UNC 83, Louisville 73
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Recap |
Game FlowIf anyone had any questions about Tyler Hansbrough being the national player of the year, I hope this game answered them. As he did so many times when Ty Lawson was hurt earlier in the year, Tyler put the team on his back--and now they are going to the Final Four.
This is the second game in a row where our guard play wasn't quite up to the level that it was the first two games in the tourney. Danny and Wayne went a combined 7-20 and 2-8 from 3 point range. And most of the made buckets by Wayne came in the first half. Ty had a better game scoring 11 points and dishing out 9 assists with 4 turnovers. However, I can't fault him too much for the turnovers because he had to do the lion's share of the work in getting the ball across half court since Louisville pressed almost the entire game. It is next to impossible to trap Ty in the open court. Don't even try it!
Deon and Alex had ok games, but Deon got in foul trouble early. Alex only played 9 minutes. Marcus Ginyard had his usual quite, but solid game.
We did very well in the first half, but Louisville battled back tough in the second. This is different than the way UNC played much of the year, not getting warmed up until the second half. Now we are coming out of the gates ready to play in the first half and have to withstand runs by teams in the second. Our Heels are tough as we showed again in this game. If it wasn't for Tyler, I'm not sure if the outcome would have been much different than last year's season ending defeat to Georgetown. Louisville was guarding us extremely well on the perimeter. Wayne couldn't get good open looks and wasn't sinking them as a result.
Now, for the first time ever all four #1 seeds will be going to the Final Four. We have a tough Kansas team next, which I feel is a slightly better team than UCLA and Memphis. If we can beat them next Saturday, I'm going to be feeling good about the Championship game. But first things first, we have to get by an experienced, talented and deep Jaykawk team. They love to run too, so it should be an exciting game!
