news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina ran into a wall Sunday, and Boston College ran through one. On the first day of the conference season, UNC fell hard against BC, losing 85-78 to fall into an ignominious tie for last in the ACC.

A game that looked lost almost from the outset played out along fault lines that had occurred to almost no one before nightfall of Carolina's first league game. The upstart Eagles, still thinking back to a disastrous loss to UNC a year ago, simply spread the floor against the Heels and ripped out Carolina's heart.

It looked easy at times as BC senior point guard Tyrese Rice broke down UNC junior point guard Ty Lawson, and the Boston College wings took turns breaking down Wayne Ellington to lead by as many as 15 points in the second half.

Roy Williams blamed himself for not having his team ready to play a physical game, but the blame could've been spread evenly across UNC's thin defense.

Marcus Ginyard could yet be the key to everything. If he doesn't return to form soon, and Williams said he is beginning to get concerned about his ailing swingman, Carolina's dream season could be in jeopardy before the end of January. And with undefeated Wake Forest waiting for a Sunday showdown in Winston-Salem, the Heels could be in big trouble before the end of the week.

Williams seemed worried about a lot more by the end of the day. He said this was not just one of those days.

"I think you could take that, but it would be a cop-out," he said. "I've got to do a better job, and the kids have to do a better job. It didn't feel like a good day, but I'm not one to think it's just in the cards."

He pointed out plays here and there, plays still stuck in his craw in the heated moments after the game. He admitted his team wasn't physical enough, agreed that shooting 29 percent in the second half wasn't very good, lamented the missed free throws and the offensive rebounds by BC and the defensive breakdowns that allowed the Eagles to score uncontested layups and jump shots and putbacks.

But he seemed genuinely jolted by the loss to a team UNC had beaten twice a year ago, a team that hadn't beaten UNC since the 2006 ACC tournament in Greensboro.

"I don't think anybody's out-physicalled us, and I don't even know if that's a word, until today in the first half," Williams said. "To give up 13 offensive rebounds against a team that was trying to run the clock against you, that means you're playing defense even longer."

That meant BC was imposing its will on the previously unbeaten and top-ranked Tar Heels, frustrating the Carolina inside players and exposing the Carolina outside players. Without their defensive specialist in the starting lineup, the Heels are not the best team in the state, much less the league or the nation.

And the thing that became apparent as the game went on was that BC is pretty good. Rice is the first-team All-ACC point guard, not Lawson. And as exciting as Ellington is on offense, he was broken down easily by BC's other guard, sophomore Rakim Sanders. With super freshman guard Reggie Jackson coming into his own before our eyes Sunday, BC emerged as a dangerous force in the ACC, a ball-control team with the fastest backcourt in the league.

At least for a day, it appeared BC was better than last year, better than they were expected to be this year, and dare we say it, better than Carolina. That seemed a ludicrous idea before midway through the first half of the Heels' first ACC game when North Carolina blew an eight-point lead, then watched BC break down the Heels man by man, Tyler Hansbrough included, and sprinted away to the most shocking win of the season.

Al Skinner, the BC coach, bristled at the suggestion that it was a big win for his program.

"For the program, it's one league win," he said. "I think our program has done OK. It's not like we haven't had any success in the past. This is a league win. This is league play. We've got 15 more games to go."

He said his team played the way it wanted to play, not the way North Carolina wanted to play. He said his team played BC basketball -- spread the floor, run the clock and let Rice rip into the middle of whatever defense happens to be on the floor of whatever game they happen to be playing.

"We played Sacred Heart last week, and we played them the same way," he said.

BC first played in the league tournament in 2006, and he was asked the same things that day in Greensboro when it appeared the Eagles had indeed arrived. They hadn't until now, no matter what Skinner said and no matter what anyone thought coming in.

Boston College ran North Carolina into a wall, and North Carolina fell Sunday. Now we'll all sit back and watch what happens next.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com