Detroit, MI (Best E Casino) - Tyler Hansbrough scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to pace top-ranked North Carolina to a 98-63 blowout of No. 13 Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
By the way the Tar Heels (8-0) are going this season, Wednesday's game may be just the first of three for them at Ford Field, home of the 2009 Final Four.
Ty Lawson tallied 17 points, eight assists and seven steals for the Tar Heels, who are winning in blowout fashion on a regular basis. Each one of their wins have come by at least 15 points. They won the Maui Invitational, beating the three teams by an average of 29.7 points to set the record for the highest margin of victory in the history of the event.
Hansbrough, who went 6-of-13 from the floor and made all 13 of his foul shots, played in just his fourth game of the season due to a stress reaction in his right shin. He's also been dealing with an ankle injury.
"The problem we've been concerned with the last two games at least has been his ankle, not his shin," said UNC coach Roy Williams. "He hurt his ankle in the Santa Barbara game and that's been more of a factor in deciding whether to play him or not play him. Sunday, in fact, at the start of shoot around on the day of the game I thought he was going to play and it never loosened up and at the end of shoot around I made the decision he wasn't going to play. It was looser today and it had gotten better for him."
Wayne Ellington also had 17 points and Deon Thompson chipped in 10 points and seven boards for the Tar Heels, who were coming off a 116-48 win over UNC- Asheville on Sunday. They now have a long time to rest, particularly Hansbrough. UNC's next game isn't until December 13, at home against Oral Roberts.
"We feel very lucky, and we were lucky to get a schedule like this," said Williams. "We played Sunday, but it was at home. They played Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and then come and play like this. They have some guys banged up to begin with, but we did some nice things there's no question about it."
Raymar Morgan scored 21 for the Spartans (4-2), who struggled by shooting 34.8 percent from the field. Chris Allen ended with 16 points for Michigan State, which was behind by 14 points at the half despite shooting 51.6 percent over the opening 20 minutes. Michigan State went 7-of-35 from the field in the second half.
The Spartans were playing their fourth game in seven days after contests against Maryland, Oklahoma State and Wichita State in Orlando over the holiday weekend.
"I think it was a lot more fatigue than it was anything else. It was four games in seven days, an NBA schedule, and I did it, so blame goes to me, not our players," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.
Michigan State has its own injury problems. Center Goran Suton is set to have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Thursday and will be sidelined 2-to-4 weeks.
Ellington's three-pointer, followed by two Lawson foul shots, extended UNC's lead to 13-6 less than five minutes into the game.
Allen's three-pointer had the Spartans within 33-29 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the half, but UNC's inside play was too much. Ellington jammed for a 44-33 margin, and his layup in the final minute provided the 53-39 halftime difference.
The Tar Heels continued to pull away in the second half, as a pair of free throws from Ed Davis extended the lead to 67-41 with 13:26 remaining. The Tar Heels led by as many as 37, on Patrick Moody's layup in the last minute.
Game Notes
By virtue of UNC's win, the ACC won the challenge with the Big Ten for a 10th straight time...UNC is 5-5 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but 5-1 in the Williams era. Prior to Roy Williams' arrival, Carolina lost all four games by an average margin of 15 points...The Spartans host Bradley on Sunday...North Carolina leads the all-time series against Michigan State with an 8-3 record...UNC is 4-0 against the Spartans in the NCAA Tournament, beating the Spartans twice in the Final Four (1957 and 2005), once in the Sweet 16 (1998) and once in the second round (2007).
