CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina once again had the high-scoring offense that hardly anyone can stop — and the defense that struggled to get a stop itself.
Sure, Tyler Hansbrough and the third-ranked Tar Heels had little trouble outscoring North Carolina State in an 89-80 win on Wednesday night. But as they enter the final weeks of the regular season, they are still showing their up-and-down ways on defense that have them hearing questions about whether their D is good enough for a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
Hansbrough scored 27 points while Danny Green added 19 for the Tar Heels (24-2, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who pulled away in the second half to win their 10th straight game. North Carolina shot 55 percent and led by 19 points in the second half to improve to 12-1 against its nearby rival since Roy Williams took over at his alma mater before the 2003-04 season.
But Williams wasn't happy with that defense, which allowed the Wolfpack (14-10, 4-7) to shoot 64 percent after halftime and 54 percent for the game.
"That's one of the first things he said to us, that they shot 64 percent," junior Wayne Ellington said. "They shot way too high a percentage on us. We outscored them. But when we're getting into games where teams are just as gifted offensively and can score right with us, we're not going to win those games. We've got to get teams' percentages down."
The Tar Heels' iffy defense overshadowed their latest strong showing at the other end of the court. Four starters scored at least 16 points, and North Carolina scored on nine straight possessions to turn a three-point halftime lead into a comfortable margin early in the second half.
North Carolina hit 20 of 32 shots (63 percent) in the second half. The defense, however, wasn't what Williams would have liked, allowing the Wolfpack to shoot such a high percentage even as the Tar Heels pulled away.
"We were able to withstand the fact that we didn't do a very good job of guarding them on the other end," he said.
Simply put, it seemed North Carolina was back to the mentality of outscoring an opponent instead of building on some tough defensive play that has surfaced in stretches. The players knew it, even as they seem a little tired of all the questions about defense.
North Carolina entered with the ACC's fifth-best field-goal percentage defense, and was ninth in defending the 3-point shot.
"I guess we just have to stop talking about it and do it and prove ourselves," Hansbrough said with a chuckle. "And then we'll probably have to talk about how our defense is improved."
The Tar Heels got a boost with the return of Tyler Zeller, the 7-foot freshman who suffered a broken left wrist late in the win against Kentucky on Nov. 18. He was expected to miss the rest of the year, but recently returned to limited practice before entering the game to a standing ovation with 8:28 left in the first half. He finished with two points and three rebounds in eight minutes.
Javi Gonzalez scored 18 points to lead the Wolfpack, with 16 coming in the first half on 6-for-6 shooting. He also hit all four of his 3-point tries, part of his team's 11-for-20 effort from behind the arc.
NO. 5 MEMPHIS 90, SMU 47: At Memphis, Tenn., Shawn Taggart scored 19 points and Doneal Mack added 15 points as No. 5 Memphis cruised to its 17th straight win. Robert Dozier had 14 points, and Tyreke Evans and Antonio Anderson each scored 13 for the Tigers (23-3, 11-0 Conference USA), who extended their winning streak in the conference to 53 games.
Paul McCoy led SMU (7-17, 1-10) with 17 points, while Derek Williams added 11.
Memphis, which entered the game holding opponents to an average of 37.6 percent shooting from the field, limited SMU to 31 percent (17-for-55).
NO. 7 LOUISVILLE 94, PROVIDENCE 76: At Louisville, Ky., Terrence Williams had 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds as No. 7 Louisville overcame a shaky first half. Edgar Sosa led the Cardinals (20-5, 11-2 Big East) with 18 points, Samardo Samuels added 17 and Earl Clark had 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Louisville moved into a three-way tie for second place in the conference with No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 10 Marquette behind No. 1 Connecticut.
Providence (16-10, 8-6) was hoping to put a signature win on its NCAA tournament resume, but had no answer in the second half. Jonathan Kale, Sharaud Curry and Weyinmi Efejuku had 15 points each for the Friars, who couldn't sustain the strong shooting that carried them to a slim halftime lead.
NO. 8 WAKE FOREST 87, GEORGIA TECH 69: At Winston-Salem, N.C., James Johnson had 24 points and 11 rebounds and No. 8 Wake Forest avenged its worst loss of the season. Less than three weeks after the Yellow Jackets stunned the Demon Deacons for their only Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season, Wake Forest saw a 23-point lead cut to five before pulling away behind Johnson's dominance inside. Jeff Teague added 15 points for Wake Forest (20-4, 7-4), freshman Al-Farouq Aminu scored 14 and got the better of his older brother, Georgia Tech senior Alade Aminu, who was held to nine points.
Lewis Clinch hit six 3-pointers and scored 24 points and Iman Shumpert added 14 for Georgia Tech (10-15, 1-11), which has lost five straight and 10 of 11.
NO. 15 KANSAS 72, IOWA ST?E 55: At Lawrence, Kan., Cole Aldrich had 22 points and 11 rebounds, helping No. 15 Kansas extend the nation's longest home-winning streak to 38 games. Sherron Collins added 22 points and six assists for the Jayhawks (21-5, 10-1 Big 12), who overcame 18 mostly-sloppy turnovers to reach 10 conference wins for the 15th straight season. Kansas made up for the offensive lapses with another superb defensive game, holding Iowa State to 32 percent shooting.
Iowa State (13-13, 2-9) fell behind by 17 in the first half and never fully recovered. The Cyclones made a brief rally early in the second half, but shot 10-of-26 from 3-point range to lose their 14th straight conference road game.
Craig Brackens had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Jamie Vanderbeken added 15 points for the Cyclones.
PENN STATE 38, NO. 18 ILLINOIS 33: At Champaign, Ill., Talor Battle made four free throws in the final 16 seconds to lead Penn State. Battle finished with 11 points for the Nittany Lions (19-8, 8-6 Big Ten), who committed 13 turnovers and made just 28 percent of their shots. The 18th-ranked Illini (21-6, 9-5) were no better, shooting 30 percent (15-for-50) and committing 15 turnovers.
Chester Frazier and Trent Meacham had seven points each to lead Illinois.
The teams combined for the lowest-scoring game in NCAA Division I since Dec. 14, 2005, when Monmouth beat Princeton 41-21.
WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE 63, NO. 21 BUTLER 60: At Milwaukee, Avery Smith had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee appeared to benefit from a clock malfunction in the closing seconds. With 5.9 seconds left, Butler's Gordon Hayward passed the ball to Willie Veasley behind the baseline and the clock appeared to start prematurely. Veasley passed the ball to Zach Hahn, who never got a shot off before time expired.
Officials looked at a replay, but said they couldn't determine if the clock started early and ruled the game was over, giving Wisconsin-Milwaukee (15-11, 10-6 Horizon League) the win.
The Bulldogs (22-4, 13-3 ) have consecutive losses for the first time in more than three years — a span of 111 games.
NO. 23 LSU 72, ARKANSAS 69: At Fayetteville, Ark., Marcus Thornton scored 28 points and made a key defensive play in the final minute to help No. 23 LSU rally past Arkansas. The Tigers (22-4, 10-1 Southeastern Conference), in the Top 25 this week for the first time in more than two years, trailed by 18 points in the first half, but they used an 11-1 run in the final minutes to win their seventh straight.
Arkansas (13-11, 1-10) was led by Courtney Fortson, who returned from a one-game suspension to score 17 points, all in the second half. Rotnei Clarke also scored 17.