UNC 85, Maryland 83
This one ended up being a lot closer than I would have liked. In fact, Maryland came all the way back from a 10 point deficit to go up by 1 with 1:33 left to go. Needless to say, I couldn't sit down for the rest of the game. Chris McCray had a career high 25 points and didn't seem to miss anything he put up behind the 3-point line (he went 5 of 6). Mike Jones also got extremely hot and made 4 of 5 behind the arc.
After Maryland went up by 1, Jawad capped his huge night with a clutch 3 pointer. It is almost as if he took it upon himself to step up offensively with McCants being out. Maryland marched down the court and tied it up. Then Felton scored a layup on a beautiful screen by Sean May. I'm sure ol Gary Williams wasn't happy about the uncontested layup. Now it was a 2 point UNC lead with less than 20 seconds to go and Maryland with the ball. Maryland made a good attempt, but Mike Jones found himself with the ball as the clock wound down and didn't have time to pass. So he put it and Sean May came over to SWAT it. It was beauty in motion. The ball came down as the time expired. Close call, but UNC pulled it out.
May continued his recent streak of All-American performances with a double-double (22 points, 11 boards). Felton also had a double-double (10 points, 10 assists). Jawad was the savior offensively tonight with 21 points. Defensively, David Noel had a standup game. He ended with 12 points, 4 of those coming off dunks from steals. He even went 2 of 3 from the 3 point line. Marvin Williams had a subpar game scoring only 5 points in 19 minutes of play. Melvin Scott wasn't able to duplicate his previous outing, airballing one 3 point attempt and ending with a whopping 3 points.
