Tar Heels defense smothers Cougars

Offensive-minded North Carolina pulls out all stops

By Aaron Beard, Associated Press

Originally published 06:36 p.m., March 27, 2008
Updated 12:13 a.m., March 28, 2008

Gerry Broome / Associated Press

North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, who scored 18 points, grabs one of his nine rebounds Thursday night.

Roy Williams never has stopped pushing his North Carolina team to play better defense, not even as it piled up lopsided wins and crowd-pleasing offensive displays that few teams can match.

The Tar Heels gave their Hall of Fame coach what he has been asking for in the East Regional semifinal against Washington State - and it has them one win from the Final Four again.

Tyler Hansbrough scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as the top-seeded Tar Heels held Washington State to 32 percent shooting in a 68-47 victory Thursday night, sending North Carolina back to the NCAA Tournament's round of eight for the second straight season.

Danny Green had 15 points to help the Tar Heels (35-2) set a school record for victories while continuing their dominant tournament run. The No. 1 overall seed has won its first three NCAA games by 20 points or more for the first time in program history as it chases a record 17th trip to the Final Four.

North Carolina will play surging Louisville on Saturday in an arena located about two hours from the Tar Heels campus.

Against Washington State, a team that had completely shut down its first two tournament teams, everything started with a defensive performance that was the school's best in the tournament since before Williams was born.

"We continued to talk about this throughout the year, the fact that we're tired of hearing that North Carolina can't play defense and that's going to be our weak link," junior Marcus Ginyard said. "But tonight, I think you see that this team has the capability of buckling down and being that great defensive team."

There was no room to argue with the Tar Heels' vocal leader.

The 47 points were the fewest allowed by the Tar Heels in an NCAA game since 1946.

"Defensively, we thought we were really good, but yet, let's be honest: They missed some open shots," Williams said.

North Carolina improved to 24-1 in NCAA games played in its home state.

Now they can focus on erasing the pain from last year's final game, a blown double-digit lead late in the second half of an overtime loss to Georgetown.

NCAA on CBS 4

Broadcast begins at 5 p.m. Times are approximate, and the network might join other games in progress.

Friday

* 5:27 p.m.: Texas vs. Stanford

* 7:40 p.m.: Kansas vs. Villanova