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LAHAINA, Hawaii -- North Carolina won the Maui Invitational in 1999 and went on to reach the Final Four later that season. The Tar Heels won in paradise again in 2004 and 2008, which became springboards to national championships.After their latest Maui title -- and maybe most dominating yet -- Arizona here they come?The fourth-ranked Tar Heels capped a roughshod run through a deep Maui Invitational field by crushing No. 16 Wisconsin 71-56 in the title game Wednesday night, establishing themselves as early season favorites to reach the Final Four in Glendale next April.We have a chip on our shoulder and were going to continue to get better as the year goes on, North Carolina point guard Joel Berry II said. Were playing good right now, but I think we can still play better.The long, athletic Tar Heels (7-0) were so good in the semifinals that Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood called them the best team in the country.The national runner-up a year ago, North Carolina looked the part again in the title game, dominating Wisconsin (4-2) at both ends of the court.The Tar Heels held the Badgers to 38 percent shooting and harassed their leading scorer, Bronson Koenig, into a 1-for-13 night.Kennedy Meeks had 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to anchor North Carolinas dominating inside game. The Tar Heels had a 36-16 advantage in the paint and 12 more rebounds against one of the nations best teams on the glass.Berry was tournament MVP, scoring 22 points while orchestrating the Tar Heels offense with precision.Isaiah Hicks scored 14 points to complement Meeks inside and Justin Jackson helped stretch Wisconsins defense with his shoot/drive ability, finishing with 12 points.Dominating as the Tar Heels were, their coach was not ready to book his trip to the Valley of the Sun just yet.Ive never seen a national championship on the day before Thanksgiving, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said. Its usually a Monday night in April.North Carolina rolled over Chaminade and Oklahoma State in the first two Maui rounds, winning by a combined 75 points.The Tar Heels looked like they were headed for another runaway victory at the start of the title game, the Badgers like they had been in the sun too long on Kaanapali Beach.Unable to handle North Carolinas length on defense or hit shots when they were open, Wisconsin missed its first 11 from the field and needed nearly 7 1/2 minutes to score.Its tough when you dont hit shots, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.The Badgers settled down after their jittery start and cut the lead to four before North Carolina stretched it to 29-20 by halftime.Berry was the catalyst for North Carolina in the first half and continued to be in the second, scoring and pulling the strings on the Tar Heels offense.North Carolina continued to manhandle the Badgers defensively, highlighted by Brandon Robinsons track-him-down blocked shot off the backboard on Koenig midway in the second half.By the time Wisconsin made a late run, the game was well out of reach.Vitto Brown led Wisconsin with 15 points and Ethan Happ had 13.Well definitely have a lot to learn from this when we go back and watch the film, Brown said. Theres no better test this early in the season.BIG PICTURENorth Carolina has been dominant so far this season. Imagine how good the Tar Heels can be when forwards Luke Maye and Theo Pinson return from injuries.Wisconsin is good, just not Carolina good just yet.POLL IMPLICATIONSWith No. 3 Indiana losing to Fort Wayne, expect the Tar Heels to move up at least one spot, maybe more.CAROLINA REBOUNDINGWisconsin was coming off a dominant performance on the offensive glass, scoring 19 points on 20 offensive rebounds against Georgetown in the semifinals.North Carolina made defensive rebounding a priority against the Badgers and they handled it well, holding Wisconsin to four offensive rebounds and one second-chance point.UP NEXTWisconsin hosts Prairie View A&M on Sunday and faces No. 18 Syracuse next Tuesday.North Carolina has a week to prepare for a road showdown with No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 30.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. 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Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Ozzie Newsome Youth Jersey . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Texas A&M began the second half of its Southeastern Conference schedule with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-19 victory over South Carolina today at the Carolina Volleyball Center.It was the eighth victory over the last nine matches for the Aggies, who improve to 14-7 overall and 8-2 in SEC matches. South Carolina falls to 15-7, including 3-7 in SEC play.Texas A&M All-American and redshirt senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers tied for match-high honors with 12 kills while hitting .524 as the Aggies outhit the Gamecocks, .317 to .167 for the match. Junior outside hitter Kiara McGee pitched in 11 kills while hitting at a .320 clip, and freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans also reached double-figure kills with 10 while junior setter Stephanie Aiple distributed 34 assists.Sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake, who leads the SEC in blocks per set, led the Aggies with four blocks, and Babers added three to give her 449 block assists for her career and move her within seven block assists of the school all-time career record of 456 held by Cindy Lothspeich (1994-97).Senior defensive specialist Victoria Arenas took match-high honors in digs with 16, and junior libero Amy Nettles had eight digs, putting her within 18 of the 1,000-career digs milestone.Texas