College basketball

UNC washes away taste of tough loss

By wire services
Published February 14, 2005

HARTFORD, Conn. - Minutes after their latest win, the Tar Heels were still talking about their last loss.

Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton had big second halves Sunday to help No.2 North Carolina beat No.19 Connecticut 77-70.

That was the Tar Heels' first game since Wednesday night's 71-70 loss at No.7 Duke, which ended with North Carolina failing to get off a shot on its last possession.

"Needless to say we feel a heck of a lot better than we did Wednesday night," coach Roy Williams said. "I talked a great deal about getting that bad taste out of my mouth. We did some nice things today."

Like take over in the second half on both ends of the court.

McCants had 11 of his 15 points in the second half for North Carolina, and Felton had 14 of his 16 points and seven of his 10 assists.

The Tar Heels committed four turnovers in the second half while forcing the Huskies into 13 of their 22.

"We gave in to great defense. We came apart," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "We weren't mentally tough enough to stay in our offense and the turnovers led to fastbreak baskets."

McCants, Felton and Sean May, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds, made the difference. The juniors' performances enabled the Tar Heels to leave the court at the Hartford Civic Center with smiles instead of the stunned looks they wore after the last-play breakdown at Duke.

"It's big; it just shows how much more mature we are as a team, and it showed our poise," Felton said. "We just came off a loss. Everybody was still kind of upset about the situation, but we had to come out and play against a big-time team in a big-time place."

N.C. STATE 53, GA.TECH 51: Tony Bethel drove around Jarrett Jack for the winner with 9.8 seconds left for the visiting Wolfpack.

Jack hit a jumper near the free-throw line with 42 seconds left, tying it at 51. But the Georgia Tech guard slipped at the other end while guarding Bethel, who burst along the baseline for a layup.

C-USA

SO.MISS: Backup guard Sam Richardson left the team for undisclosed reasons, coach Larry Eustachy said.

Top 25

OREGON ST. 90, NO.11 WASH. 73: David Lucas scored 17 of his 23 in the second half and finished with 10 rebounds as the host Beavers snapped the Huskies' four-game winning streak. Oregon State (14-9), which took over late in the first half, has its most wins since the 1991-92 season.

Nation

PROVIDENCE 81, RUTGERS 64: Ryan Gomes scored 22 and Tuukka Kotti 17 on 8-of-9 shooting to lead the host Friars to their first Big East win of the season.

STANFORD: Guard Dan Grunfeld, the team's leading scorer with 17.9 points per game, will miss the rest of the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee.

Late Saturday

NO.24 PACIFIC 64, UTAH ST. 63: Christian Maraker's jump shot with 2.5 seconds left lifted the visiting Tigers, who rallied from a 58-52 deficit to win their 16th in a row, tying the second-longest streak in Division I.

[Last modified February 14, 2005, 01:20:17]