CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Moments before tip-off last night, North Carolina star forward John Henson broke down dancing to House of Pain’s “Jump Around” near the bench and student section inside the Dean Dome.

In the days before, students across the Chapel Hill campus had told North Carolina coach Roy Williams, “Good luck Saturday,” with no real regard or care for what team was up next.

This, it seemed, was just how little an overmatched Terrapins men’s basketball team mattered to a sixth-ranked, ACC-leading Tar Heels team set to face Duke in a few days’ time.

By game’s end, not much had changed, with the Terps offering nothing more than a small bump on North Carolina’s road to a winner-take-all rematch against the Blue Devils. Henson and senior center Tyler Zeller powered the Tar Heels to a dominating 88-64 win against the Terps (16-13, 6-9 ACC) on Senior Night.

It was sealed midway through the second half, when the Tar Heels (26-4, 13-2) ripped off 14 straight points in a 21-1 run that saw the Terps’ deficit run to a season-worst 31 points. During that stretch, the team committed turnovers on four straight possessions, and Turgeon picked up his third technical foul of the season.

The Terps never come closer than 18 points the rest of the game.

“I felt really good about the way we started the second half,” Turgeon said. “Our spacing was better, we were getting really good looks, and then the bottom just fell out. We started fouling them, they kept getting to the line, and we lose confidence pretty quickly.”

The Terps dealt with foul trouble throughout the second half as forward Ashton Pankey and centers Berend Weijs and Alex Len all picked up four fouls by the 11:08 mark of the second half. Pankey fouled out with 10:23 left and Len exited with five fouls less than three minutes later.

The four had a load of trouble trying to contain Zeller. The senior center went 20-for-23 from the free-throw line, the most ever attempted in the Dean Dome and two more than the entire Terps team (21).

“I’ve never seen a big man shoot that many free throws in my life,” Padgett said. “He did a great job establishing position and drawing contact.”

Said Turgeon: “It’s hard to do things with my team this year. I’ll leave it at that. It’s hard. Then we start playing soft because guys aren’t trying to foul and then they wind up fouling.”

Zeller finished with 30 points and eight rebounds, while Henson added 19 points and nine rebounds.

Along with the Tar Heels’ frontcourt play, turnovers killed the Terps’ chances of an upset. They had 11 by halftime, and their total of 17 was their highest in ACC play this season. While guard Nick Faust led the team in scoring with a career-high 17 points, the absence of former starting point guard Pe’Shon Howard (knee) was apparent.

The Tar Heels, who finished with 18 assists, had 21 points off the Terps’ turnovers.

“We’re just not the same team without him and it’s pretty obvious,” Turgeon said of Howard. “I thought Nick was good, [but] he turned it over too much. He turned it over three straight times right after the technical. It went from [a] 12[-point deficit] to 23 quick and it was over.”

The Terps couldn’t take advantage of a North Carolina starting lineup featuring three walk-ons, and they quickly trailed 16-4 after missing 10 of their first 12 shots and committing four turnovers. Led by Zeller’s 15 points and five rebounds, North Carolina took a 36-25 lead into halftime. Henson added 10 points and four rebounds as the Tar Heels had their way in the pain.

The Terps came within 36-30 less than a minute into the second half, but any hopes faded as Zeller and Henson continued their dominance in the paint.

Guard Terrell Stoglin finished with 16 points on 18 shots, while Padgett had his second career double-double (13 points and 13 rebounds). Mosley struggled all night, hitting just one of his nine shots as he played through an ankle injury suffered on a block in the first half. Turgeon said he’ll rest the guard and hope he returns in time for Sunday’s game against Virginia.

“A lot of people are upset, a lot of people are disappointed,” Padgett said. “We just have to move on, we have a home game on Sunday to satisfy our home game and our fans. This is the past. We all wanted this game and it was a great opportunity, but unfortunately we didn’t get it.”

The Terps will need to win against the Cavaliers and have Clemson lose twice to move up to the seventh seed in the ACC Tournament. If not, they can drop no lower than eighth. They have now dropped three of their past four games and seven of their past eight road contests.

“It’s been very difficult,” Faust said of the team’s struggles to end the year. “You just have to keep your head and keep pushing.”

ceckard@umdbk.com