A&M led the first set from start to finish, building its largest advantage at 16-8 following back-to-back errors by the Gamecocks. South Carolina, which was outhit .433 to .297 in the frame, later used a 3-0 run to get within 20-17 before McGee caromed a kill off the block to thwart the Gamecocks rally. The teams began to trade points before McGee put down her fifth kill and Babers and Aiple followed with a block to put the Aggies at set point. South Carolina got a kill to stave off one set point before Babers attack near the right-side pin ricocheted off the Gamecocks block for the set-ending kill.South Carolina took its first lead of the match by scoring the first two points to begin the second set. Aiple later set up McGee and Babers for back-to-back kills that gave A&M the lead, 4-3, and the Aggies would never trail for the remainder of the set. South Carolina tied the score at 4- and 5-all before A&M went on a 6-1 run to go up, 11-6. The Gamecocks then scored three unanswered points to get within 11-9 before Hans ended the rally with a kill, marking the start of a 5-0 spurt by the Aggies. South Carolina never got closer than five points for the reminder of the set and trailed 20-14 when McGee and Hans posted back-to-back kills, and sophomore defensive specialist Amy Houser followed with her second of a career-high three aces in the match to put A&M up, 23-14. The Aggies took their largest lead on the next play as South Carolina had an attack error that put Texas A&M at set point, 24-14. The Gamecocks, who were outhit, .306 to .079 in the stanza, made a late rally, fighting off four set points before Hans closed out the set with a kill.The Aggies held an 11-9 lead in the third set when South Carolina gained the momentum, putting down three consecutive kills, including a kill after a lengthy rally to build a 12-10 lead. The home teams momentum quickly fizzled as the Gamecocks served long, and the Aggies took over with Houser stepping to the service line. A&M ran its scoring streak to eight consecutive points, with Babers contributing three kills during the surge. A service error temporarily ended the run, but Hans got a kill off the block to begin a 3-0 run that put the Aggies up, 22-13.The teams traded points, with A&M senior setter Kaysie Shebeneck entering the match for Aiple aand immediately setting up Blake for a kill that gave the Aggies a 23-14 lead.dddddddddddd South Carolina then made a last-ditch effort, rallying to get within 23-18, forcing A&M to call a timeout.Following the timeout, Shebeneck once again set up Blake for the kill to put the Aggies at match point. Dessaa Legros put down her team-leading 12th kill to keep the Gamecocks alive, but Blake and Emily Hardesty teamed for a block on the ensuing play to clinch the victory for the Aggies.For the match, Texas A&M led the Gamecocks in kills (48-24), assists (45-33), aces (5-4) and digs (50-34). South Carolina led in blocks, 9-7, marking the first time in six matches this season that A&M came out victorious despite trailing in blocks.Texas A&M returns home to Reed Arena on Thursday for a rematch against Alabama, which handed the Aggies a 3-2 loss in the SEC season opener in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The match, which begins at 6 p.m., marks the start of a season-high four-match homestand, which also includes contests against Tennessee (Nov. 6), Mississippi State (Nov. 11) and Georgia (Nov. 13).HEAD COACH LAURIE CORBELLI: On getting the sweep to start the second half of the conference schedule...It was really a fun team win. The focus from the beginning was really good. The big concern in this gym has always been our passing, and the team settled in and did a really nice job of passing. I thought the blocking today was really well formed and well timed, and it made our defense behind the block a lot smoother and a lot better. So overall, both from an offensive and defensive standpoints, it was one of our better performances.On getting out of Columbia in 3 sets instead of going 5 sets like A&M has done in the last two visits... I told the team after the match that this is maybe one of the most stressful places I have ever coached in the SEC. It is such a tough place to play, and they play so great at home. I was so relieved that we were able to close it out in three sets. I sat on the bench in the third set thinking Im probably going to cry at the end of this one because Im so relieved. They are ones of those teams that just plays so beautifully at home, and we were able to just contain what we wanted to contain and really get our side going. And we had much better serving than we have had lately, so I do think our serving is getting better.On hosting Alabama, which upset A&M in five sets in the SEC opener... That opening match against Alabama is a sore spot for us, and it is our chance to take another step towards our goal, and it is our chance to get a little bit of revenge, not that revenge is that huge because we know we just have to perform. It will be tough; there is no question. We match up with them really well, but it is always a battle. I think the team sees the goal is a little closer, and I think that the motivation is coming back around from them to being we made it through the rough stretch of the season and we are on the home stretch. They feel lighter. They feel like there is a really strong purpose; it is not as distant. We survived October for the most part, so now to be home, this early November is going to be really fun and really good for us.On starting a four-match homestand in front of the 12th Man It will be nice to have our home crowd know that we will be back in a few nights. We will be returning soon instead of in two weeks. Hopefully we can get some momentum going there, as well as with our fans. ' ' '