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 victory 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 consecutive 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 consecutive 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 victory against Kentucky on Nov. 18. He was expected to miss the rest of the season, 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.
It was the latest improved performance from N.C. State, which upset Wake Forest last week before routing Georgia Tech on the road over the weekend.
"We came out with good energy and kept ourselves in the ballgame," Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said. "I thought our guys gave a pretty good effort, but we turned it over a couple of times crucially and gave them an opportunity to get out and run on us."
N.C. State certainly fared better this time than it did last year in Chapel Hill, when it fell behind 43-13 at halftime in a 93-62 loss.
"This time," Gonzalez said, "at least it was pretty close the whole game."
Hansbrough finished 10-for-15 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line, which allowed him to pass Pete Maravich for second in career free throws. He also had his first 20-point outing in four games and passed Phil Ford for the school's career record in field goals.
North Carolina started the decisive run with a three-point play from Hansbrough, followed by another three-point play from Green. Then, after back-to-back scores from Ty Lawson, Ellington freed himself from C.J. Williams with a crossover dribble and buried a jumper to cap a 14-0 spurt that made it 53-38 with 16:22 left.
N.C. State got no closer than six midway through the second half, with Ellington eventually putting together a run of nine consecutive points that helped North Carolina push the lead to 77-59 with 6:09 left.
