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Green stays hot, Hansbrough returns in rout for North Carolina

Nov 26, 2008 - 7:14 AM LAHAINA, Hawaii (Ticker) -- So far, Danny Green has made the most of North Carolina's trip to paradise.

Green hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points as top-ranked North Carolina rolled to a 98-69 victory over Oregon in Tuesday's semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

Reigning National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough had limited playing time, scoring 16 points in 19 minutes for the Tar Heels (5-0), who will face No. 8 Notre Dame in Wednesday's title game.

North Carolina will be aiming for its third title in Maui, and first since its national championship season in 2004-05.

Hansbrough did sit out North Carolina's opening-round thrashing of Division II Chaminade, 115-70, on Monday after tweaking his left ankle in his season opener at UC Santa Barbara on Friday. The Tar Heels really did not need him against the Silverswords, as Green scored a career-high 26 points.

The senior swingman kept his sizzling stroke going against the Ducks, shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 5-of-8 from the arc.

Green made his first three 3-point attempts, giving the Tar Heels an 18-8 just over six minutes into the contest. He added another basket from the arc to spark a 17-2 run that put UNC ahead, 39-14, with 5:07 remaining.

"It was a great start for us, no question," North Carolina coach Roy Williams told The Oregonian. "Danny's shooting gave us a margin early. In the first half we played pretty doggone good."

The Ducks (2-2), who shot 21 percent (8-of-38) in the opening 20 minutes, went on to trail 51-22 at the half and never threatened thereafter.

"Obviously Carolina is just a great basketball team," Oregon coach Ernie Kent told the paper. "They played extremely well. They played very well offensively, defensively they were outstanding, their bigs are good, they have shooters, and they run a great system. They were everything we thought they were. They are the No. 1 team in the nation for a reason."

Hansbrough was not quite as active as he had been when he had 13 points and seven rebounds in the contest against UC Santa Barbara. The senior forward did the majority of his damage at the free-throw line, converting 12 of 14 attempts.

Wayne Ellington scored 13 points and freshman Larry Drew chipped in 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who shot 51 percent (33-of-65) from the floor and held a 58-33 advantage on the boards.

Freshman Michael Dunigan had 18 points and Matthew Humphrey added 11 for Oregon, which finished shooting 30 percent (22-of-73).

It was a far cry from their offensive outing in the win over Alabama the night before, as the Ducks pulled away in the second half for a 92-69 win.

Forward Jovan Catron had 17 points, 13 rebounds and six assists against the Crimson Tide, but was held to just three points and six boards against the Tar Heels.

"This is definitely a big learning experience for us," freshman guard Garrett Sim told the paper. "Hopefully we can take some good things away from this - playing the best team in the nation - and move forward and compete with those other teams."