Feb 10, 2002

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By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - A week off worried Gary Williams. He let his third-ranked Maryland Terrapins know about it before meeting North Carolina.

"He told us North Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the country last year and they had a week off and they went to Clemson and lost," Terrapins guard Byron Mouton said following a 92-77 victory over the Tar Heels on Sunday night. "He wanted us to be mentally tough and not get into the same situation.

"We looked at it and said, `Yeah, we know it's the ACC and on any given night somebody can win,"' Mouton added. "We came out prepared to get the win."

Maryland wasn't particularly sharp a week before its Atlantic Coast Conference showdown with No. 1 Duke. Then again, the Terrapins were facing a North Carolina team they beat by 33 points a month ago.

Maryland matched its best overall and ACC starts in school history, getting 18 points from Juan Dixon in the 15-point victory despite shooting just 46 percent against the worst defensive team in the ACC.

"In some areas we were rusty, but we'll just have to get back to practice and tighten things up," said Lonny Baxter, who had 16 points as did Mouton.

The Terrapins (19-3, 9-1) registered their 19th win after 22 games for the sixth time in school history. The most recent was in 1999.

The only other time Maryland won nine of its first 10 league games was 22 seasons ago.

"The reason we're so successful right now is we're more mature and we've got guys from last year who knows what it takes," Mouton said. "After the loss against Duke we didn't get down because we knew we were going to play them again back home."

The victory kept Maryland one-half game behind Duke for first place in the ACC race. The teams, each with one conference loss, meet next Sunday in College Park, Md.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels (6-15, 2-9) matched the school record for losses in a season. It happened twice in the early 1950s.

North Carolina also set a record for ACC losses in what has been a disastrous second season for coach Matt Doherty's inexperienced team. The program's previous worst ACC season was 6-8 in Dean Smith's third season in 1963-64.

Kris Lang led North Carolina with 23 points, while Jawad Williams, a freshman who has shown steady improvement, had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

"Our effort was good," Doherty said. "I thought the fans' support was fantastic and we're going to keep knocking on the door and hopefully we'll get a win here soon.

"Maryland is a well-oiled machine," added Doherty, whose team has lost 10 of 11 overall and eight games in the Smith Center. "They've got experience, they've got talent and they've got good coaching."

North Carolina surrendered a school-record 112 points to Maryland on Jan. 9, en route to the 33-point loss.

At least this time, the Tar Heels showed signs of life in the second half after going down by 17 at the break.

A 3-pointer by Brian Morrison pulled North Carolina to 58-44 with 15:05 left, but Dixon made two shots behind the arc over the next three minutes to push Maryland's lead to 19.

Chris Wilcox then put the margin over 20 a minute later with a slam dunk and two free throws as Jason Capel fouled out with 10:27 left and North Carolina was on its way to its eighth ACC loss by double digits.

"It shouldn't be hard to play a game," Gary Williams said. "We had some guys who carried practice into the game as far as intensity level and we had to get some guys up to play. That's not like our team. We're usually really ready to play. This is a good group of people."

With about a minute left and the game well in hand for Maryland, one North Carolina fan yelled at Williams: "Hey Gary, please beat Duke."

The Terrapins made 12 of their first 18 shots to go up by 14 points less than nine minutes in.

The biggest concern for Maryland in the first half was the health of Wilcox, who hit his head when he crashed to the hardwood after fouling Capel. The sophomore was on the floor for several minutes, but left under his own power and was back in the game minutes later.