Not only was Jeff Teague the best player on the floor, Wake Forest was the best team on the floor.

The Demon Deacons were one club that could stand toe-to-toe with North Carolina talent-wise, but there were all sorts of questions.

Youth.

Mental toughness.

Most of all, chemistry.

"We weren't worried about all of that," Teague said scoring a career-high 34 points in the 92-89 victory.

This was a North Carolina team that still had that bitter taste in their mouth after losing to Boston College just seven days ago. There's no way they'd fall to 0-2 in the ACC.

No chance.

But a Wake Forest group that has stressed defense since Dino Gaudio took over for the late Skip Prosser prior to last season made critical stops down the stretch and held off the Tar Heels to remain undefeated.

The Demon Deacons were allowing teams to shoot just 36 percent from the field and 28 percent from long distance entering the game. North Carolina shot just 35 percent on Sunday night and made just 26 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.

In the six years under Prosser, Wake tried to outscore their opponent - and never held teams to less than 40 percent shooting or 34 percent from 3-point land.

Wake should be the No. 1 team in the land when the polls come out tomorrow - and that's no disrespect to top-ranked Pittsburgh at all. The Demon Deacons won't be, but they went on the road and ended BYU's 53-game home winning streak, took care of Top 25 Baylor on a neutral court and put a second loss on a North Carolina club that just about everyone handed the national title prior to a game being played this year.

The Tar Heels don't just have two losses now, but are 0-2 and take up residence in the cellar of the ACC.

"I don't think people really expected this, but we played well tonight," Teague said.

Tyler Hansbrough looked overwhelmingly average, especially in the second half. Ty Lawson's speed was kept in check by the quick and athletic Wake guards - and Wayne Ellington didn't get his perimeter shot going until it was too late.

Teague was terrific, but I'm fairly certain he wouldn't have left Joel Coliseum with 34 points if Marcus Ginyard had been on the court.

People seem to forget Ginyard is the lone player on the Tar Heels who is above-average defensively. Lawson has the ability to be a lock-down defender, but doesn't seem to care much about that end of the floor - whereas that's all that Ginyard is concerned with.

If Ginyard returns from his stress fracture at 100 percent - whenever that is - the Tar Heels are a different club.

But for now, North Carolina is beatable. Just ask BC and Wake Forest.

The Tar Heels can't get a crucial stop. When they have to put Danny Green on the opposing team's top offensive player, it's not going to be pretty.

Teague, who will certainly move up from the No. 7 spot he held in my Player of the Year Rankings last week, just might be the most underrated player in the nation.

Was it a coming-out party?

"I don't look at it like that," he said. "All I care about was getting the win."