What a win

An exhilarating - way too exhilarating - win tonight over LSU.  Carolina closed like Mariano Rivera against LSU to gut out the win and secure a place in the sweet 16.

LSU came out of halftime looking like Greece versus the US at the 2006 world championships by hitting 9 of their first 10 shots. I'm not sure if Carolina came out lackadaisical or cocky after their nice to run the end the first half, or LSU simply came out fired up, but the Tigers started hitting shots from all over the floor.

Conversely, Carolina looked tentative, especially Hansbrough and Thompson.

But that's when Ty Lawson shook off his bad toe and the bad juju.  He started by hitting two three-point shots to blunt the Tigers' new-found momentum.  Carolina finally tightened up the D a bit - led by Bobby Frasor (3 steals in 17 minutes!) and Ed Davis (9 points/7 boards/2 blocks in 25 minutes) but also Danny Green after Roy 'talked' to him on the bench. Then Ty Lawson started doing what Ty Lawson does: aggressively and repeatedly taking the ball to the rack.   

The ACC player of the year had a number of tough takes for baskets, with a few and-1s too. It was inspirational on more than one level: a guy stepping up when his team needs him, a guy excelling while playing on a bad wheel that visibly bothered him in the first half; a guy sacrificing his body on defense (2 of Carolina's 11 steals).  In the end he scored 21 of his 23 team-high points in the second half.  Great stuff from a great player.

But Lawson didn't do it alone.  Wayne Ellington was Georgelynchesque tonight, making plays all over the floor. He was 9 for 16 overall and 3 for 6 on three-pointers to finish with 23 huge points.  But his excellent shooting only tells part of the story. Ellington was strong on every part of the floor, and finished with the points plus 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot.  He was also strong on defense, and had two nice 'wall' plays in addition to the steals.  And on Danny Green's huge three down the stretch Ellington made a game-changing play when he tapped a loose ball, volleyball-style, to his teammate.  As great as Lawson was, Ellington was his equal.

Hansbrough was very strong in the first half, then seemed intimidated a bit in the second.  Still, he had his own big shot down the stretch too to extend the lead.

Those three, plus Frasor and Davis, helped the Heels really tighten up the defense down the stretch. Frasor in particular had a two important steals during the decisive Carolina run to put the game away,  The Heels eventually figured LSU out, and their oft-maligned defense came up strong in the last 10 minutes of tonight's game.

Bottom line, it looks like Lawson is back.  Five days of rest should help Ty recover in time for the sweet 16 next week  As long as he feels good, I'm feeling good.

ONLY A FEW MORE NOTES

• I hope that 3 gets Danny Green back on track. He looked very tentative today, but to his credit he took that second three to help put the game away.  If Green is on and Lawson is healthy - and tonight for Carolina that was for only about 15 minutes - the Heels are unstoppable.  
• So much for conference loyalty: the Dukies were repeatedly shown cheering on LSU.  I doubt the Devils will make it that far, but I'd love to beat them for a third time in the Final Four.
• Oh yeah, Go Longhorns (even if they are coached by Dean enemy Rick Barnes)!
• Roy did something tonight that he and Dean are usually reluctant to do: he called time out three minutes into the second half during the massive LSU run.  Tar Heel fans recall that Roy did NOT do that during the Kansas onslaught in last year's national semi-final.