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Hansbrough, UNC tune up for New York City with rout

Nov 19, 2006 - 8:32 PM CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina appear ready for their trip to New York City.

Hansbrough scored 18 points as the second-ranked Tar Heels showed a much-improved effort en route to a 103-50 rout of Gardner-Webb.

Improving to 3-0, North Carolina will travel to the Big Apple to face Gonzaga in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Wednesday.

The Tar Heels did have to play without sophomore swingman Danny Green, who averaged 7.5 points last season, due to an ankle injury. However, he is expected to be back in the lineup when North Carolina makes the trip North.

"I would expect that he'd be able to play," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "I don't think he would've been able to play today, regardless of who we were playing. We didn't make the decision to hold him out as a slight toward Gardner-Webb, we held him out because he couldn't play. I really believe that he will be able to go by Wednesday and I'm hoping he can practice tomorrow."

The Tar Heels looked much better than they did against Winthrop on Wednesday, when the ranked team trailed by eight points at the half and was unable to shake the Eagles until early in the second.

"Well, we got off to a very good start with our intensity in the first half," Williams said. "All in all, the first half I was pleased. We made about three mistakes in our set offensive things, and other than that I was very pleased."

Hansbrough, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds against Winthrop, did the majority of his damage at the free-throw line, converting 10-of-11 attempts. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

Freshman Wayne Ellington scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half as North Carolina put together a 29-5 run to go ahead, 40-12, on his three-point play with 8:26 remaining. Ellington had eight points during the spurt.

"Well, I've said all year when people asked about the freshmen, Wayne has an ability to score the ball and I think that is his greatest trait," Williams said. "Every time he shoots it I think it's going in, so that's a pretty good feeling for a coach to have, as well."

Fellow first-year player Brandan Wright scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who shot 53 percent (35-of-66) and held a 58-20 advantage on the boards.

"I think our defensive play and our play on the backboards was the biggest key to the game," Williams said.

One of just two senior contributors, Reshawn Terry finished with nine points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Ty Lawson also netted nine points.

Chris Gash scored 14 points and Takayo Siddle added 10 for Gardner-Webb (0-3), which shot 28 percent (19-of-67) and committed 21 turnovers.