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Turnovers key UNC rout of Penn

Jan 4, 2007 - 8:29 AM CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The aggressiveness of Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina magnified Pennsylvania's shaky ballhandling.

Hansbrough and Reyshawn Terry each scored 19 points for second-ranked North Carolina, which took advantage of numerous turnovers for a 102-64 rout of Pennsylvania.

Freshmen Wayne Ellington and Brandan Wright chipped in 17 and 12 points, respectively, for the Tar Heels (13-1), who made the most of 21 turnovers by the Ivy League squad by converting them into 31 points.

Penn came into the contest averaging 16.5 giveaways per game.

Tuning up for its Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Florida State on Sunday, North Carolina overcame a sluggish start off the miscues by Penn. Converting 15 turnovers into 20 points in the first half, the Tar Heels grabbed a 39-30 lead at intermission.

"We didn't start off the game the way we needed to defensively," UNC sophomore guard Marcus Ginyard said. "Once we started getting our pressure up, we made them really uncomfortable, and then we started getting steals and fastbreak points and things like that."

UNC put together a 27-4 run during the opening half to grab the lead for good.

"We came alive and really had a great stretch for eight or 10 minutes in the middle of the first half," UNC coach Roy Williams said.

The Tar Heels continued to pull away in the second, going ahead, 59-42, with 14:28 remaining after a steal by Hansbrough and a layup by freshman Deon Thompson.

Despite the continued rout for UNC, Hansbrough's steal was just one of six turnovers in the second half for Penn, a stat that really got the best of Williams.

"I'm really surprised that (Penn) only had six turnovers in the second half because I thought we were flying around everywhere and either getting turnovers or getting hands on the ball and deflecting it," he said.

Hansbrough finished with four steals and Terry grabbed nine rebounds for UNC, which improved to 11-0 at home this season.

Ibrahim Jaaber scored 21 points for the Quakers (6-5), who fell to 2-4 on the road.

Early on, Penn clearly was able to force its tempo on UNC, using its ball-controlled attack to find shooters on the wings for open jumpers or backdoor cutters for layups.

Jaaber hit a jumper for a 13-6 lead with less than four minutes expired and Kevin Egee's 3-pointer with 12:58 remaining made it 18-8.

However, the Quakers' sloppy soon proved to be their downfall as they committed turnovers on four straight possessions, leading to a 14-0 run by the Tar Heels. Hansbrough's two free throws with 8:39 capped the burst, giving UNC a 22-18 edge.

"We did some good things for a portion of the game, but you have to play 40 minutes against North Carolina, an explosive team," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "You want to stay away from turnovers and low field-goal percentage against this team because they get out in transition and convert better than anybody in the United States."