Game blog: No. 5 North Carolina beats N.C. State 93-76
North Carolina's Wayne Ellington tries to put up a shot past Johnny Thomas of N.C. State on January 31, 2009.
Jan 31, 2009
5:29 p.m., Tempers flare: Mike Copeland is ejected as he got fouled hard with under two seconds to go, and he retaliated. Ben McCauley fouled him hard and got the technical as well as Patrick Moody shot two free throws near the end. Copeland just went nuts on everyone and Costner stepped in and pushed him back. Roy Williams was all the way on the court trying to calm Copeland down. Carolina wins the game easy 93-76 in a game that ended with some drama. Holy cow they are kicking me out already, there is a hockey game in less than three hours. They better hurry with the ice!
5:24 p.m., Hansbrough the assassin: Tyler shoots the three ball and makes it to put his team up by 17. He has 29 points and is going for 30 at the line. Fans are heading for the exits. State never did tie this game or come within seven the entire second half. Hansbrough had his second best scoring game of the season with 31 points.
5:20 p.m., Turnover: State turns it over just before the media timeout on a travelling call. You can't afford it at this time in the game. It will be a miracle if the Pack can win this one.
5:15 p.m., Dennis Horner playing great: Dennis "little jack" Horner is doing his part now to keep his team in it. He is busting up on Deon Thompson on the offensive end, as he has 12 off the bench. UNC keeps the lead at 84-72 with under four minutes to play. They just fell too far behind and can't get over the hump.
5:11 p.m., Game of runs: Carolina is pulling ahead now up 78-63. Everytime State catches up they miss a couple shots and Carolina converts with a lay-in on the other end, or they get to the free throw line.
5:03 p.m., Great week in the ACC: Courtney Fells is keeping his team in the game by himself. He has four three-pointers in the half. It's the only way they have stayed in the game, or got back into the game. UNC leads 69-62 with under eight minutes to play. Hansbrough has 23 points in the contest. The roof was blown off the joint when Ferguson hit a jumper off the in-bounds.
4:54 p.m., State stays hot: The crowd really got back into this one. State continues to be very hot from three-point land. Horner hits one, and Fells hits a pull up three with a hand in his face. When Fells scores 12 points in about nine minutes that will help your team get back in it. Carolina leads 60-52 as State creeps back in. Hansbrough continues to kill 'em down low with 21 points.
4:46 p.m., State trying to stay in: State scored five straight points to cut it to 54-41 with under 16 minutes to play and they put on the full court press after the bucket. I wasn't in a position to see, but the ball got knocked out of bounds right in front of the Wolfpack bench. Sidney Lowe was extremely ticked he didn't get the call. Costner comes in and cuts this to ten points right after the break with a big three. I might be wrong about State after all.
4:38 p.m., Carolina heating up: The Heels have come out in the half and are hitting their open shots. Ellington hit a three, Hansbrough hit a jumper and two free throws. My prediction is looking true as UNC is up 52-36 now with 17:25 left to play. State took a timeout to think this over.
4:32 p.m., Second half almost ready: This is just a prediction on my part and it is a game of runs. But I think UNC comes out quick and makes this a 20 point lead and never looks bad. I don't think State will tie it again. Carolina is blasting State in the paint 26-4 at the break. If the Pack can't figure out a way to get the ball down low for easier shots, they can't bank on making 80 percent of their threes this half. State fans will hope I'm wrong.
4:22 p.m., Awful shooting: We get the usual halftime entertainment where a guy tries to make a lay-up, free throw, and three-pointer. He banks all of those in eventually. Then he gets to shoot a half court shot and he misses it short by about 15 feet. It was pathetic.
4:16 p.m., State is just a step behind: They are fighting to stay in this game but they are just getting out played. The scary thing is Carolina hasn't fully opened it up yet. Carolina takes a 43-31 lead into halftime. Tyler Hansbrough scored 11 points and State couldn't seem to defend him when he got the ball inside. State has hit 5-12 three-pointers but they haven't been able to get good shots off. I'll go into the media room for a Coke now. You know at Duke they give you cookies, crackers, and chips at halftime.
4:10 p.m., Carolina another surge: Ty Lawson elevates more than you think he can as he got an open-court fast break dunk. Farnold Degand hit a big three to keep his team in it. With 3:24 left in the first the Heels lead it 35-29. Why do these students keep telling Carolina to go to hell? That's not very nice.
4:06 p.m., Foul trouble: Costner just picked up his second as Hansbrough makes a three-point play. There is a lid on the rim for State right now as well as they are getting some second chance points but just can't put it down. Pack trails 31-26 with under six minutes to play in the half. I found out those paper heads the students are wearing are supposed to be the Muppet baby "Beeker". They think he resembles Hansbrough or something with his open mouth and wide eyes.
