Schonhose

For the second straight year North Carolina has made it to the Final Four. In last nights game the Heels won from Oklahoma, 72 – 60.

Even though Tyler Hansbrough only scored 8 points and got into foul trouble early, the rest of the team picked up the slack. Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added another 18 points for the Heels. By placing effective double-teams on Blake Griffin, the nation’s best player, the Heels were able to get Oklahoma out of rhythm. Even though Griffin scored 23 points with 16 rebounds for Oklahoma, the rest of the team was cold from the floor (2-for-19 from 3-point range).

Next game is against Villanova on the 4th of April.

UNC easily defeated Gonzaga last night, winning by a margin of 21 points. Conzaga came as close as 11 points, mostly due to the poor shot selection of North Carolina. After a time-out North Carolina went on a 12-0 run and after that it was an easy cruise to victory.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points, still playing through the toe injury. It seems it doesn’t bother him much anyways, so thats a good thing for the Heels. He also came up one assist short of a double double. Tyler Hansbrough notched a double double, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds (leading the Heels in both rebounds and scores). Danny Green and Wayne Ellington dropped 13 and 19 points respectively.

Next up the game against Oklahoma this sunday.

In yesterdays news there was this report about an Afghan suicide bomber who accidentally blows himself up along with 6 other militants (Reuters). First thing I had to think of was this sketch by Jeff Dunham called “Achmed the dead terrorist”. Here is the clip from Youtube:

(I have to say I had a good laugh when I read the news. Good riddance!!!)

Ty Lawson proved he was tough, playing in his first game after injuring his toe during practice a few weeks back. He finished the game with 23 points, scoring 21 in the second half of the game, as UNC holds off LSU for a 84 – 70 win last Saturday.

Tyler Hansbrough added 15 points, but scored only once in the second half. However, freshman Ed Davis added 9 points and 7 rebounds from the bench. Next game is against the winner of the Gonzaga-Western Kentucky game. After two games in Greensboro, N.C. the game will now shift to Memphis, Tenn. Let’s hope a lot of fans will support UNC in Memphis like they did in Greensboro.

Right from the opening tip UNC played with a lot of intensity despite point guard Ty Lawson still being out with a toe injury. Before the game it was announced Tyler Hansbrough needed 3 more points to become the ACC all-time leading scorer. It took about 3-4 minutes into the game before Tyler converted a layup to tie the score. After getting fouled he earned a trip to the line where he made both shots to become the All-time leading scorer. He would finish with 22 points with 12-for-12 from the foulline.

Roy Williams said after the game: “The pace of the game, and the number of big guys that we could run in there perhaps tired them out a little bit. That’s what we try to do all the time, try to make the pace and stamina a question mark.” It sure was fun to watch (that is, right up to the point where my internet connection wasn’t working anymore )

One guy that has impressed me (all season) was Ed Davis, the freshman from Richmond, VA. He has developed into a real nice presence underneath the basket, finishing the game with 15 points and 4 blocked shots in 19 minutes of burn. Danny Green managed to notch a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Wayne Ellington came two rebounds short to achieve the double-double.

UNC cruised to an easy victory: 101 – 58 and will play the next game on saturday against LSU. Lets hope Ty will be able to play in that game, he’ll be a welcome addition.