UNC TOPS OSU

NO. 6 NORTH CAROLINA 77, NO. 15 OHIO STATE 73

Man, we hate it when Dickie V is right and last night he was right on two occasions.

At one point with the Buckeyes trailing the 2009 NCAA Divison 1 Men's basketball National Champion University of North Carolina Tar Heels by double digits, His V-ness said OSU was not “out of the game.” He was right.

On a later occasions, he said Ol’ Roy got exactly what he wanted out of this not-nearly-as-close as it looked final score game by testing his young players with a tight finish and earning a good win against a ranked opponent while still having enough things to yell at them about at practice today. Check, check and CHECK.

The Tar Heels led by double digits for most of the game (32 minutes), and when senior Marcus Ginyard made another rainbow three-pointer with 1:39 to make it 71-60, the game seemed over. But, the experienced Buckeyes kept coming while the inexperienced Tar Heels kept making turnovers and missing free throws.

In the end sophomore guard Larry Drew II sank a pair at the charity stripe to propel the Heels into the 2K Sports Classic - Coaches vs. Cancer finals tonight against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden.

Deon Thompson led the Heels with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Eleven Carolina players scored while committing 19 turnovers.