Rice (46 points) lights up No. 3 Tar Heels, but upset falls short

BOSTON -- Tyrese Rice scored 34 points in the first half and had the first 2 baskets of the second half to give Boston College an 18-point lead over No. 3 North Carolina.

To finish off the Tar Heels, though, he would need more help.

Rice finished with 46 points, but Tyler Hansbrough had 25 along with some teammates to share the scoring Saturday as North Carolina came back to beat the Eagles 90-80.

"You just can't ask one person to score all your points for you," BC coach Al Skinner said.

And North Carolina didn't have to.

Wayne Ellington had 18 of his 20 points in the second half, and Danny Green scored 18 to help the Tar Heels (27-2, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) win their sixth straight. Hansbrough did not score during an 11-minute span when North Carolina scored 32 of 40 points to turn a 17-point deficit into a 76-69 lead.

"I was just mad at what they were doing defensively," said Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who had all five starters on the bench for a spell so he could express his displeasure. "Basically, if I'm going to get my tail kicked, I'm going to get 100 percent effort and we weren't getting that.

"(But) I really did believe we had a chance to win the game."

Boston College (13-14, 4-10) was hoping to be the third team to upset a top-3 opponent in the last eight days. Instead of a victory, it got one of the school's all-time top performances.

Rice's 46 points were the most for a BC player in more than 40 years, and second in school history to the 49 scored by John Austin in 1964. He received a standing ovation after he was taken out of the game in the final minute.

"I don't know if I've seen many exhibitions more than what I just saw," Williams said. "I will say that's about as impressive as anything I've ever seen."

The No. 2 scorer in the ACC, Rice said he was not especially eager to put up big numbers against Hansbrough, who leads the conference.

"Whether I score 40 points or four points, I just want to get a win," Rice said. "He's definitely going to win ACC player of the year -- he might get national player of the year. I'm not trying to compete with that; I'm just trying to get wins."

He didn't accomplish that, but he did surpass his career highs of 32 points and six 3-pointers by halftime, making 8 of 9 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes. He started the second half with a steal and fast-break layup, then he hit the next basket to make it 58-40.

"I was waiting for him to miss a shot and he never did. He was single-handedly killing our team," said Tar Heels guard Marcus Ginyard, who had a little chat with Rice on the court. "I told him to slow down, relax a little. He said, 'We're trying to save our season. You all got nothing to lose; we've got to get after it.' "