Boston College Upsets No. 1 North Carolina

ACC play has officially begun. In their first conference game of the season, the No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels were beaten by unranked Boston College, 85-78.

How the Eagles did it was pretty simple: BC was on fire from behind the arc and clamped down on the Heels defensively. The Eagles also fought on the offensive glass and kept UNC from getting into its deadly transition game. That fact caused the normally poised Tar Heels to take frustration shots and make frustration fouls, which fed the deficit.

This was the first time all season that the Tar Heels have been truly tested. In every other game, they went on huge runs to create distance from their opponents. Of course, those runs are fueled by creating turnovers and getting out on the break and Boston College simply wasn't allowing that. BC kept the Tar Heels in check with a 17-7 run in the middle of the second half and Carolina just couldn't complete the comeback.

The Eagles also weren't allowing Tyler Hansbrough or Deon Thompson to catch the ball on the block. Both were heavily defended in the paint and could only get the ball outside their comfort zone. Without the easy looks, the Tar Heels shot just 38 percent from the field tonight, a far cry from their sixth-ranked average of 51.1 percent. UNC also struggled from the line, missing 12 of its 27 attempts.

Boston College's Tyrese Rice had a big night with 25 points and eight assists. Unlike the two team's last meeting, Rice got some help on offense. Rakim Sanders added 22 points (most of it early on) and Reggie Jackson poured in 17 points. Don't sleep on Boston College; they now have won 10 straight and now have toppled what some felt was one of the greatest college basketball teams.

This obviously ends all that talk about an undefeated season for North Carolina and now shows the college basketball world that the championship is wide open. The Tar Heels figure to still be the team to beat, but Boston College just showed us how that can be done.