CHAPEL HILL — X-rays on North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough’s hyperextended left elbow “showed nothing severe enough to show that he can’t play,” coach Roy Williams said. “It’s going to bother him for a while, and that’s it.
Hansbrough hurt his elbow late in the first half of UNC’s win at Virginia on Thursday, but he returned to lead the team with 28 points.
No. 5 UNC plays Miami on Saturday.
Roy Williams praised and defended Ty Lawson after UNC's 83-61 win over Virginia on Thursday. Lawson finished Thursday's game with nine assists, zero turnovers and 19 points on 10 shots.
"He's gotten a lot of criticism in our two losses that other people have supposedly outplayed him or other people are supposedly better," Williams said.
Good for Ol' Roy for standing up for his point guard. And good for Lawson for delivering an All-ACC caliber performance but a little reality check, please.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson was great during his team’s 83-61 victory at Virginia, but not quite as perfect as the stat sheet showed.
The junior was credited with nine assists and zero turnovers, so the statistician must have missed it when Lawson threw the ball out of bounds while trying to flick it to Danny Green in the first half.
“I told him we were going to count it 9-1,’’ coach Roy Williams said. “He didn’t like that, but he really played well. He’s gotten a lot of criticism in our two losses that other people have supposedly outplayed him or other people are supposedly better, but I thought he was good
for us.”
Lawson also scored 19 points.
Staff photo by Robert Willett
UNC's winless in the ACC after two games and the Earth is still on its axis. Promise. Look at the sky, it's still Carolina blue.
It might seem like the end of the world, Tar Heel fans, but it's not. Yes, 0-2 is not good, but it's Jan. 13. There's a lot of hockey left.
Five reasons not to burn those plane tickets to Detroit:
CHAPEL HILL — With the tie-dyed crowd, pre-game motorcycle and overall boisterous atmosphere before big games at Joel Coliseum, "it's extremely difficult to have that focus that you need to play in a place like that,'' North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.
But the third-ranked Tar Heels are out to prove again today they have that concentration.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina senior Marcus Ginyard went through pre-game warm-ups, but did not play during the No. 3 Tar Heels' 108-70 victory on Wednesday against College of Charleston.
Why?
“I didn’t feel like playing him tonight; he’s been struggling quite a bit and he’s just not where we wanted him to be at that time and decided not to play him,’’ coach Roy Williams said.
CHAPEL HILL — One of the biggest elements missing from North Carolina during its 85-78 loss to Boston College on Sunday night: the impact of Marcus Ginyard.
The senior, who finally returned late last month after left foot surgery, played 14 minutes off the bench last night, but he still wasn’t moving well enough to help slow Eagles Tyrese Rice (25 points) or Rakim Sanders (22).
He was also sporting a sleeve on his right leg. Coach Roy Williams’ explanation on Monday: “He took whack on his knee the day before the BC game in practice; I don’t have any idea whether that was [the reason for the sleeve] or it was Marcus making a fashion statement.”
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina has blown out its first 13 opponents by an average of 26.4 points. Its “closest” victory was by 15. And it leads the ACC in scoring offense, scoring margin, assists, steals, turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio.
So what’s left for the top-ranked team in the nation to work on, as it begins conference play against Boston College on Sunday?
Staff video by Jason Arthurs
