By Noah Trister
Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. ó Tyler Hansbrough deferred to his North Carolina teammates ó just as he’d hinted he might.This was no one-on-one matchup down low. Instead, the Tar Heels rolled past Blake Griffin and Oklahoma with a total team effort.
Ty Lawson scored 19 points and top-seeded UNC overcame a quiet game from Hansbrough to beat the Sooners 72-60 on Sunday in the South Regional final.
North Carolina (32-4) advanced to the Final Four for the second straight year and will play Villanova (30-7) in the second semifinal Saturday night at Ford Field in Detroit.
“This is what we work for,” UNC guard Wayne Ellington said. “We put so much work in and sweat in the offseason to get not to this point, but past this point. It means a lot to be able to get to this point and have an opportunity to win the whole thing.”
Danny Green scored 18 points for the Tar Heels and Deon Thompson added 10. Hansbrough was in foul trouble early and finished with only eight points, but he’d said the previous day he wasn’t going to get caught up in a head-to-head battle with Griffin.
Griffin had 23 points and 16 rebounds for second-seeded Oklahoma, but the Sooners (30-6) went 2-for-19 from 3-point range.
“One thing about Blake is I think he’s tough down low to box out,” Hansbrough said. “I think one thing about him is he’s one of the best rebounders I’ve played against, so that was very tough. I think he gets a lot of stuff off offensive rebounds, and his rebounding ability was something I think I’m not really used to seeing.”
Still, it was Hansbrough who was standing on the court after the game posing for pictures while the Tar Heels cut down the FedExForum nets. That’s a routine this program has down pat.
North Carolina has reached a record 18th Final Four. UCLA has been to 18, but the Bruins’ 1980 appearance was later vacated by the NCAA because of rules violations.
This will be the Tar Heels’ ninth Final Four in 19 seasons ó and it will be played where UNC routed Michigan State 98-63 in December. Earlier Sunday, the Spartans also reached the Final Four.
The Tar Heels lost to Kansas in the semifinals last year after falling behind 40-12.
“This team has dealt with a great deal of adversity and a great deal of expectations from other people, and they have us going to Detroit,” coach Roy Williams said.
North Carolina led 61-40 on Sunday before Oklahoma scored nine straight points, including its first 3-pointer after 15 misses to start the game.
Lawson made a couple free throws with 4:12 to play to halt that run.
“We fully believed we were going to win this basketball game today, but this is how life is sometimes,” Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. “It doesn’t happen the way you want it. I thought the game would’ve been a lot more interesting if we could’ve made some shots, but I thought we had some really good looks.”
Hansbrough was The Associated Press player of the year in 2008, and Griffin has made an impressive bid for this year’s honor. It wasn’t much of a contest on the stat sheet, but the Tar Heels set the tone by swarming Griffin early with double teams.
He didn’t score until he made two free throws with 8:29 remaining in the first half.
“That’s something we faced as a team all year,” Griffin said. “Teams might not have as many guys like that.”
Both teams appeared tight at the start, but the Tar Heels loosened up quickly. Lawson pulled up for a jumper that gave North Carolina a 13-2 lead and forced Oklahoma to take a timeout less than six minutes in.
At first, Griffin was content to pass out of the double teams, and Oklahoma accomplished one of its goals by controlling the pace. North Carolina didn’t have many early fast breaks and even tossed up several uncharacteristic air balls.
At the other end, however, the Sooners were stagnant. After a 3-pointer by Green put the Tar Heels ahead 28-16, the shot clock ran out on Oklahoma when Griffin was double teamed and the Sooners didn’t react quickly enough.
With his teammates shooting poorly, Griffin became more aggressive, scoring Oklahoma’s last seven points of the half, but the Sooners still trailed 32-23 at intermission ó their lowest-scoring half of the season. Oklahoma scored all its first-half points from the paint or foul line.
Green scored 14 points in the first half for UNC. Hansbrough picked up two fouls in the first seven minutes and played only nine in the half.
North Carolina made its first six shots of the second half, and it was able to maintain a comfortable lead even as Griffin threw down a powerful, one-handed alley-oop dunk at the other end.
UNC eventually went ahead 53-38 on a 3-pointer by Lawson.
“It’s not hard to see how talented they are throughout the year,” Oklahoma’s Taylor Griffin said. “I’ve always been impressed with them. They’re as good as advertised, I think.”
On Saturday, Williams uttered perhaps the week’s most prescient quote:
“If you say, ‘Tyler, you’re going to have eight points and seven rebounds but North Carolina is going to win,’ he’s going to be the happiest guy in town.”
Hansbrough had only eight points and six rebounds, but he and his teammates were happy and headed back to the Final Four.
“It’s a different team,” Green said. “It’s a new year, a new day. It’s a new game, and we know what our goals are.”