Tar Heels reeling

Wake Forest hands UNC another loss

No. 4 Wake Forest 92, No. 3 North Carolina 89

Winston-Salem, N.C. — Wake Forest spent the last few years trying to recreate the magic of Chris Paul. They’ve finally done it — by not trying so hard to become an exact copy of his final team.

Still, a few similarities can’t hurt — like having yet another high-scoring point guard.

Behind Jeff Teague’s career-high 34 points, the fourth-ranked Demon Deacons held on for a 92-89 triumph over No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday night that marked the first big victory of the season for coach Dino Gaudio’s young but talented team.

“I remember these last three years, we’d try to be like the Chris Paul team. You try to fulfill that role. … We had everybody trying to fulfill a role, but us as a team, we have our own identity,” said guard Harvey Hale, the team’s only senior on scholarship. “That’s why we’re good.”

Chas McFarland matched a season high with 20 points for the Demon Deacons (14-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).

Danny Green scored 22 points, and Wayne Ellington and Tyler Hansbrough added 17 apiece. Hansbrough’s came on 3-of-12 shooting, and he missed all five of his shots in the second half for the Tar Heels (14-2, 0-2).

In a span of eight days, the once-unanimous No. 1 team in the nation has lost two of three and shares last place in the ACC with Georgia Tech.

North Carolina has lost its first two league games for the first time since 1996-97, when it started 0-3.

No. 1 Pittsburgh 90, St. John’s 67

Pittsburgh — DeJuan Blair scored 23 points and cleaned up inside with 15 rebounds as Pittsburgh, playing its first game as the nation’s top-ranked basketball team, pulled away in the second half.

No. 10 UCLA 64, USC 60

Los Angeles — Darren Collison scored 18 points, and Nikola Dragovic added 14 in his first start of the season.

No. 14 Purdue 65, Wisconsin 52

West Lafayette, Ind. — JaJuan Johnson had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Robbie Hummel scored 16 in his return from a back injury, and Purdue beat Wisconsin.

No. 16 Xavier 86, Fordham 60

New York — B.J. Raymond scored 18 points to lead six Xavier players in double figures. It was the fourth straight victory for Xavier (13-2, 2-0 Atlantic 10).

No. 22 Minnesota 79, Penn State 59

Minneapolis — Reserve Devron Bostick scored 19 points to lead Minnesota, which made all nine of its three-point attempts in a victory over Penn State.