TOO MUCH TAR HEEL

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – When North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller missed a shot inside the paint last night against the Terrapin men's basketball team, teammate John Henson swooped in and grabbed the rebound. Then he missed, too.

A comical sequence of rebound after rebound promptly ensued on a seemingly endless loop for the Tar Heels, who continued to leap over the Terps as if they weren't even there. Four missed shots later, a Tar Heel bucket extended an early lead to 10 points and left a nearby coach Gary Williams furious.

With each successive offensive rebound they gave up, the Terps' hopes of pulling off a much-needed upset on the road faded further and further away. Using its impressive length, No. 19 North Carolina steamrolled the Terps, 87-76, leaving their visitors' postseason aspirations in even more perilous standing.

Despite a furious late rally, the Terps (18-11, 7-7 ACC) couldn't quite come back from a 15-point deficit with less than five minutes to play in Dean Smith Center.

"If you want to win, those things can't happen," Williams said. "We knew coming in we really had to work hard, especially in the rebounding area, not just because of their size but also because how they attack the glass. We weren't able to get done what we did last game."

Barnes started the game quickly for North Carolina (22-6, 12-2), hitting three 3-pointers over a shorter Sean Mosley for an early 11-5 lead before he handed off the scoring load to Zeller.

The 7-footer carved up the Terps' defense for 14 first-half points and picked up key fouls on Terp forwards Dino Gregory and Jordan Williams.

But even when Zeller or Barnes missed, other Tar Heels found openings down low. Henson, whom Gary Williams called the best shot blocker in the country, finished with 12 first-half rebounds and five blocks.

"Once you get behind like that, it's really hard to burn that much energy to keep the game within striking distance and make a comeback," Gary Williams said. "I thought we did a pretty good job in the second half, but when you go down 12 in the first half to a good team, it's not going to be easy."

Circumstances off the court weren't any more fortuitous. Jordan Williams, who finished with a career-high 19 rebounds, battled a stomach sickness the entire game. He said he'd slept only two hours the previous night but tried to fight through it against the Tar Heels.

"I was just trying to push through it," Williams said. "It was tough not getting the win but being sick made it even worse. It was definitely tough."

He didn't get much help. Gregory, who had shown a hot hand of late, finished with just four points and four rebounds.

Still, the Terps kept fighting behind the scoring of standout guard Terrell Stoglin. The freshman, who had poured in 17 points or more in his previous three games, finished with a career-high 28 last night.

He shot 0-for-3 from behind the arc but was able to hit several jumpers in the second half to keep the score respectable late.

"They were just really big, so it was hard," Stoglin said. "I had to shoot floaters. We had to keep moving the ball to get buckets."

Even as the Terps relied heavily on Stoglin and Williams to help keep up with the fast-paced Tar Heels, they didn't have enough to counter North Carolina's talented lineup. Barnes finished with 21 points, Zeller had 25 and even guard Leslie McDonald added 15, his most since early December.

"We just weren't very good at running our offense early," Gary Williams said. "We didn't execute."

With just two games remaining, the Terps find themselves in an increasingly difficult predicament. A win against the Tar Heels, ranked No. 11 in the RPI, would have given the Terps' resumé a much-needed boost as they seek an NCAA Tournament berth.

Their loss, though, may have made that dream as hard to reach as a rebound last night.

"I feel good about my guys," said Gary Williams, whose Terps next face Miami, "but whether that's true or not, we'll find out Wednesday night."

ceckard@umdbk.com