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Hansbrough, UNC roll to ninth straight win

Jan 1, 2007 - 1:17 AM CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina did not have much trouble extending Dayton's struggles against the nation's best.

Hansbrough scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half as second-ranked North Carolina rolled to its ninth straight victory, an 81-51 rout of Dayton.

Freshmen Brandan Wright and Wayne Ellington added 17 and 15 points, respectively, for the Tar Heels (12-1), who kept the Flyers winless in their last nine road games against teams in the top 25.

"We knew what a challenge it was going to be to coming in here," Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. "As I said, you are playing a team that is capable of winning the national championship, there's no doubt about it."

It was Dayton's first game since absorbing an 84-54 loss at then-No. 7 Pittsburgh on December 23.

Hansbrough, who shot 7-of-11 from the field, reached double figures in points for the sixth straight game.

Wright was also strong from the field, missing just one of his nine shots for North Carolina, which shot 50 percent (14-of-28) in the first half en route to a 34-18 lead at the break.

The Tar Heels continued the onslaught after the break, as Wright dunked and hit a jumper and Ellington knocked down one of his three 3-pointers in the opening moments of the second half to extend the bulge to 41-20.

North Carolina, which got seven assists each from freshman point guard Ty Lawson and reserve Danny Green, eventually pushed the lead to 36 points at 78-42 on a layup by Marcus Ginyard with 2:54 left. Green, who had just one turnover, assisted on the play.

Overall, the Tar Heels had 23 assists on 31 baskets.

"They're deep enough, they're athletic enough, they're big enough, they have good guard play, but the one thing I think that goes unnoticed is their unselfishness," Gregory said.

Marcus Johnson and Brian Roberts both had 14 points despite a combined 11-of-30 (37 percent) effort from the floor for Dayton (10-3), which committed 21 turnovers, leading to 25 points for UNC.

The turnovers helped key another stellar defensive effort for the Tar Heels, as they held an opponent under 53 points for the fourth straight game. A foe has not managed 70 points since UNC's 98-89 win over then-No. 1 Ohio State on November 29.

"I feel real good about what we did defensively," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said. "They're starting to take more pride in what they're doing defensively."

"What they do is they force you to make a basketball play every single possession," Gregory said. "Unfortunately this day and age there are not a lot of guys who could do that all the time and maybe a couple of them are playing on their team."