Men's College Basketball | Boston College shocks N. Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Tyrese Rice came through with another big game against North Carolina, one that ended all the talk of a perfect season for the top-ranked Tar Heels.

Rice scored 25 points and Rakim Sanders had 22 to help Boston College stun North Carolina 85-78 on Sunday, likely ending the Tar Heels' run atop the early season polls with a surprisingly one-sided road victory.

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.

Reggie Jackson had 17 points — including seven in the decisive second-half run — for the Eagles (13-2), who led by six points at halftime and pushed the lead to as many as 15 before holding off a frantic rally in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

It started with Rice, who scored 46 points in last year's late-season meeting and was again a matchup problem at the point for North Carolina (13-1) all game. But the Eagles had a lot more, namely a physical defense and an unwavering focus that kept them from getting too caught up in the moment as they inched closer to an upset that few could have imagined.

This was, after all, a team picked in the preseason to finish 11th in the 12-team ACC. And the Tar Heels were the unanimous No. 1 team in the national poll with five starters back from a Final Four squad that won a school-record 36 games, a team that heard questions as recently as Friday on whether it could go unbeaten this year.

So much for all of that.

"We just met the challenge," Rice said. "I felt like they hadn't been challenged all year. Every team that they've played against, they just walked right through them. You look at people playing defense against them, they stay back, people drive and they're standing straight up and not trying to contest shots. I can't watch a tape if everybody's playing like that.

"We wanted to challenge them to see if they could step up and play as hard as we were going to play."

North Carolina had been every bit as dominant as predicted so far, winning its first 13 games by an average of 26 points. Its closest game was 15 points.

Other Top 25 game

At No. 5 Duke 69,

Virginia Tech 44

Kyle Singler scored 19 points and keyed the decisive run that carried Duke past Virginia Tech (9-5).

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

Pac-10 games

At Oregon State 62,

USC 58 (OT)

In the end, Oregon State fans were chanting "Just like football" as they celebrated another big win against USC.

This past fall, the Oregon State football team defeated then-No. 1 USC 27-21 across the street at Reser Stadium. Oregon State (6-6, 1-1 Pac-10) erased a 15-point second-half deficit to beat the Trojans (10-4, 1-1) in overtime. The win snapped Oregon State's 23-game Pac-10 Conference losing streak.

No. 12 UCLA 83, at Oregon 74

Josh Shipp scored 17 points to help the Bruins (12-2, 2-0) stifle Oregon (6-8, 0-2), which was led by Tajuan Porter's 24 points.

At California 81,

No. 17 Arizona State 71

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 (13-2, 2-0).

James Harden had 26 points and eight rebounds for ASU (12-2, 1-1).

At Stanford 76, Arizona 60

Landry Fields matched his career best with 19 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds as Stanford (11-1, 1-1) beat Arizona (9-5, 0-2).

Other games

E. Wash. 87, at Sacr. St. 74

Reserve guard Benny Valentine scored 33 points for the Eagles (8-7, 2-1 Big Sky) over Sacramento State.

At Louisville 74, Kentucky 71

Edgar Sosa's 25-footer with 2.8 seconds remaining gave the Cardinals (9-3) a win over Kentucky (11-4).

Rainier Beach High product Terrence Williams had 19 points and eight rebounds for Louisville.