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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Derrick Low used to dream about playing for North Carolina.
That's what he told reporters in a Wednesday interview.
On Thursday he got to play against North Carolina.
That must have seemed like a nightmare.
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| Tyler Hansbrough's Tar Heels tower over Derrick Low and the Cougars. (Getty Images) |
Indeed, you do.
But this wasn't a good time to have one.
Washington State's improbable two-year run ended here inside the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The Cougars kept it close for a while, controlled tempo and even held a lead eight minutes in. But then this team that was geographically out of place (2,656 miles from its Pullman, Wash., campus) started playing like it was completely out of place while missing layups and runners, stickbacks and jumpers -- all of which combined to help North Carolina close the first half on a 25-9 run that produced a 35-21 margin at the break.
And Tyler Hansbrough had little to do with it.
I should probably mention that now.
The consensus first-team All-American missed all four of his field-goal attempts in the first half -- plus two of four free-throw attempts -- and entered the locker room with two points and three turnovers. In other words, Psycho T was So-So T. But it didn't matter, not on this night, because the rest of the Tar Heels were competing like you might expect players from a No. 1 overall seed to compete, while Washington State looked about as good as its uniforms.
Which is to say bad.
These Cougars that had shot a combined 51.5 percent on offense while holding opponents to an average of 40.5 points in their first- and second-round wins against Winthrop and Notre Dame. On Thursday, Washington State couldn't score on North Carolina or stop North Carolina from scoring.
