North Carolina landed some tough news tonight, finding out that both Marcus Ginyard and Will Graves will miss the remainder of the season to injury and suspension, respectively.
And while the news might have dampened spirits after the game, you couldn't really tell throughout a 108-91 beatdown that saw the Tar Heels hit 16 three pointers -- seven from Wayne Ellington -- as they inspired an already exuberant Dean Dome crowd that showed up to see whether or not the Tar Heels could break a losing streak against a Maryland team that was suddenly slightly arrogant for no apparent reason.
So the question with the loss of Ginyard now becomes, "Can Carolina play defense?" They seem content, based on tonight's game, to just answer it by scoring even more.
Maryland played well, shooting 48% from the field, but Ellington's outside shooting and the Tar Heels' transition game was just too much for the Terps to handle.
Ty Lawson and Danny Green each added four three pointers and Tyler Hansbrough chipped in with one as well as he scored 24 points; the fact, though, that these four players counted for all 16 of those three pointers and all but 13 of the team's total points score has to be slightly terrifying.
Graves' absence and Ginyard's injury mean increased minutes for Carolina's stars, and might seriously challenge the Tar Heel's depth.
As for Maryland, well, again, they played well, and a few times seemed poised to make a run that could actually cut the lead down to less than 10. But there's definitely something that can be said about not running your mouth before heading into someone else's house. Especially when "someone else" is a "top five nationally ranked team."
North Carolina Shoots Down Terps originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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