Eagles snap Heels' streak

CHAPEL HILL -- It's one thing to lose a basketball game because you didn't shoot particularly well -- or to have a 13-game winning streak snapped because you couldn't score enough points off turnovers -- or to have a shot at an undefeated season end because you missed out on grabbing a rebound or two.

But it's another thing to be beaten -- as top-ranked North Carolina was by Boston College, 85-78 on Sunday -- because, according to several Tar Heels players, "we just weren't physical enough."

"It hurts," junior wing guard Wayne Ellington said. "It hurts a lot, especially from an upperclassmen viewpoint where we've been here before and we know what it takes, and we know how tough we need to play when the league comes around."

The Eagles, picked to finish 11th in the league's preseason poll, boxed out, shot through and slowed down UNC's dominant reputation because they were simply more aggressive from the outset at the Smith Center.

BC grabbed 13 of its 16 offensive rebounds in the first half, frustrated point guard Ty Lawson into his most mediocre game of the season (10 points, four assists, four turnovers) and built a lead that was too much for the Tar Heels to overcome even when they did find their physicality, and comeback mojo, in the closing minutes.

"I don't think anybody's really out-physicalled us -- and I don't know if that's even a word -- until today in the first half," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "But I thought we were just standing, and they were going after it."

Such as the time (or three) that BC grabbed three offensive rebounds before scoring. Or when the Eagles forced a jump ball with UNC forward Deon Thompson on the sideline because, as Williams put it, "you won't be aggressive and rip the ball through and to get the guy off of you."

Added Williams: "We didn't do a very good job of attacking. We've got to be more physical, we've got to be tougher mentally and physically and all those things."

North Carolina (13-1, 0-1 ACC) trailed at halftime for the first time this season, 46-40, after the Eagles (13-2, 1-0) outscored the Tar Heels 21-9 over the final 6:07 of the opening half.

Tyler Hansbrough (21 points, nine rebounds) helped UNC cut the deficit to 58-56 in the opening minutes of the second half, only to have BC unleash a 16-4 run during which Reggie Jackson scored nine points to make it 74-60 with 9:24 remaining.

"There's no question that we kind of kept it at our pace, at least as far as I'm concerned. On the offensive end [we] did what we wanted to do," BC coach Al Skinner said.

Trailing 78-63 with 6:07 remaining, UNC tried to regain its aggressiveness, forcing turnovers and grabbing rebounds to feed a 15-4 run that cut the deficit to 82-78 with 47 seconds left. But Eagles point guard Tyrese Rice (25 points, eight assists), who anchored his team all night, hit two free throws with 27.7 seconds left. UNC's Ellington and Danny Green each missed 3-point tries before Rice buried another free throw to seal it.

UNC shot 29.3 percent in the second half and 38.4 percent for the game. Its five points off turnovers were a season low.

"I do believe that Tyler is one of the more physical players, and I think our guys can be, and they were [during] the last five or six minutes," Williams said. "But you can't spot a good team with a ball-control guard [Rice] that kind of lead and expect them to roll over and play dead for you."

Ellington said his team knew -- or should have known -- that the competition would ramp up against ACC foes. But he also said the team "got comfortable" after beating its first 13 opponents, including two ranked teams, by an average of 26.4 points.

"It's a wake-up call," he said. "We take that hit on the chin, and you learn from it and grow from it and bounce back."