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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.
It shot 31.6 percent from the field while UNC made 43.1 percent of its attempts, and all coach Tony Bennett could do to pass the time was hope like hell the Indiana officials who might soon try to hire him weren't watching (especially considering another prime IU candidate, Xavier's Sean Miller, was advancing to the Elite Eight at the exact same time).
And, oh yeah, Bennett yelled at the refs some.
To no avail, most times.
"I know we're getting our ass beat, but that was a bad call."
Those were Bennett's words to courtside spectators after Aron Baynes was whistled for a questionable call late, and in fairness it was a questionable call. And speaking of questionable calls, how about Roy Williams' decision to leave his starters in until just 76 seconds remained despite the Tar Heels leading by at least 18 points in the final 11 minutes?
"Get 'em out, Roy!"
Those were not Bennett's words.
(But they should have been.)
Those were the words of a North Carolina fan who either wasn't interested in running up the score or having Hansbrough suffer an injury. Or both. But after spending Wednesday explaining how he wasn't a fan of games played in the 50s and 60s, perhaps Williams was just trying to make sure he got it to the 70s. And he nearly did -- thanks to Hansbrough making six of 11 field-goal attempts in the second half to finish with 18 points and nine rebounds in 36 minutes.
"I knew he was going to score some points, but I tried to play the best I could on him," said Baynes, who spent most of the game on Hansbrough. "I got a couple of calls against me, but Tyler did well."
As did North Carolina, and that's the bottom line from this game.
The Tar Heels did well and looked great while they did it. Ty Lawson (12 points and five rebounds) ran the break in a blur, Danny Green made shots he hasn't been making (6-of-10 from the field for 15 points) and UNC improved to 24-1 in NCAA tournament games played in the state of North Carolina.
"They're a good team," Washington State's Robbie Cowgill said. "It's kind of another level with a team like that."
An Elite Eight level, to be exact.
A Final Four level with one more win.