WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

Hansbrough goes for 31 as Heels pull away from Pack for 93-76 win

By Sam Rosenthal

Jan 31, 2009

The game after Tyler Hansbrough’s streak of 55 straight games scoring in double figures ended, the reigning National Player of the Year started a new streak with 31 points and led his No. 5 Tar Heels over the N.C. State Wolfpack, 93-76.

Hansbrough scored 20 of his 31 points after halftime and shot 12-of-17 for the game. He added six rebounds, six-of-seven free throws, and even a three-pointer toward the finish the main force inside for Carolina, which outscored State in the paint, 46-16.

“Their bigs outplayed us – that’s it,” State coach Sidney Lowe said after the game. “They were tough inside, scoring the ball inside. We had a lot of opportunities ourselves, inside, especially in that first half. We just couldn’t convert. It wouldn’t go in for us.”

The Wolfpack trailed for most of the game but also kept it close, particularly in the first half. State opened the game well and battled UNC toe-to-toe for most of the first frame, but a 17-9 Carolina run to close out the half gave the Heels their largest lead to that point, 43-31.

UNC (19-2, 5-2 ACC) built its lead up to 18 points to start the second half, but State made a series of semi-runs when it seemed like the game might be out of reach. Still, the Wolfpack (11-8, 2-5) never inched closer than seven points away from the Tar Heels.

“In the second half, when they cut it to seven or eight or whatever it was, we kept coming back and scoring two or three times in a row,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “Then they’d cut back to seven or eight, then we’d get two or three scores in a row.”

State’s Courtney Fells shined in the second half – after scoring two points in the first 20 minutes, he finished with 22 points on nine-of-15 shooting (eight-of-11 in the second half). But Hansbrough and the Heels proved too strong inside, too fast in transition, and too balanced on offense for State to overcome.

“You like to look down (at the stat sheet) and see five guys in double figures, even though I was wondering if (Fells) was going to make every shot for them in the second half,” Williams said. “But it was a very good win for us on the road.”

Based on Lowe’s comments, State took some positives away from the game, albeit in defeat. Lowe praised his team’s fight in cutting the lead under 10 a few times in the second half.

He said the key sequence occurred after Fells hit a three-pointer to make the score 60-52, UNC. Carolina failed to score on its next possession, and State exited a time out at 11:53 in the second half with a chance to cut the deficit to five or six points.

But Brandon Costner took, as Lowe put it, “a step-back three, a bad shot,” early in the shot clock, and UNC sped the ball ahead to Danny Green on the other end, who knocked down his three-point attempt and returned Carolina’s lead to double-digits.

“That started their run,” Lowe said. “(Coming out of that time out), I thought we had the momentum in our favor … But we couldn’t continue that. They took the momentum back in their favor.”

Green said the Heels expected State to keep popping up off the canvas. “They’re gonna’ fight, they’re gonna’ keep coming back, they’re not gonna’ give up. Especially in a game like this – it’s a rivalry game,” he said. “That’s why we tried to keep our poise, and we tried to keep pushing it and stay mentally focused.”

According to Williams, UNC put together a solid effort on defense – something he often scrutinizes. “(State is) a difficult team to guard because their big guys can shoot it from so deep,” Williams said. “Almost every time down the court you have a mismatch problem, but I thought our kids, after the first five minutes, played really hard.”

Maybe the Heels played a bit too hard, as they kept trying to score with the game in hand and reserves in the game. That resulted in the Pack’s Ben McCauley delivering a hard foul to UNC’s Mike Copeland, who reacted so strongly that Williams pulled his player from the game (both received technical fouls).

Afterward, Williams apologized to Lowe, and McCauley apologized to Williams. “(McCauley) said, ‘I’m sorry,’” Williams said. “And I said, ‘Don’t say that, you’re playing hard, and let it go at that.’ But (Copeland) shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

But the not-so-lovers’ spat detracted only slightly from the stars of the game – Fells for State in the second half, and Hansbrough for Carolina all game.

“I thought Courtney Fells was outstanding for us,” Lowe said after the game.

As for Hansbrough: His double-figure scoring streak ended Wednesday night against Florida State, when foul trouble limited his playing time, and he only managed eight points. His 31 points today continued his strong play in the RBC Center, where Carolina’s big man has now played against State for the last time. He averaged 26 points and eight rebounds for his career at N.C. State in four games.

“He was much more active today, he was more into it,” Williams said of Hansbrough. “I figured he would be because he was disappointed in his play the other night. And he was really very intense out there today.”