Tar Heels-Spartans: UNC's Rout Deceptively Easy

No. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 96, No. 13 Michigan State (Spartans, 46,045 students, East Lansing, MI) 61—What’s frightening about North Carolina (8-0) is that even when they don’t look like they’re routing a ranked opponent, that is exactly what they are doing. In the process of dismantling the Spartans (4-2), another double-double by Tyler Hansbrough seemed to be a seamless component of a methodical onslaught.

The reigning Player of the Year scored the first basket of both halves, finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds. A number of Spartans, like countless previous opponents, thought Hansbrough’s head-high shot delivery was easy to block.

This common miscalculation sent Hansbrough to the line frequently yet again, where he made all 13 of his free throws. We explained this phenomenon last season in detail in the post “Fouling Tyler Hansbrough.”

Oddly enough, there were actually people who doubted whether Hansbrough would play in this game. What were they thinking? As teammate Ty Lawson suggested Hansbrough would play in a big game on a broken leg (never mind one with a lingering sprain).

Lawson added 17 points and eight assists in another turnover-free 28 minutes for the Heels, while Raymar Morgan led the Spartans with 21 points.

While the final score looks like the demolition that it was, the Heels' performance was deceptively ordinary. Early on, they appeared to be suffering a bit of jet lag from the relatively short trip from Chapel Hill to Detroit, walking the ball up the court while reverting to a bad habit of last year—relying on jump shots in their half-court offense instead of their strength in the paint.

A few turnovers by the Spartans and two straight threes off the bench from Danny Green seemed to reignite the jet engines, and the Heels were off and running to a 14 point halftime lead. Coach Roy Williams isn’t shy about utilizing Carolina’s considerable depth, but last night he allowed his starting five to take control of the game in the latter stages of the first half. An 11-3 Tar Heel run ultimately determined the outcome of the game.

After intermission, it appeared that Ol’ Roy effectively reminded his squad that the key to their Formula 1 offense is good defense. The Heels held Michigan State to just six points in the first 10 minutes of act two, while the Spartan’s shot 20 percent from the field for the entire second half.

Part of that stat was UNC’s defense and the other part of it, no doubt, is the Tar Heel’s not-so-secret weapon—fatigue.