Heels roll over Cougars to join elite company

By JASON WOLF

Published: March 27, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tyler Hansbrough spoke up in the locker room at intermission after being held without a field goal in the first half of play. Both were unusual occurrences for North Carolina’s generally reserved star forward.
“I thought I played one of the worst halves of my season,” he said. “I told the guys at halftime, ‘Don’t worry about me. Just keep playing your game and I think I’ll come through for you guys.’”
Boy, did he ever.
Hansbrough scored North Carolina’s first eight points after the break while leading the Tar Heels to a 68-47 victory against Washington State in the NCAA tournament East Regional semifinals on Thursday night at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. UNC (35-2) won its 14th straight game, set a school record for most wins in a season and advances to play the Tennessee-Louisville winner here on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four.
“We played really, really well during stretches,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “Defensively we thought we were really good, but let’s be honest — they missed some open shots.”
Washington State’s horrendous shooting may have had more to do with its demise than UNC’s defense, as the Cougars missed countless wide-open looks in recording its lowest scoring total of the season. Washington State (26-9) shot an anemic 29 percent from the field in the second half and less than 32 percent for the game, including a 2-of-16 performance from 3-point range.
“I feel bad. I didn’t feel like we represented the Pac-10 the way we should,” Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. “I thought we were better than we showed, but I do think North Carolina is very special.”
In its NCAA-record 22nd Sweet 16 appearance, the Tar Heels largely appeared to spin their wheels, but kicked up enough dirt to bury the Cougars.
Washington State was dominated on the boards, outscored 16-2 on the fast break and 19-5 in bench points.
North Carolina enjoyed a 35-21 advantage at the break despite Hansbrough’s early struggles. Danny Green came off the bench to score 12 of his 15 points in the first half and Wayne Ellington scored nine of his 13 points before intermission. Ty Lawson finished with 12 points. Hansbrough grabbed nine rebounds and Ellington and Thompson each recorded eight.
“Offensively I got a little nervous about taking shots after things weren’t falling for me,” Hansbrough said, “and I thought I just needed to get better into the flow of things and not be scared about taking those jumpers and things like that.”
Three Cougars scored in double figures and accounted for all but nine of their team’s points. Aron Baynes, a 6-foot-10 center modestly listed at 270 pounds, and Derrick Low paced Washington State with 14 points apiece. Baynes fouled out with nearly six minutes remaining, however, and Low connected on just 6-of-16 shots. Kyle Weaver added 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting.
UNC managed a double-digit advantage 2½ minutes before the half and stretched its lead to 20 points about eight minutes into the second. The Tar Heels trailed for the first time in this NCAA tournament when Washington State scored the first points of the game. But Green drilled a 3-pointer 11 minutes before the break to hand UNC a 13-12 lead and the Tar Heels never trailed again.
“They played a really good defense,” Green said. “They slowed the ball down, but once we started going a little bit, getting out, pressuring defensively and getting some stops and running them, I think we started getting on a little rhythm and getting some easy baskets for ourselves.”
Contact Jason Wolf at or (434) 791-7996.