Maryland in games played in College Park. Saturday's game will be UNC's first in the Comcast Center. The Tar Heels went 29-18 against Maryland in Cole Field House.
