Live Blog: Heels advance to Memphis, win 84-70
UNC's Danny Green with his teammates against LSU on March 21, 2009. Todd Melet photo.
Mar 21, 2009
7:41 p.m.: Heels advance to Memphis, win 84-70.
7:38 p.m.: Marcus Thornton again ... Again? Yep, again. So it's 82-70 Carolina with 1:11 left.
Ellington has 23 points for UNC, Hansbrough has 15.
Hard to believe, but Lawson has 23 points ... wow, 23 points. I think ToeGate is over.
Roy Williams just sent in Mike Copeland, Larry Drew, Justin Watts and Tyler Zeller.
It's 84-70 right now.
7:31, UNC up, 80-65: Lawson just hit two free throws and Carolina is in command of this one. The Heels have the ball again and a 13-point lead with only 2:21 to play. and Ed Davis just dunked it, so now it's 80-65 with 2:14 left. Winner here plays Friday in the South Regional in Memphis, Tenn.
7:27 p.m., Ty Lawson just had the move of the night, faking right, driving and then hanging to score.
But the best player on the floor on this night is Wayne Ellington. In a wild scramble for the ball, he just battled a loose ball right to teammate Danny Green for a three-pointer. And he also yanked down a tough defensive rebound to stop an LSU possession.
It's 74-63 Heels right now with 4:51 to play.
7:17 p.m., Thornton on fire: Don't you wish you could shoot like LSU's Marcus Thornton? Yeah, me too. He just nailed two three-pointers that were hard to believe. The pass hits his hand and he seems to already be into his shooting motion. He hit the second one falling away and into the LSU bench.
Unreal.
Carolina up now, 64-63.
And ... this just in ... LSU just had a turnover and Ty Lawson snatched the loose ball and beat Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt down the court - well, it just seemed that way - to lay the ball in and score in traffic. He's got a foul shot coming. So it's UNC, 66-63.
7:10 p.m., Carolina back in front, 58-57: This has been a torrid stretch, and Carolina's Wayne Ellington is just having a marvelous game. He just hit one three-pointer right in front of me where he took a short pass from Ty Lawson, who was in trouble, and went straight up for a shot. The LSU defender was right on him and had a hand basically at his nose, but Ellington hit it anyway.
LSU's Marcus Thornton, the SEC player of the year, has heated up in the second half. He responded with a beautiful three-pointer from the right corner for a 57-56 Tiger lead.
Ty Lawson then scored on a drive, dipping under the basket and scooping the ball in. So right now, it's 58-57 Tar Heels, with 10:10 left in the game.
By the way, Texas football coach Mack Brown is right in front of me, shaking hands with Bob Harris of the Duke basketball radio network. (I wonder if he's asking Bob about that 41-0 game?)
7:04 p.m., LSU up 51-48: Many of us here wondered why Section 110, right behind the LSU bench,was basically empty at the start of the game. Well, now we know - that's the key Duke section. It's pretty much full now - and guess who the Duke fans are cheering for? (hint - it's not another team in blue ...)
By the way, Mickie Krzyzewski, wife of the Duke coach, just arrived and sat down.
LSU is rolling, and giving the Duke fans something to cheer about. The Tigers lead this 51-48 and you can tell there is growing concern among the UNC fans here - and growing confidence on the LSU sideline.
The Tigers aren't playing like a team that will back down. After Carolina's Ed Davis swatted away one LSU shot, the Tigers came right back with a three-pointer by guard Bo Spencer.
6:53 pm., LSU on a roll, has a 42-41 lead: LSU has fought back into this game in the second half. The Tigers just took a 42-41 lead, on a basket by Marcus Thornton, and this game has a totally different feel.
Funny, but one of the sports writers at halftime said, "It's history," and I said, "I dunno about that."
LSU hit some tough shots to get back in this, with Tasmin Mitchell nailing a jump hook and Bo Spencer hitting a three-pointer.
Ty Lawson had a three-pointer but it wasn't enough to stem the Tiger tide.
6:38 p.m., so what do you think?: OK, so it's halftime, and if you're following North Carolina, what do you think?
The Heels were vastly more impressive in the latter stretch there in the first half. For a while it didn't look at all like Carolina would dominate this game. LSU still looks like a team that could make this interesting but the Heels look more in command right now.
