College Park, Md. ? Having grown weary of chasing No. 9 North Carolina up and down the court, Maryland knew it had to do something different in the second half.

So the Terrapins cranked up the defense Wednesday night and worked to keep a step ahead of the Tar Heels. The result: a gratifying 90-84 surprise victory for a young but determined squad.

Jamar Smith scored 22 points, John Gilchrist had 20 and Nik Caner-Medley added 17 for Maryland (10-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).

After yielding a season-high 49 points in the first half, Maryland put the clamps on a powerful offense that surpassed 100 points in each of its first two conference games.

“The first half we matched them basket for basket,” Smith said. “The coaches told us to keep playing our defense, and that’s what we did in the second half.”

In a dramatic reversal, the Tar Heels ended up chasing Smith. The center went to the foul line for 12 shots in the second half and scored 14 points.

May scored 18 points and Raymond Felton added 16 for the Tar Heels (10-3, 1-2), who have lost five straight regular-season games to Maryland.

“The bottom line is that Maryland made big-time plays down the stretch,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “They were very focused on getting the ball to Jamar Smith, and we didn’t do a good job covering him.”

No. 1 Connecticut 94, Georgetown 70

Storrs, Conn. — Emeka Okafor had 27 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks to lead Connecticut. Taliek Brown had 20 points, seven assists and a career-high three blocks for the Huskies (14-1, 2-0 Big East), who extended their winning streak to 11 games.

No. 10 Cincinnati 85, No. 21 Marquette 73

Milwaukee — Tony Bobbitt scored 18 points and Nick Williams added a season-high 16 as Cincinnati handed Marquette only its second loss in 40 home games. It was the first time the Bearcats (12-0, 3-0 Conference USA) played a ranked team this year and they scored 24 points off Marquette’s season-high 23 turnovers. Travis Diener scored 19 points and Steve Novak added 17 for Marquette (11-3, 2-1).

Purdue 53, No. 19 Wisconsin 51

West Lafayette, Ind. — Kenneth Lowe scored 13 points and held Devin Harris in check to lead Purdue as coach Gene Keady got his 500th career win with the Boilermakers (12-4, 2-1 Big Ten). Harris, who had 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting for Wisconsin (11-3, 2-1), had a three-pointer at the buzzer rattle off the rim.

Tennessee 76, No. 23 Vanderbilt 66

Knoxville, Tenn. — Brandon Crump and Scooter McFadgon each scored 20 points for Tennessee. Scott Hundley and Mario Moore each had 11 points for Vanderbilt (12-2, 1-2 SEC), which has lost two straight since having the school’s best start with 12 straight wins.

Northern Iowa 82, No. 24 Creighton 73

Cedar Falls, Iowa — Freshman Brooks McKowen made six of Northern Iowa’s 12 three-pointers in scoring a season-high 24 points.

Northwestern 70, No. 25 Illinois 60

Evanston, Ill. — Davor Duvancic scored a career-high 22 points to help Northwestern snap an eight-game losing streak to its in-state rival. Jitim Young had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Northwestern (7-7, 2-1 Big Ten).