Forget revenge or first place. The one thing that kept coming up after No. 3 Connecticut beat No. 2 Villanova was toughness.
After the Huskies' 89-75 victory Sunday left everybody in Gampel Pavilion drained whether they played or watched, coaches and players talked about the attitude and style that has become the trademark of the Big East.
"This was an advertisement for how hard the teams in this league play," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Increasing our toughness was one thing I thought we had to do. We knew we could score, but we had to show we could come up with that kind of game like we had other times this season."
And it wasn't Connecticut's stars who let the Huskies avenge the loss that knocked them from No. 1 and moved them into a tie for first in the conference.
Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong and Jeff Adrien all came up big for Connecticut 13 days after Villanova beat the Huskies 69-64 in Philadelphia.
"This game was really a big game for us, a statement," Adrien said. "They got real happy after that first win and we had to shut their mouths. Today we had to go out there and show them we're not what they think we are. We are men out there."
The Huskies (25-2, 12-2) took control of this game with an 18-3 run in the second half.
Brown, a senior swingman, had a career-high 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting. He had a total of 18 points in the Huskies' last three games, the first of which was the loss to Villanova (22-3, 12-2) that ended an 11-game winning streak.
The Wildcats came into this game with 11 straight wins.
No. 21 UNC 81, Maryland 57
In a season of amazing consistency, Tyler Hansbrough found a new way to surprise at least one of his teammates.
He still dominated on his way to 21 points and seven rebounds on Sunday night against Maryland. Only this time, the effort came quietly.
"I would have never expected he had that many," point guard Bobby Frasor said. "But he gets his points in bunches."
Hansbrough finished with at least 20 points for the 11th time this season while David Noel and Marcus Ginyard each added 12 points, helping No. 21 North Carolina beat Maryland 81-57.
The Tar Heels (19-6, 10-4 ACC) won easily to solidify their hold on second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind No. 1 Duke. They clinched a first-round bye in the conference tournament and took a half-game lead over North Carolina State, with fourth-place Boston College one game back.
Paul Pierce completed one of the best months of his NBA career Sunday, scoring 39 points and hitting the deciding foul shot with 3.2 seconds remaining in the Boston Celtics' 112-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Pierce, who grew up in nearby Inglewood, has had at least 30 points in eight of his last nine games, and averaged 33.5 in 11 games in February.
Pierce was fouled by Kobe Bryant, and made the first foul shot to complete the scoring.
The Boston star missed the second, with the Lakers' Luke Walton getting the rebound and calling timeout.
Bryant, who scored 40 points but was held to three in the final period, missed from the top of the key as time expired.
Rookie Ryan Gomes added a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, and Delonte West had 19 points and a career-best 10 assists.
Brian Cook scored 19 points, Lamar Odom had 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Smush Parker scored 13 for the Lakers, who lost for the eighth time in 12 games. Bryant also had eight rebounds and six assists.
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