Hansbrough leads lethargic No. 1 Tar Heels past Nicholls State, 88-78
Before coach Roy Williams or anyone there could fret, the junior All-American bounced right up and played with his typical intensity. Too bad the top-ranked Tar Heels as a whole couldn't say the same. Tyler Hansbrough had 27 points and 11 rebounds while showing no visible effects from the concussion, but North Carolina's Hall of Fame coach was seething at a lethargic performance in an 88-78 victory over Nicholls State on Wednesday night. “So much for the exams being over,” Williams said. “I thought we played better when we were studying.” Wayne Ellington added 20 points for the North Carolina Tar Heels, who improved to 10-0 for the first time in a decade. North Carolina was playing at home for the first time in a month after six straight games away from the Smith Center, but the North Carolina Tar Heels never put together the kind of romping, crowd-pleasing show that had made them one of the favorites to reach the Final Four. Instead, they struggled to defend the determined Colonels (4-8), who used a barrage of 3-pointers to hang around and never let the Tar Heels run away with it – though they never seriously threatened, either. And even though they almost cracked the 90-point mark for the sixth time this season, the Tar Heels looked a step off when it came to running Williams' fast-paced offense. Even more disconcerting was the fact that North Carolina built three leads of 20 points in the second half only to see Nicholls State come back with some big baskets to hang around into the final minutes. By the time it was over, Williams told reporters his goal for Thursday's practice would be “to see how many guys I can make throw up.” “I'm not satisfied with anything,” he said. His players, meanwhile, talked about the game as though it were a loss. “I guess as a team it didn't mean enough to us,” said junior Marcus Ginyard, who had 12 points. “I feel like everybody was just thinking, 'Something's going to happen, we're going to get back on track.' But we didn't make any proactive steps to do anything, and that's why we had the effort we did tonight.” Tyler Hansbrough's health was the biggest concern for the Tar Heels in recent days. He was considered probable for the game following the concussion suffered in the second half of Sunday's 93-71 win at Rutgers. He was hurt when he tried to take a charge and, as he fell to the floor, hit his head on the knee of a cameraman as well as the padded basket support. But Tyler Hansbrough went 8-for-13 from the field while hitting 11 of 14 free throws. He also drew two offensive fouls, including the one in which he was elbowed by Anatoly Bose in the first half. Tyler Hansbrough said he had some dizziness, but attributed that to being tired. “The other day in practice, I kind of backed away some times because I was worried about getting hit in the head,” he said. “But tonight, I didn't think I did that.” Since beating South Carolina State here on Nov. 20, North Carolina won two games in the Las Vegas Invitational, then won at Ohio State, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Rutgers. But the Colonels were the ones who looked right at home here, repeatedly spreading the floor and patiently working to get open perimeter shots off kickouts – and the Colonels made plenty. In fact, Nicholls State shot 14-for-28 from 3-point range while making just 12 field goals inside the arc. The Colonels – who lost 81-58 on the road against another Atlantic Coast Conference team, Florida State, to open the season – hit four straight 3s early to build a 14-8 lead before trailing 48-37 at halftime. Nicholls State got as close as 10 on a layup by Michael Czepil with 1:41 left. “For us to be able to come in here and be as competitive as we were, I'm just thrilled with our guys,” Nicholls State coach J.P. Piper said. “They got a couple of steals ... and I thought, 'Here it goes, here it goes, the dam is about to burst open.' But it never rattled them and they just kept playing.” Ryan Bathie scored 17 points to lead the Colonels, who were playing a No. 1-ranked team for the first time.
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