3:59 p.m., Bench brings em back: State's bench has contributed 11 points so far on three three-pointers. The Wolfpack are 4-7 from down town. The shooting brought them back in the game as Carolina leads 26-22 with 7:49 to go in the half. We'll see how Courtney Fells' ankle is doing as he will stay on the bench while Costner and McCauley come back in the game.
3:52 p.m., Sloppy State: They got really sloppy for a while and turned it over four times in the matter of a few minutes. UNC went on a 13-0 run until Mays stepped up and buried a three from the top of the key. Carolina is up 21-14 with 11:18 to go in the first half. Tyler Hansbrough scored his first four points of the game recently.
3:46 p.m., Bench play: I'm interested to see how much of the bench Lowe uses today. He has made a lot of comments about wanting to slim down his rotation. State has turned it over three times in a row, and Johhny Thomas, Julius Mays, and Dennis Horner are coming into the game. UNC leads 15-11 with 13 minutes to play, as N.C. State takes a timeout. A couple of guys behind the State bench did their best to tribute Kay Yow, but there are only two of them, both in full body paint from the waist up. The only thing is they only have a "K" and a "Y". They should really recruit an "A".
3:38 p.m., Firey start: It feels like the XFL here in the arena with the smoke still lingering from the fire and sparks in the introductions. Danny Green hit the first bucket of the game, a three for the Heels. Brandon Costner also hits a three of his own and has seven early points. I have seen Costner open up huge in a lot of games this year but then go silent until almost the end of the second half. Just before the timeout Costner got called for a charge and it waived off the basket. Both teams are off and running as it's tied at 11 with 15:54 to play. Both sides look pretty sharp and the fans are way more into this one than usual.
3:34 p.m., Let's get it on: The big lineup starts for Sidney Lowe as Tracy Smith gets his second straight start. What a crazy introduction show for the players as State had fire and sparks shooting off into the air. You know when the game means a little more. I think Farnold's Degand play is going to be big today. Can he limit the turnovers, provide a little scoring, and get it to guys in position to score? We'll see.
3:25 p.m., Huge crowd: Attendance is going to be high for this one as it always is. Two games will always be sell-outs or close to at the RBC Center, North Carolina and Duke. The Marquette game had the highest attendance this season with just under 17 thousand. This place is filling up very quickly though, and I expect the attendance to be the highest of the season. It's nice to see the whole Carolina coaching staff is donning the upside down pink ribbons to honor Coach Kay Yow. Both coaching staffs are wearing sneakers for Coaches vs. Cancer.
3:14 p.m., Get to know Tyler Hansbrough: First of all it surprised me that North Carolina supplied a ton of those think season media guide books. You can find some of the craziest information about the players in these. For instance, the person in history Hansbrough would most like to meet is, Abraham Lincoln. The guy did have nice hats, and okay, he helped us through the Civil War. Hansbrough also lists So you Think you Can Dance as his favorite TV show. Come on Hansbrough, that's a little iffy. But auditions are coming to Durham soon, so there is your chance. These students in the first row have these giant paper heads with huge eyes and crazy hair that are supposed to look like Hansbrough. The heads have their mouths hanging wide open because rarely does Hansbrough's normal look consist of his teeth being together.
3:06 p.m., Observations: We are closing in on 20 minutes to tip-off. Today's game is being telecast on ABC with Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes calling the action. Nessler in my opinion is one of the best play-by-play dudes in the country for college hoops. There is still a lot of pink out in the stands. The N.C. State dancers are wearing pink shirts instead of their normal tops. There is guy right in the front row painted completely in pink from the waist up. He has "Yow" painted in white on his back as well.
2:51 p.m., Carolina warming up: I got out to the floor a little early this time to watch the teams get ready. I first sat down court-side at 2:40 and I have yet to see State players on the floor. North Carolina had the whole floor to do a random shoot-around. Tyler Hansbrough was shooting at the basket in front of the State pep band. This was funny, as every time Tyler missed a shot, the students let out a booming "awwwwwwww!" Every time he made a shot, a loud "yayyyyyyyy!" would follow.
Looking down press row for key people, the most obvious and the tallest is Eric Montross. He is the color commentator for Woody Durham on the Tar Heels Radio Network. You know you can hear him every day after a Carolina game and on Mondays on The Sports Lunch with Mike Maniscalco on 99.9 FM The Fan. I had to work that in there. Mike also did a terrific interview with J.J. Redick on Friday. That's on the web. Not many fans associated with this game like that name.
