ON THEIR HEELS: Terps vs. No. 3 UNC

Dating back to the start of the 2006-07 men's college basketball season, the North Carolina Tar Heels have won a whopping 86 games, the second most in that time span.

In those roughly two and a half seasons, 46 different schools have bit the dust, courtesy of the Tar Heel blue. All of North Carolina's ACC opponents have succumbed at least once to Roy Williams' bunch during that time. Except for one team.

"I've been here for three years, and we haven't lost to North Carolina yet," forward Landon Milbourne said with a slight smirk.

When asked about Milbourne's remark, coach Gary Williams paused for a second and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't even think about that," said the coach who himself often endulges the media with various facts and figures about his Terps' historical standings within the ACC and nation.

Indeed, the Tar Heels are 0-2 versus the Terps since the junior, Milbourne, arrived at the university. Tonight, the Tar Heels will have another chance to beat the Terps at the Dean Smith Center, the setting of the Terps' improbable 82-80 stunner of then-No. 1 North Carolina last year.

This year, the No. 3 Tar Heels are the overwhelming favorites again. But the Terps, coming off a much-needed win against Miami, embody a team with great confidence heading into Chapel Hill, N.C.

"Sometimes teams go in there - if you're not ranked and [they are] - you might come in there and think, 'We're the underdog, and we have to do certain things differently,'" Milbourne said. "Coach tells us all the time, we don't have to change that much about our game. We just have to play hard. When we play hard, we're pretty tough to beat. If we come out with the intensity we came out with the other night, I think it will be a pretty good game for us."

The Tar Heels reached the Final Four last season, where they were defeated by eventual champion Kansas, and returned the top six scorers on their roster (though senior Marcus Ginyard has been limited to three games due to a foot injury and won't be available tonight).

While not much has changed for the Tar Heels, the Terps lost two senior big men from last year - Bambale Osby and James Gist - who where the driving forces behind the team's unexpected victory last season.

They combined for 34 points, with Osby scoring the game winner while limiting National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough to just 17. The Terps' lone senior this year is amped to play the same role.

"If you can't get excited to play down in the Dean Dome against Carolina … I don't know what's going to get you excited," forward Dave Neal said. "Here's my chance to play against a three-time college All-American. We'll see what I can do. Just gonna play my game, use my strength, use my intelligence and try to shut him down."

Last time the Terps hit the road, they were just 10 miles northeast of Chapel Hill, playing at Duke. The Terps, who have yet to win on an opponent's home court, need this road show to be miles better than the last, when they lost by 41 points to the Blue Devils.

But with Williams' previous squads - including last year's - pulling off fine road wins in the past, the Terps are still confident they can get the job done away from Comcast Center.

"The way you approach it is: This is a very good team, you admit to yourself that you're playing a very good team, and you know you have to play well," Williams said. "You depend on the fact that you can execute well enough to beat good teams. That's how we've gone in there; that's how we've gone other places and won big road games."

Neal, the only current Terp to have lost to North Carolina, added: "We've got nothing to lose. [If] we go down there, play hard and win, people are going to be shocked. If we lose, people are gonna be like, 'Well, Carolina's [third] in the country.'"

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