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Hansbrough Drives Tar Heels to Berth in Final Four

North Carolina beat Louisville 83-73. The Tar Heels will play Kansas in the Final Four.

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By
Dane Huffman
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tyler Hansbrough isn’t known for saying much in the North Carolina locker room. His point guard, Ty Lawson, says he’ll sometimes say things like, “Pick it up, for real!” and his teammates just roll their eyes.

“That’s something in the locker room that people snicker at,” Lawson said. “It’s so awkward.

“But in games, we know it’s serious.”

And Hansbrough was serious Saturday night, as Carolina beat Louisville 83-73 in the East Regional final for a berth in the Final Four. The Tar Heels will play Midwest Regional champion Kansas  Saturday night. UCLA plays Memphis at 6:07 p.m. The Carolina-Kansas game is 40 minutes after that game ends.

UNC coach Roy Williams was the head coach at Kansas before leaving for Chapel Hill, and some Jayhawks fans still feel betrayed.

Reaching the Final Four has been an obsession for UNC after Carolina collapsed last year in the East final against Georgetown. The Heels blew an 11-point second-half lead and wilted in overtime.

On Saturday – as a light-blue crowd at Charlotte Bobcats Arena thundering “TAR! … HEELS!” – Carolina found itself in a similar position.

They led Louisville by 12 at the half and were playing so well yet another NCAA blowout appeared possible.

Then that lead slipped away.

A game that looked comfortably in Carolina’s corner developed an ominous undertone. Jerry Smith kept making threes for the Cardinals, and the Louisville press and aggressive zone slowed the UNC attack.

But Hansbrough was always there. He had eight points and four rebounds in the first half but was torrid in the second.

He flipped in a spinning shot in the lane before crashing to the floor. He snatched a UNC miss and slammed it through over several Cardinals.

After Louisville tied the score at 59, he scored inside on an assist from Lawson. He nailed a 17-foot jumper over the outstretched hands of center David Padgett to make the score 63-59.

In a timeout with 7:51 left, did something even more remarkable: He spoke out and exhorted his teammates to put Louisville away.

“I was like, 'Come on, man, this game’s not over we’ve got to step it up and play,’” Hansbrough said.

Every North Carolina player knew what he was thinking – no Georgetown this time.

“He’s pretty soft-spoken,” guard Wayne Ellington said. “He doesn’t say much. When he says something, we feel like he means it and it’s time to go.”

And Hansbrough led them there. The crippling blow came with 2:30 left, when Hansbrough drilled another jump shot over Padgett. In the Louisville locker room afterward, Padgett had his arms on draped over his knees and barely looked up as he answered questions about Hansbrough.

“He stepped up and made big shots for his team,” Padgett said.

Did he ever.

Hansbrough finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds. He hit eight of his nine shots in the second half.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino raved about Hansbrough's overall game, saying that despite his years in the college basketball and the NBA, he had never seen a player compete as hard as Hansbrough.

Carolina needed everything he had. The Tar Heels had ripped their three NCAA opponents by a total of 91 points but expected a tougher game against an athletic Louisville team with a superior coach.

But Carolina attacked aggressively from the beginning, passing over the Louisville press and attacking the basket relentlessly. Their desire was evident on the boards as UNC ripped down offensive rebounds and scored on second chances.

When Louisville closed the gap in the second half, UNC – and Hansbrough – responded.

“Turnovers hurt us down the stretch, but they made some difficult shots,” Pitino said. “They’re a little bit better than us. Our guys hung tough in a tough environment.”

Carolina, 36-2, advances to the Final Four for the second time under Williams after winning the national title in 2005.

“We know this is not our last step,” guard Marcus Ginyard said. “This team has continued to show that when we need to dig deeper, play harder, player smarter, we do.

“That just shows how good this team really is. You need a team that’s tough enough to not give in and continue to push forward.”

That’s what Carolina did Saturday.

This weekend, they’ll find out if they again can pick it up – for real.

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