WRAL Sports Fan

Spare MVP keeps Heels rolling

Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina puts up a tough shot against Virginia Tech during the second round of the ACC Tournament on March 13, 2009.

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By Barry Jacobs
Mar 13, 2009

Ty Lawson sat on the North Carolina bench, wearing a shower slipper on his injured right foot. Never before had the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player not started his team’s ACC Tournament opener. But, then, few MVPs are as delicate as Lawson, the fleet playmaker who also missed significant time last season with an ankle injury.

Not that Lawson’s absence was overly problematic for the top-seed Tar Heels, who retained sufficient talent, experience, and poise to improve to subdue No. 8 Virginia Tech, 79-76. Most important, they had the ACC’s true MVP, Tyler Hansbrough, who predictably rose to the occasion with 28 points, 8 rebounds, and perfect 10-for-10 foul shooting. Hansbrough scored at least 20 points for the 75th time in his career, an ACC record, as UNC improved to 28-3.

Hokies coach Seth Greenberg, whose team sputtered to an 18-14 finish and a likely repeat visit to the NIT, was not sympathetic to any perceived disadvantage caused by Lawson’s absence. “It’s not like they’re void of players,” Greenberg said. “They took a Player of the Year out and put a McDonald’s All-American in. It’s pretty good to have that luxury.”

Greenberg was referring specifically to backup Bobby Frasor, who played a career-high 37 minutes and provided steady if unspectacular floor leadership. The intense game, which had 15 lead changes and eight ties, proceeded at a deliberate pace suited to Frasor’s strengths. Still, UNC coach Roy Williams called it an “ugly” victory, noting, “I just think it’s more fun (to score) in the 80’s and 90’s.”

Greenberg’s greater point, a theme that echoes through the years from coaches defeated by the likes of Carolina and Duke, is that there’s no substitute for the premier talent that gravitates to the most successful schools. "We don't have eight McDonald's All-Americans," Greenberg groused.

Yet even among elite players there are few competitive matches for Hansbrough. Down the stretch the Heels turned to the 2008 MVP at nearly every opportunity, and he delivered the team’s last six points, four at the foul line. Hansbrough's scoring total was his best yet in an ACC Tournament game, bettering the 26 he had last year against the Hokies.

Demonstrated a well-rounded game that often gets overlooked, Hansbrough also engineered a key jump ball that cost Virginia Tech its next-to-last offensive possession, then bothered a potential tying 3-pointer by A.D. Vassallo that missed everything as time expired.

“Our theme for the last 24 hours has been, ‘Same story, different ending,’” said Greenberg, referring to the late-game heroics, primarily by Hansbrough, that edged Virginia Tech in last year’s ACC Tournament semifinals. “Unfortunately, we got the same story and the same ending.”