Lawson clearly isn't full strength, but assuming the Tar Heels clear this hurdle, he should be fine by next week.
By the way, my sister just emailed from Richmond. Hey Suzanne! - thanks for the email, but shouldn't you be reading the blog? We need the page views! ...
6:31 p.m., UNC leads 38-29 at halftime: Tyler Hansbrough just made a steal and Ty Lawson missed a shot in the final seconds as Carolina now leads 38-29 at the half.
Lawson played the bulk of the first half but didn't have a huge impact. He made only one of his five shots, for two points, and had three assists.
Hansbrough, 5 of 8 from the field, had 12 points and Ellington 11 to pace Carolina.
LSU is not getting a big game from guard Marcus Thornton, the SEC player of the year. Thornton made only one of his five three-pointers and only 3 of 9 field goals overall.
LSU shot just 12 of 30 in the first half, while Carolina was 16 of 31 from the field. Neither had much impact from three-point range. LSU was 2 of 9 on three-pointers and Carolina 1 of 4.
6:18 p.m., Carolina up 36-26: So just when I'm about to starting writing Carolina doesn't look like a Final Four team at all, the Heels go on their best stretch of the game.
Lawson was huffing a bit and clearly looks tired. He's not penetrating and doesn't look full strength at all. But others, notably Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington, are making up for it.
LSU was leading 22-19 when Deon Thompson and Hansbrough hit jumpers for Carolina. Then Lawson flipped a pass to Ellington and he nailed a jumper for a 27-22 lead.
The biggest cheer of the night cam after that, as UNC forced a turnover and Lawson caught a deep throw and scored in transition. You couldn't help but go, Wow, UNC basketball, there it is.
The pace of the game was torrid in that stretch and, thanks to a Danny Green three-point play, the Heels now lead, 36-26.
By the way, watching Hansbrough play defense in that stretch was impressive. He had one steal and just never seems to take a play off on defense. The difference between the effort he puts into defense - and the effort some of his teammates put into defense - is really obvious.
6:15 p.m., LSU takes a 20-19 lead. The Tigers definitely are not playing like they are intimidated by this stage or by UNC. it's 20-19 right now with 7:14 to play in the first half. Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough has six points and Wayne Ellington five.
Lawson, by the way, is 0 for 3 in the game.
5:55 p.m., 11-9, big shot by Ellington: You knew we'd hear from Wayne Ellington soon. The UNC sharpshooter just nailed a 3 to give Caorlina a 9-8 lead.
On the defensive end after tha? Uh, not so good. ... He just let the man he was guarding zoom right past him to the basket and get fouled.
Defense ... defense ... defense. ... Can't help but think Carolina's tournament future depends on that.
5:51 p.m., LSU up, 8-6: Lawson looks quick so far, but missed his first shot. Very up and down game. Hansbrough is getting looks inside but LSU is playing like they think they can hang with UNC.
LSU fans who are here have erupted in LSU! LSU! chant.
5:38 p.m., Lawson will start: Ty Lawson has been warming up for Carolina and will start this game. Just wait until he's introduced - this is a hugely partisan Carolina crowd.
4:27 p.m., getting ready for North Carolina vs. LSU: A much different atmosphere here today than what we had on Thursday. There were plenty of people looking for tickets today, and some sellers, but nothing like Thursday.
Many fans were here early today to hang out in the parking lot, throw footballs and drink beer. Almost felt like a college football game.
Greensboro has a large UNC fan base and you can expect this crowd to have a light blue hue. One T-shirt stand on the way in even sold shirts with the D in Duke changed to P.
As I wrote Thursday, it's hard to imagine LSU hanging with Carolina today. But the Tigers, 27-7 and SEC regular-season champions, do have good guards. Marcus Thornton, who wears No. 5, was the SEC player of the year and is averaging 21.0 points per game.
Backcourt mate Garrett Temple, who wears No .14, averages 7.1 points and made the SEC all-defensive team. Be interesting to watch him on Wayne Ellington.
The problem for LSU is going to be inside, where center Chris Johnson is listed at 6 feet 11 and 210 pounds. And I mean, that's a thin 210 pounds. He's going to bang Tyler Hansbrough? Dunno about that.
