Haynie: Terps Done In By Turnovers Against Tar Heels
The Maryland Terrapins and North Carolina Tar Heels played an high-quality college basketball game on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor as they combined to score 170 points.
In the end, it was the ninth-ranked Tar Heels who outlasted the second-ranked Terps 89-81 at the Dean Dome. UNC was buoyed by the return of All-American guard Marcus Paige who dropped 20 on Maryland in his first game back from a broken bone in his right (non-shooting) hand.
Maryland's Melo Trimble tried to answer Paige as he pumped in 23 points himself to go along with a career-high 12 assists. Trimble also turned the ball over eights times as the Terps committed 22 turnovers as a team.
The turnover advantage for North Carolina was one of the big factors in the outcome of the game. The Tar Heels scored 23 points off the Maryland turnovers compared to the 15 the Terps scored off the 15 UNC miscues.
North Carolina shot the ball at a 53.2 percent clip including a sizzling 69.2 percent from 3-point range. Maryland wasn't too shabby themselves as they hit 50.8 percent of their shots and were 46.2 from beyond the arc. The Heels were 14-25 from the free-throw line while the Terps went 9-11.
Maryland's high-percentage shooting probably kept them from getting blown out on a night in which they didn't take care of the ball. To their credit, they fought all night long.
Senior forward Jake Layman had a quiet night for Maryland in his return to Chapel Hill. Although Layman did grab eight rebounds, he only scored four points and had three turnovers. If the Terps are going to reach their full potential, they are going to need more from Layman in primetime settings.
Overall, the Tar Heels and Terps put on a fun show. A rematch would not be a bad thing to see sometime in late March.