UNC hands No. 1 Michigan State its first loss

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Early in the week, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo talked about the inconsistency in college basketball.

Imagine how he would feel to be North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

Odds are, he would be in a pretty good mood considering the Tar Heels handed top-ranked Michigan State its first loss of the season Wednesday, a 79-65 decision in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

This was a North Carolina team coming off a loss on Sunday to UAB and had also lost at home to Belmont. But in between, it beat Louisville, which was ranked No. 3 at the time and then controlled Michigan State for virtually the entire game on Wednesday.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," Williams said when trying to explain his team's up-and-down play. "We are about 179 degrees from where we were at UAB. ... But we were really good tonight and that's exactly how I feel. We were active, decisive on the offensive end and active on the boards."

Five players scored in double figures and the Tar Heels dominated on the glass, winning the rebounding edge 49-38 and scoring 44 points in the paint to 28 for the Spartans.

Forward Kennedy Meeks scored 15 to lead North Carolina (5-2) while forward Brice Johnson scored 14. Guards Marcus Paige and Nate Britt scored 13 and forward J.P. Tokot scored 12.

The Spartans (7-1) dropped their first game of the season and lost to the Tar Heels for the seventh straight time. Forward Adreian Payne scored 16 and guard Keith Appling added 13, but Appling was injured late in the first half and Payne battled cramps all night.

Guard Gary Harris, who led all scorers with 17 points, was just 5-for-15 from the field as he battled a bad ankle and the Spartans had few answers for the Tar Heels.

"This was probably one of the more disappointing performances of my career here, to be honest with you," Izzo said. "From the opening jump they took it to us. I've mentioned that we haven't been practicing real well and that led to us not playing very well. I can't think of a time I've been more disappointed in maybe myself and my job. We looked like a softer team and that solely falls on me."

Fresh off the loss to UAB, Williams said he worked his team hard on Monday and showed them game film of UAB through Tuesday night. At that point, he told his team the focus was Michigan State, and by Wednesday morning, game prep began.

That prep showed early as the Tar Heels came out firing on all cylinders, dominating the Spartans on the glass and taking a 20-6 lead nearly 10 minutes into the opening half. Forward James Michael McAdoo led a balanced attack, hitting a pair of baseline jumpers that pushed North Carolina's lead to 30-19 with a little more than six minutes to play in the half.

That's when Michigan State started to come to life and closed the half on a 13-2 run to knot the score at 32 at the break. Appling went out at the 6:02 mark when he fell hard under the basket, but that's when the Spartans made their run. Payne scored seven straight Michigan State points and when he nailed a 3-pointer with 1:38 to play, the score was tied. Appling returned with a minute left, but his final shot at the buzzer didn't fall.

But Williams used the same tactic he did when North Carolina was tied at halftime with Louisville.

"That's a really gifted team and we were fortunate tonight," Williams said. "We made some shots we haven't been making in the first half and that gave us some confidence. I told them the same thing I did against Louisville, we were tied at the half and didn't play great. We could play a lot better in the second half."

They did just that, shooting nearly 52 percent from the field as Meeks scored 14 of his 15 in the second half and Paige and Johnson dropped in 11 each.

And in the process, the Tar Heels -- for now, at least -- put the memory of the UAB loss behind them.

"UAB wanted it more than we did," Williams said, "and today Michigan State did not want it more than we did."

NOTES: Michigan State sophomore G Gary Harris was in the starting lineup after missing the Spartans' game against Mount St. Mary's on Friday because of a sore right ankle. ... Sophomore C Matt Costello has the flu and did not start for Michigan State. Foul trouble forced him into the game in the first half, however, as his replacement, Alex Gauna, was whistled twice in the opening minutes. ... North Carolina coach Roy Williams entered the game a perfect 6-0 against Michigan State while coaching the Tar Heels. His only loss against Michigan State came as coach at Kansas. ... North Carolina defeated the No. 1-ranked team in the Associated Press poll for the 13th time, the most of any program.