BLACKSBURG, Va. - N.C. State offensive coordinator Dana Bible did not make the trip to Virginia Tech for today's 3:30 p.m. game, school sports information director Annabelle Myers said this afternoon.

Bible is undergoing medical tests of an undisclosed nature, Myers said. Running backs coach Jason Swepson will move from his usual position on the field up to the coaches' box and call plays for the Wolfpack.

While Friday’s 87-71 loss to Syracuse was both staggering and humiliating for North Carolina’s basketball team, the experience should provide the Tar Heels with a valuable measuring stick.

For an inexperienced, still-uncomfortable team, which Carolina is, Syracuse amounted to the perfect early-season storm.

MIAMI - Duke leads Miami 16-13 at the end of the third quarter at Land Shark Stadium.

THIRD QUARTER

The Hurricanes pulled to within three points with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

A 12-play, 54-yard drive ended with a made field goal by kicker Matt Bosher. The Hurricanes moved the chains but were ineffective in the redzone.

Both teams relied on the place kickers in this one.

Duke junior kicker Will Snyderwine made his third field goal to cap a 10-play, 60-yard, 3:55 drive with 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

@ Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Helped by two pass interference calls on UNC's Charles Brown, Boston
College has cut UNC's lead to 21-13 with 1:13 left in the first half.
BC quarterback Dave Shinskie found Rich Gunnell -- who also caught
passes of 27 and 16 yards on the drive -- for a 2-yard touchdown.

earlier...

With about 3:30 left in the second quarter, UNC opted to go for it
on a 4th-and-12, rather than let Casey Barth try a 45-yard field goal.
Bad idea. T.J. Yates threw his second interception, picked off by BC’s
Marcellus Bowman – and wasted UNC safety Deunta Williams’ pick (BC’s
third turnover of the game).

UNC still leads 21-6.

earlier...

Carolina’s offense has now turned
the ball over twice, but its defense has held Boston College to two
field goals. On the first play of the second quarter, UNC QB T.J. Yates
rolled right, tried to throw on the run across his body, and Eagles
defensive end Austin Giles tipped it into the air and grabbed the first
interception of his career. BC converted a 20-yard field goal to cut
UNC’s lead to 21-6.

earlier...

NEW YORK -- A couple of quick notes after UNC's 87-71 loss to Syracuse in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic:

* With about 16 minutes left, UNC senior Marcus Ginyard drove to the basket, collided with  forward Arinze Onuaku, fell to the floor, and was slow to get up. He returned to the game, and had an ice pack on his side afterwards.

“Two-sixty met 210,’’ Ginyard explained. “I just got big-boyed.”

* Ginyard made the all-tournament team, along with Syracuse’s Andy Rautins, Ohio State’s Evan Turner and California’s Jerome Radle. Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson was named the tournament MVP.
 

NEW YORK -- After beating Ohio State on Thursday night, North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he believed his Tar Heels could be a very good basketball team -- he just wanted to come sooner than it was.

Judging by the sixth-ranked UNC's 87-71 loss to Syracuse in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic on Friday, it's going to take a while longer.

The sixth-ranked Tar Heels (4-1) tried to fight back 20-point second half deficit at Madison Square Garden, but lacked the firepower and poise to take it all the way.

It marked UNC's first loss of the season, and it will have to adjust fast: three of its next six opponents are ranked in the Associated Press top 25.

Carolina led 39-37 at halftime. But Syracuse opened the second half with a 22-1 run that gave it a 59-40 lead. UNC sophomore Tyler Zeller buried his team's first field goal of the half - on a short jumper - with 12:02 left before Syracuse' Kris Joseph gave his team it's biggest lead of the game, 62-42, on a 3-pointer.

UNC didn't fold. It countered with a 18-6 run - including six points by senior Marcus Ginyard, four from freshman Travis Wear, and a 3-pointer by David Wear -- to cut the Orange's advantage to a manageable 68-60 with about seven minutes left.

But Syracuse immediately came back with a 13-2 run of it's own. The chants of "Over-rated!" began with about three minutes left.

And it was hard to blame the crowd.

Ed Davis and Ginyard led the Tar Heels with 15 points apiece, but the Tar Heels shot 38.1  percent while allowing five Syracuse players to finish in double figures.

The match-up marked the first time UNC had played the Orange since Nov., 1987 - and the first time UNC coach Roy Williams had matched up with Syracuse coach (and friend) Jim Boeheim since the Orange beat Williams' Kansas team in the national title game in 2003.

Syracuse, unranked in the Associated Press poll but looking like it deserves to be, opened the game with an 11-2 run, but the Tar Heels used two 3-pointers from junior Will Graves and seven points from Davis to counter with a 13-1 run to take a 15-12 lead.

But Wes Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State and the Orange's leading scorer, scored 10 points in a row for his team to give it back a 22-20 lead.

The Tar Heels trailed, again, by as much as 31-22 when Scoop Jardine buried a jumper. But Carolina ended the half with a 17-6 run - culminating with an alley-oop layup from Larry Drew II to Davis.

North Carolina will be packing its bags the week before Thanksgiving next season, too. The Tar Heels will be one of eight teams participating in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off; they will play Nov. 18, 19 and 21. They will be joined by Davidson, Hofstra, Minnesota, Nebraska,, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, and Western Kentucky. Tickets will go on sale next summer. 

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- Say what you want about N.C. State's prospects for the long haul, but the Wolfpack hasn't missed a beat yet.

In what may have been one of the best halves by an N.C. State team in recent memory, the Wolfpack hit 10 of its first 14 shots on its way to a 22-point halftime lead and 66-45 win over Akron, the defending MAC champions and an NCAA Tournament team last year.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said his team didn't get very good
leadership during its lackadaisical victory over Valparaiso last
Sunday. Obviously, that stuck in senior Marcus Ginyard's craw - and he
stuck it to No. 15 Ohio State.

Led by Ginyard's defense, determination and timely buckets, the
sixth-ranked Tar Heels (4-0) survived a late-game surge by the
Buckeyes, 77-73 Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in their first
real test of the season.

N.C. State reserve wide receiver Steven Howard is out for the final two games of the season with a knee injury according to the injury report the school released Thursday evening.

Howard made 13 catches for 186 yards this season as a sophomore.