He was the Michigan State player heading down the court after launching one picture-perfect shot after another.

One problem: North Carolina needed to locate Peterson before he ran through dozens of screens, hustled for countless loose balls and snared every rebound in sight.

Peterson’s career-high 31 points led No. 8 Michigan State to an 86-76 upset over the No. 2 Tar Heels at theSmith Center. The 6-foot-7 forward connected on 12 of 18 shots and drilled four 3-pointers. Most painful to the Tar Heels was that several of Peterson’s shots came uncontested.

“He comes off two, three screens, and if you don’t talk, don’t get a hand on him, he’s not going to miss,”Carolina forward Jason Capel said. “He came in here and really put the team on his back and walked out of here with a win.”

Carolina lost its first game after winning the Maui Invitational. TheTar Heels (3-1) dropped their first home opener in 71 years, when South Carolina scored a 28-25 decision in 1928. The loss also ended a 55-game nonconference win streak in Chapel Hill that dated back to 1989.

Michigan State, meanwhile, proved it can still beat any team in the nation without star point guard Mateen Cleaves, out with a broken foot. The Spartans improved to 4-1 with the nationally televised win in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

“I really wanted to come out and have a big game,”Peterson said. “I’m so happy right now that we came out here and got the job done. You come on the road against one of the greatest basketball teams, you see all that blue on the floor. There’s nothing like it.”

Peterson left the 21,572 fans at the Smith Center feeling blue when his second 3-pointer of the first half sparked an 8-0 Spartan run and gave Michigan State a 28-20 advantage. A.J. Granger and Jason Richardson scored on putbacks to extend the lead to 34-24, and Peterson added five more points to give him 17 at the half.

Despite Ed Cota’s half-court shot at the buzzer that swished through the net and set off a raucous celebration, Carolina still trailed by eight. Michigan State had more offensive rebounds (11) in the first half than Carolina had on both ends of the floor (10).

The second-chance points the Spartans netted, combined with a complete absence of the Tar Heels’ inside game, would change very little in the second half. Michigan State finished with a 43-28 advantage on the boards.

“We have to, and there’s no getting around it, become a better rebounding team,”Capel said. “We got killed on the boards offensively and defensively.”

Everything Carolina saw in the first half and tried to fix at intermission proved fruitless. Peterson extended the lead with a jumper, then rolled off a screen for another wide-open 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the final half. His putback, for points 23 and 24 on the night, gave the Spartans a 53-40 lead.

“I was kind of surprised. I was wide open a couple of times,”Peterson said. “I got some good shots and our guys did a good job of getting me open and finding me at the right time.”

When Peterson went to the bench for well-deserved breaks, Granger, Richardson and Mike Chappell took over the scoring duties. Granger hit three 3-pointers and had 11 points, while Richardson finished 5-for-9 with 10 points. Chappell, who led Duke in 3-point percentage during the 1997-98 season before transferring, was booed all night for his Blue Devil past and got some revenge with 13 points.

Freshman Joseph Forte led the Tar Heels with 19 points, many of those down the stretch when Carolina rallied to within six points. The Smith Center erupted when Capel buried a 3-pointer to make it 71-63 with 4:46 left to play. A technical foul on Spartan head coach Tom Izzo led to a pair of Ed Cota free throws that trimmed the gap to 71-65, but the Tar Heels turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play and never recovered.

The reason? Peterson’s putback on the following possession and a three-point play the next time down the court. Both scores involved a lot of physical contact that Peterson welcomed with a smile.

“That’s Big Ten basketball. That’s what we live for, coming out playing hard and aggressive,”Peterson said. “That’s what got us where we are now and what got us to the Final Four last year.”

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