North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough, who had sat out more than three weeks with a stress reaction in his right shin, played in his first game of the season Friday. He scored 13 points to help the top-ranked Tar Heels beat UC Santa Barbara 84-67, and said "I feel I'm all the way healed." Here's some more of what he had to say after the game:
Q: How did it feel to finally play?
A: "It felt good. I'm not in the best of shape. I have been off of the basketball court for about three weeks and I just practiced a couple of times. But it was good to be out there. It was good to help my team. I didn't play the best game I could play, but I'll continue to get better. ...I feel a little bit out of sync. Anybody would feel out of sync if you took three weeks off.
Q: What did coach Roy Williams say to you about playing?
A: He asked me how I felt and basically if I had any pain I wasn't going to play. ... I thought I was going to play. I practiced a couple of days. I was good to go.
Q: How did you feel about your dunk over a Gaucho defender?
A: It felt good, but everybody knows they're playing their best, I [was] just trying to come out there and get in the groove of things and help my team get a win.
Q: How's your conditioning?
A: It'll all come back once I start getting back into the groove of things. ... We just talked about maybe limited minutes or whatever. Once I got on the court, I was good to go. Just naturally I wanted to be out there. I understand I have to get back (into game shape) gradually.
— Barry Punzal, correspondent
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at 
