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Tar Heels start strong
Minus Lawson, Carolina breaks 100 point mark in 101-58 victory
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Danny Green drives to the basket for two during UNC's first round win over Radford in Greensboro yesterday.
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2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT
Published: March 20, 2009
GREENSBORO
North Carolina raced past Radford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament yesterday afternoon, on the day that Tyler Hansbrough ascended to the top of the ACC career scoring chart.
North Carolina won 101-58 victory in the Greensboro Coliseum, its second-largest winning margin in an NCAA Tournament game. Hansbrough, a senior center, scored 22 points and built his career total to 2,789 to push Duke's J.J. Redick into second place in conference history at 2,769.
Hansbrough needed three points to take the top spot and got the record out of the way in less than five minutes. He moved past Redick with the first of two free throws with 15:43 left in the first half for a 12-9 lead, after scoring on a layup earlier for his first points of the game.
Many would say that a free throw would be the most appropriate way for Hansbrough to set the record, given that he has made more free throws than any college player in history, 953 and counting; but he had other ideas.
"I'm not going to lie; I wanted to break it on a 3-point shot," Hansbrough said. "I wanted to shoot a 3 ball. Or I wanted to dunk it. The free-throw line is good, but it wasn't the picture or the way I was going to plan it. I got it done, so I'm happy about it."
UNC improved to 29-4 and will play LSU on Saturday at 5:45 p.m. in the second round. LSU advanced by beating Butler 75-71 in yesterday's first game. Radford finished with a 21-12 record.
UNC played its third consecutive game without point guard Ty Lawson, who is recovering from a jammed right big toe, but Coach Roy Williams said that Lawson's status could change on Saturday.
Lawson didn't wear a special shoe to take pressure off the toe for the first time since the injury and took part in warmup drills and shooting before the game. He hasn't played since the regular-season finale against Duke on March 8.
"When we practice (today), if he's able to practice and do some things in practice, I'll probably play him," Williams said. "If he's like he was (Wednesday), then I'm not going to play him."
Wayne Ellington led UNC with 25 points, making 11 of 16 shots from the field. Hansbrough made all 12 of his free throws for the best free-throw shooting accuracy in an NCAA Tournament game by a North Carolina player. Danny Green and Ed Davis added 15 points each.
Joey Lynch-Flohr and Amir Johnson led Radford with 12 points each.
Green said he thought UNC did almost everything necessary to start off strong in the NCAA Tournament and recover from being knocked out of last week's ACC Tournament semifinals.
"It was more important to get a win," Green said. "It has nothing to do with burying a team or whatever. We just tried to come out and get a win and hopefully get things going the way we need them to be going.
"All that other stuff is in the past. We know what we've got to do to play better and to do better and win. That's the whole point of this tournament: win games."
UNC never trailed behind a break that produced 25 points and a bench that added 26 points, 24 rebounds and five blocked shots, four by Davis. The lead was 53-34 at halftime and grew quickly in the second half.
An 18-6 scoring run in the first 4:43 after halftime sent UNC ahead 71-40. Green and Ellington sped down the floor on one play with only one Radford defender between them and the basket. Green made a bounce pass to the left and Ellington stuck in a layup for a 68-38 lead.
Two minutes later Ellington was leading another possession on the right side of the floor when he cut to his left toward the lane. He made a no-look pass to the right to Davis, who dunked and built the lead to 76-42.
Ellington pulled up on a break a minute later and hit one of his three 3-point shots to build the advantage to 37 points with 12:40 left. Williams said running and creating easy baskets was imperative after UNC did not score more than 79 points in the ACC Tournament.
"I think we really missed some easy shots," Williams said. "I do believe we got out and ran better. There's no question."
UNC's 53 points were the most allowed by Radford in a first half this season. The 19-point difference at halftime was the most by which Radford had trailed at the break this season. Radford's 24 points in the second half were its fewest in a half this season.
Green said defense made the difference for UNC.
"Our defensive stops always lead to our break," Green said. "The better the defensive play, the easier it is for us to score on offense. We got some steals and got out front, we got some blocked shots and rebounds. The more rebounds we get, the more we can push the ball."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
RADFORD Min FG FT OR-T A PF PT
Martin 15 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 4 0
Lynch-Flohr 28 5-17 2-2 7-11 2 3 12
Parakhouski 31 3-15 4-6 5-10 0 3 10
Johnson 38 5-14 0-0 0-2 3 2 12
Thomas 36 4-14 1-2 0-7 1 2 11
McEachin 27 3-9 0-0 1-4 1 1 7
Wilder 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Mitchell 2 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Jenkins 3 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hall 18 2-5 2-4 5-10 0 2 6
Totals 200 22-80 9-14 20-48 9 17 58
Percentages: FG .275, FT .643. 3-Point Goals: 5-17, .294 (Johnson 2-5, Thomas 2-6, McEachin 1-3, Mitchell 0-1, Jenkins 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 6 (Hall 3, Parakhouski 2, McEachin). Turnovers: 18 (Thomas 6, Johnson 5, Martin 3, Parakhouski 2, Lynch-Flohr, Hall). Steals: 9 (Johnson 3, Parakhouski 2, Hall, Martin, McEachin, Thomas). Technical Fouls: None.
UNC Min FG FT OR-T A PF PT
Green 29 6-14 2-2 5-10 1 0 15
Thompson 21 3-9 0-0 3-8 2 2 6
Hansbrough 20 5-16 12-12 3-5 1 1 22
Frasor 24 3-4 0-0 0-2 3 0 7
Ellington 30 11-16 0-1 3-8 3 1 25
Drew II 19 1-3 0-0 0-3 5 4 2
Tanner 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Watts 9 0-1 0-0 0-2 2 0 0
Wooten 2 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Davis 19 5-7 5-7 2-5 0 3 15
Moody 2 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 0 0
Copeland 7 2-7 1-1 1-2 0 0 5
Zeller 13 2-3 0-1 1-8 0 2 4
Totals 200 38-84 20-24 20-59 17 13 101
Percentages: FG .452, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 5-14, .357 (Ellington 3-5, Frasor 1-1, Green 1-3, Hansbrough 0-1, Tanner 0-2, Drew II 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 8 (Davis 4, Thompson 2, Ellington, Zeller). Turnovers: 12 (Ellington 3, Hansbrough 3, Watts 2, Drew II, Moody, Frasor, Wooten). Steals: 11 (Hansbrough 4, Green 3, Frasor 2, Thompson 2). Technical Fouls: None.
Radford 34 24 -- 58
North Carolina 53 48 -- 101
A--20,226
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