Heels Beat Cougars At Their Own Game

UNC Turns Up Defense Vs. Pesky Washington St.: North Carolina 68, Washington State 47

CHARLOTTE, March 27 -- The Washington State basketball team scored several small victories in its first meeting with North Carolina, particularly in the early going of Thursday's NCAA East Region semifinal before an unabashedly partisan crowd at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

The fourth-seeded Cougars shut down the Tar Heels' top scorer, Tyler Hansbrough, until just two minutes remained in the first half. They became the first team in the tournament to actually lead North Carolina, albeit by a mere two points. And, just as their playbook dictated, they slowed the Tar Heels' up-tempo offense to a crawl.

But none of this was enough against the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, as North Carolina proved it could win at whatever pace is required -- and play a smothering defense of its own -- in turning back Washington State, 68-47, before a gleeful crowd of 19,092.

"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."

With the victory, North Carolina (35-2) advanced to the East Region final to face third-seeded Louisville.

And the Cougars (26-9) return to Pullman, Wash., having earned a considerable measure of respect for their resilience against a team that was far more talented, deep, quick and resourceful.

The Tar Heels were led by Hansbrough, who finished with 18 points, and got an invaluable assist from reserve Danny Green, who poured in 15 points.

It was a miserable shooting night for the Cougars' back-court tandem of Derrick Low and Taylor Rochestie, who expended so much energy on defense they had little left on offense, combining for just 16 points on 7-of-24 shooting.

"It was freezing out there," said Kyle Weaver, who had 10 points. "We got a lot of good looks offensively, but we were pretty awful."

North Carolina had not trailed in the tournament, leading start to finish in each of its two games. But the Cougars struck first Thursday on a dunk by their burly Australian center, Aron Baynes, who did an impressive job limiting Hansbrough's impact on the score line.

Without a blue-chip recruit on his roster, Washington State Coach Tony Bennett builds his game plan around such fundamentals as ball control, relentless defense and prudent shot-making. For a stretch, that worked. A game that could have been a blowout instead had surprising shifts of momentum early, as the Cougars worked the clock on nearly every possession. Every moment the ball wasn't in the hands of a Tar Heel represented a victory.

But after the Cougars retook the lead at 12-10, Green came off the bench to ignite a surge, hitting the first of his three three-pointers and then following almost immediately with a driving layup to send the Carolina blue-clad crowd into a frenzy.

A 12-3 scoring run ensued, and the rout was on.

"That's something everybody's been talking about: If teams slow it down on us, we're not as effective," said sophomore Wayne Ellington, who had 13 points. "But we've been through that this year. We've been through that in the regular season, with teams trying to stop us from running. And they haven't been very good at it. If a team makes a shot, we're going to get the ball up and attack."