DETROIT – Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and North Carolina won a national championship a season or more in the making, ending Michigan State’s inspirational run Monday night with a 89-72 win that wasn’t ever close.
Hansbrough scored 18 points, Wayne Ellington had 19 and Lawson led all scorers with 21 and also had a record eight steals. Now they can all head to the NBA feeling justified about their decision to return to college to give Carolina a fifth championship.
They didn’t want their college careers to end on last year’s embarrassing loss to Kansas in the Final Four.
The Tar Heels (34-4) were up 55-34 at halftime, breaking a 42-year-old title-game record for biggest lead at the break and setting the mark for most points at the half.
Michigan State (31-7) simply never got any momentum.
North Carolina’s collection of NBA prospects was too much from wire to wire, from the start of the tournament, to the very end.
Carolina won every game by double digits, something that hasn’t happened since Duke did it in 2001.
Magic Johnson, Michigan State’s Spartan-in-Chief, joined Larry Bird at center court to present the game ball, a tribute to the 30-year anniversary of their historic matchup and Michigan State’s first title.
From there, it was pretty much all the Tar Heels.
Spartans coach Tom Izzo tried to call a timeout to stop the onslaught with 6:45 left in the first half. His team came out and promptly turned it over – one of 14 in the first half, compared with only 12 baskets.
Goran Suton led the Spartans with 17 points, and Kalin Lucas had 14 – most scored once the game was out of hand, which was very early in this one. Michigan State pulled within 13 a couple times late in the second half, and the crowd of 72,922 – mostly pulling for the Spartans – tried to make some noise.
It was, almost literally, over before it began. Ellington had a double-pump scoop layup and a 3-pointer and Hansbrough spotted up and sank a 14-foot jumper – all in the first 4:25 to put Carolina ahead 17-7. It never got closer.
Overall, North Carolina dominated every matchup on the floor in pretty much every way. The Tar Heels were a unanimous No. 1 in the preseason and became the first UNC team to start and finish at No. 1 since 1982.
Michael Jordan was the star of that team. (AP)