ATLANTA – Berend Weijs sat in the Philips Arena locker room, his eyes noticeably red. He wiped the last tears from his face with a towel draped around his neck as the realization of the season’s likely end set in.
Without a low-post presence to speak of or the scoring options to keep up with No. 1 seed North Carolina, the Terrapins men’s basketball team’s season was finished off in an 85-69 loss in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Friday.
Five Tar Heels (29-5) scored in double figures, and the Terps (17-15) never came closer than seven points in the second half. It was North Carolina’s third win of the season against the Terps.
“We obviously lost to a great team today that, to be quite honest with you, gets better each time we play them,” Turgeon said. “I was proud of our team. We competed. We tried hard. We really tried hard. I don’t think we ever quit.”
Guard Terrell Stoglin poured in 30 points on 21 shots, while guards Nick Faust and Sean Mosley also reached double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. But the fast-paced North Carolina offense rarely sputtered, and the eventual ACC Tournament runners-up never gave up the lead.
“We wanted to win. That was the key to everything,” Mosley said. “This loss hurts. It hurts us.”
An offensive foul by Faust with 4:21 left in the first half relegated the freshman to the bench and ended what little chance the Terps still had. In his absence, the team ended the half missing all five of its field goals, three of its four free throws and turning over possession two times. The Tar Heels took a 36-26 lead into halftime and quickly built on it after the break.
“We were right there and we didn’t finish the half,” Turgeon said. “You can’t have stretches like that against a good team.”
North Carolina guard Reggie Bullock started the second half with two 3-pointers, and forward James McAdoo found space on the baseline for a dunk as their lead ballooned to 18.
“I think there were opportunities there for us and we weren’t making them,” Padgett said. “Even if we had offensive rebounds, we just couldn’t make any shots.”
Faust hit a long jumper to cap a 6-1 run and four-point possession that drew the Terps to within nine, but Tar Heels guard P.J. Hariston hit a 3-pointer just six seconds later.
“It just takes one little turnover and they can hit a three, then you miss another shot and they hit another 3, and it goes from nine to 16,” Turgeon said. “You can’t stop it. You need like 19 timeouts to beat Carolina this year for our team. We don’t have 19 timeouts.”
The Terps again came within seven points of the Tar Heels after two field goals by forward Ashton Pankey. But a turnover by forward James Padgett quickly resulted in a layup by North Carolina guard Harrison Barnes.
The Tar Heels would score the next seven and cruise to the win. The Terps never came closer.
“I definitely feel we had the comeback coming,” Faust said. “We stayed close the whole game and we just were playing as hard as we can. Carolina’s just a talented team.”
The Terps proved unable to take advantage of first-team All-ACC forward John Henson’s absence from action. After the sophomore injured his left wrist early in the first half on a fall, Turgeon said he thought the Terps’ frontcourt would be able to score more without Henson’s length in the way.
But the first basket by a Terps frontcourt player didn’t come until the second half. Pankey, who finished with seven points and eight rebounds, was the only one of the four bigs to play (Padgett, Weijs and center Alex Len) who scored.
“Alex didn’t play very well. James was out of it all day,” Turgeon said. “Our [big] guys just weren’t very good.”
The loss wasn’t surprising. But to the Terps, Friday’s game was one last opportunity to make something of a season filled with frustration. They ultimately left Atlanta after a meaningless rout against a team seemingly headed for the postseason greatness they’re so far removed from.
“I just tip my hat off to all my teammates and my coaches for fighting each and every day in practice and going through the adversity we had to go through with [guard] Pe’Shon [Howard] being hurt at the beginning of the season and the middle of the season,” Mosley said after he removed his Terps uniform for the final time. “In the back of my mind, I always thought we could make some noise and make it to the tournament. It didn’t go that way for us this year.”
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