Top-ranked Heels stumble vs. B.C.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Tyrese Rice and Boston College put an end to all that talk of whether No. 1 North Carolina could go unbeaten.

Rice scored 25 points in his second straight big game against the Tar Heels to help the Eagles stun North Carolina 85-78 on Sunday, likely ending its run atop the early season polls.

Rakim Sanders added 22 points for the Eagles (13-2, 1-0), who led by six points at halftime and pushed the lead to as many as 14 before holding off a frantic rally from the Tar Heels (13-1, 0-1) in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Tyler Hansbrough scored 21 points to lead North Carolina, which shot 29 percent from the field in the second half and was just 15-for-27 at the foul line for the game.

North Carolina had won its first 13 games by an average of 26 points, with the closest margin being 15 points. But on this day, the Tar Heels looked out of sync against the Eagles’ physical defense and had no answers for Rice, who burned them for 46 points last season.

In that game, North Carolina rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit for a 90-80 victory as Rice was the only BC player to reach double figures.

Rice again caused North Carolina plenty of trouble, though this time he had early help from Sanders along with a key contribution from Reggie Jackson (17 points) in the decisive run. There would be no blown lead this time, either, just the sight of the BC bench spilling onto the court in celebration as the horn sounded.

Sanders scored 18 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer right in front of the North Carolina bench just before the horn that gave the Eagles a 46-40 lead. Then, after North Carolina closed the gap to two points four times, they answered with a spurt that had the Tar Heels chasing them the rest of the game.

Michigan 74, Illinois 64

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan made its case for staying in The Associated Press’ Top 25.

Manny Harris had 16 points and four teammates also scored in double figures for the 23rd-ranked Wolverines in a 74-64 victory over Illinois on Sunday that ended the Illini’s seven-game winning streak.

Michigan (11-3, 1-1 Big Ten) needed a victory to give it a chance to stay in the poll after losing to Wisconsin by 12 points this week in the conference opener.

Reserve Calvin Brock led Illinois with 13 points and Alex Legion, who verbally committed in high school to play for Michigan, was booed early and often as he scored 10.

The Fighting Illini (13-2, 1-1) had a road win over No. 9 Purdue on Tuesday and a victory against then-No. 25 Missouri on a neutral court in their streak.

Illinois missed some open shots in the closing minutes and the Wolverines made enough free throws to turn the closely contested game into a double-digit victory.

Michigan was so balanced on offense that it almost had six double-figure scorers for the first time in six years.

Louisville 74, Kentucky 71

The much-maligned Louisville point guard hit a 30-footer with 2.8 seconds remaining to give the 18th-ranked Cardinals a victory over archrival Kentucky .

Sosa finished with 18 points, Terrence Williams had 19 points and eight rebounds and Jerry Smith scored 11 points for Louisville (9-3), which escaped a major meltdown in the final seconds to beat the Wildcats at Freedom Hall for the first time since 2002.

Jodie Meeks led Kentucky (11-4) with 28 points and Patrick Patterson had 22 points and 15 rebounds.

The Wildcats put together a brilliant rally to tie the game at 71 on two free throws by Meeks with 23 seconds left.

Sosa, whose erratic play led Pitino to bench him earlier in the season, held the ball until 6 seconds remained, took two dribbles and hit the shot from well above the head of the key over Michael Porter.

Sosa’s heroics hardly seemed necessary after the junior gave Louisville a 71-64 lead with two free throws with 51 seconds left.

UCLA 83, Oregon 74

EUGENE, Ore. — Darren Collison scored 22 points and No. 12 UCLA held off Oregon’s second-half rally for a victory.

Josh Shipp added a season-high 17 points for the Bruins (12-2, 2-0 Pac-10), connecting on 5-of-6 3-pointers.

Tajuan Porter scored 24 points for the Ducks (6-8, 0-2), including 15 in the second half as Oregon pulled within three points after trailing 40-29 at halftime.

But Collison and Shipp helped UCLA keep its lead. Collison went 3-for-6 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free throw line in the second half.

Duke 69, Virginia Tech 44

DURHAM, N.C. — Kyle Singler scored 19 points and keyed the decisive run that carried No. 5 Duke past Virginia Tech.

Gerald Henderson added 15 points, Nolan Smith had 13 and Jon Scheyer finished with 11 for the Blue Devils (12-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).

They held the Hokies to 13 points in the second half and outscored them 30-9 over the final 17 minutes of the game.

Malcolm Delaney scored 12 points to lead Virginia Tech (9-5, 0-1). Leading scorer A.D. Vassallo was held to seven points — 12 below his average — and didn’t score on 0-of-2 shooting in the second half.

The Hokies shot 36.7 percent and committed 18 turnovers. They were denied their second straight victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and their first win against a nationally ranked team since their overtime victory two years ago at then-No. 4 North Carolina.

California 81, Arizona St. 71

BERKELEY, Calif. — Jerome Randle converted a four-point play with 2:13 remaining, matched his career high with 26 points and had a career-best 10 assists to lead California to a victory over No. 17 Arizona State for a seventh straight win.