Tar Heels make early statement, lot of shots
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
RALEIGH, N. C. - Arkansas got a big defensive stop - Vincent Hunter's block of a Tyler Hansbrough shot - on the first possession of Sunday's game.
Then the Razorbacks stopped next to nothing else as No. 1 seed North Carolina rolled at the RBC Center.
Mere minutes into Sunday's NCAA East Regional secondround game, the top-ranked Tar Heels had seized control thanks to smooth-as-silk shooting and the ninth-seeded Razorbacks'self-destruction on offense. The end result was a 108-77 Tar Heels victory, complete with 67. 7 percent shooting. But for all intents and purposes, the game was over before the first media timeout.
"We were pretty doggone good,"North Carolina Coach Roy Williams conceded.
"It is a game of runs,"Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. "We're still waiting on ours."
The Tar Heels scored on seven consecutive possessions to spring ahead 16-4, then went on a 17-7 spree by cashing in on eight consecutive trips to jump ahead 33-11 and break the game wide open before the midway point of the first half.
"We came out and we were just running the ball real well,"said Hansbrough, the Tar Heels'All-American.
"Ty Lawson hit the first shot and got the momentum going,"Arkansas forward Darian Townes said. "They were just hot all around."
Lawson scored the game's first points with a three-pointer at the 18: 54 mark and added a second three-pointer three-and-a-half minutes later while Hansbrough was scrapping for six points on the inside.
"Carolina came out with great focus and high intensity,"Arkansas swingman Sonny Weems said. "They got out on us on the defensive end and they just played well all around."
As North Carolina took a 9-0 lead, the Razorbacks were contributing to their own demise. Patrick Beverley and Weems missed open three-pointers, Weems had a ball simply slip from his hands out of bounds, Townes missed a pair of free throws and Weems bounced an inbounds pass off the leg of Hunter for another turnover in the opening three minutes.
North Carolina led 33-11 before committing its first turnover, a traveling violation against Deon Thompson, who otherwise was hitting every shot he took.
The Tar Heels were in command at 46-21 in the last three minutes of the half before Arkansas scored on consecutive possessions, courtesy of a slip and fall turnover by North Carolina's Marcus Ginyard on the midcourt NCAA logo and Weems' unchecked slam at the other end.
"We tried to keep it simple with the game plan,"Pelphrey said. "We wanted to focus on two things: Get back in transition and rebound the basketball.... At halftime they probably had 24 points in those areas."
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