 North Carolina's Brandan Wright throws down 2 of his team-high 20 points in the Tar Heels' semifinal round win over the Eagles.
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TAMPA, Fla. - Before traveling down to Tampa for the ACC Tournament, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams showed his young team last year's banner listing the accomplishments of the 2005-2006 squad.
"NCAA Tournament, that's all it says. This year's banner is going to say regular season champions … maybe it'll have a chance to say something else," said Williams.
After a convincing 71-56 victory over Boston College in the semifinals, the chances of "something else" on that banner look very good for the Tar Heels.
In the first half, the Eagles played right into the hands of one of the most athletic teams in the country with one of their worst shooting halves of the year, shooting 24.1 percent from the field on 7-of-29 shooting.
BC was down by 15 once the dust settled at the half, and never really threatened the commanding lead of the Tar Heels in the second half.
Sean Marshall led all scorers with 23 points, shaking off a tough outing against Miami to lead the Eagles.
Tyrese Rice, who had a career-high 32 points in the Eagles quarterfinal win over Miami, was held to a season-low five points, frustrated by the tough defense of UNC's Ty Lawson.
North Carolina's transition offense flustered the Eagles all afternoon, as the Tar Heels converted on an array of pull-up jump shots, easy lay-ups, and thunderous dunks. Benefiting most from BC's shooting woes was ACC Rookie of the Year Brandan Wright, who led the Tar Heels with 20 points in the contest.
Wright, a 6-9 forward out of Nashville, Tenn., has the soft hands of a power forward and can run and jump like a guard. He used all of his abilities in a strong performance against the Eagles.
"Brandan did a great job for us inside and also was able to run the floor. He can run a heck of a lot faster than he even realizes he can run and if I can get him to do it more consistently it would really be a lot of fun," said Williams.
BC kept it close in the opening minutes, trailing 8-5 after Rice sank two free throws for his only points of the half at 14:29.
Spring Break
