1986 Maryland at North Carolina Men's Basketball

Dean Smith Center

Chapel Hill, NC

February 20, 1986

Maryland at North Carolina

Maryland was 15-10 (2-7 ACC) and North Carolina was 25-2 (9-1 ACC) coming into this game. The Tarheels were the number one team in the country. This was Maryland's first visit to the Smith Center which opened on Jan 18, 1986. The Tarheels had yet to lose a game in their new arena going into this game.

North Carolina scored the first basket of the first half half but it was very competitive right up to the first television time out. The score was tied at that point 13-13 and Len Bias had scored 9 of Maryland's points. It stayed competitive until Maryland took the lead 19-17. At that point the Tarheels went on a run and scored the next 10 points to take an 8 point lead. They kept the lead for the rest of the half and were up by 11, 37-26 but Maryland scored the last 6 points of the half to cut the lead to 37-32.

It really felt like North Carolina was in control for the most part in the first half. The Tarheels attempted 11 more field goals than the Terrapins. What kept Maryland in the game up to this point was the free throws. The Terps made all 12 of their free throw attempts as compared to the Tarheels who only made 1 out of 3 attempts from the free throw line. Len Bias had 17 points at halftime.

North Carolina kept the lead early in the second half. Eight minutes into the half the score was 52-46. Maryland continued to hit all their shots from the free throw line. The Terps' 20th shot from the free throw line tied the game up at 52 but then the Heels went on a bit of a run and scored 6 unanswered points to take the lead at 58-52 with just under 9 minutes to go in the game. Over the next 5 minutes or so the Tarheels took control of the game as they outscored the Terps 10-7. North Carolina was up 68-59 at the last television time out.

Maryland was not ready to give up just yet. Len Bias scored with a field goal from way outside. He then stole the inbounds pass and scored another two with a reverse dunk. On Carolina's next possession they turned over the ball and Maryland scored again. Dean Smith called time out with the score now 68-65. Maryland called its final time out with 49 seconds left in the game and the score 69-67 in Carolina's favor.

North Carolina played for the final shot but one of the Terps fouled Kenny Anderson, an 82% free throw shooter, with less than 20 seconds to go in the game. Anderson wasn't shooting when he was fouled so it was a 1 and 1. He missed the first shot and Maryland grabbed the rebound. The Terps took the ball down and with two seconds left in the game tied it up at 69-69. North Carolina got the ball as mid court but was unable to get a shot off before the second half ended.

The Tarheels scored first in overtime on a free throw to take a one point lead. The Terps outscored the Heels 4-2 and had a one-point lead with under a minute to go. The Terps turned over the ball and the Tarheels brought it down with a 10 second difference between the shot clock and the game clock. The Tarheels took as much time as they could off the clock before attempting a shot. It was blocked by Len Bias. The Terps hit two free throws to take the lead 75-72. That was pretty much the end of the game. Maryland scored one more field goal on a trick play but that was it.

This was one hell of a game to watch, even if it was 34 years old. I never saw this one before. North Carolina took the lead early and it seemed like they were in control but the Terrapins never gave up, most notably Len Bias who scored 33.

The two teams met again in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Maryland won that one too, that time by 10 points in regulation. The Terps lost in the ACC semi-finals to Georgia Tech.