North Carolina (36-2) vs. Kansas (35-3)
April 5, 2008 at 5:13AM
TV: Ch. 4. • Time: about 7:40 p.m.
TALKING POINTS
Kansas' motivation: OK, so Bill Self's Final Four monkey is off his back. Are he and his team just happy to be here, or can they be expected to continue to play with a sense of urgency?
Big blue men: Actually, if North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough is knocking down 17- and 18-footers, no one is going to beat the Tar Heels. Kansas needs big men Darnell Jackson, Darrell Arthur and Sasha Kaun to pound away -- discreetly, of course -- on Hansbrough, who is the only Tar Heels big man to be feared offensively. Arthur can be foul-prone, and if he's on the bench for an extended period of time, the Jayhawks aren't going to win.
Guards vs. guards: Kansas has the backcourt quickness -- and depth -- to keep Tar Heels point guard Ty Lawson from dominating. But the Jayhawks also need to worry about Wayne Ellington and supersub Danny Green heating up from outside. Kansas needs for Brandon Rush to be hot from beyond the arc. If the Jayhawks get Rush and Mario Chalmers bombing away, they're hard to beat. Chalmers and Russell Robinson also need to look to penetrate and to get to the line. THE LINE: North Carolina by 3.
THE STATS
Kansas North Carolina
80.6 Points per game 89.2
61.2 Opponents' PPG 72.2
50.7 FG percent 49.1
40.1 Three-point FG percent 37.9
69.6 Free-throw percent 75.5
37.9 Opponents' FG percent 42.3
6.9 Three-pointers per game 5.6
7.1 Opponents' three-pointers per game 7.2
33.3 Opponents' three-pt FG percent 32.6
18.2 Assists per game 17.1
13.0 Turnovers per game 14.3
15.6 Opponents' turnovers per game 16.0
38.6 Rebounds per game 43.7
30.8 Opponents' RPG 32.2
8.8 Steals per game 8.2
5.9 Blocks per game 4.5
12.1 Offensive RPG 15.6
11.0 Opponents' offensive RPG 11.4
17.6 Fouls per game 16.9
19.0 Opponents' fouls per game 20.7
NORTH CAROLINA STARTERS F Tyler Hansbrough
(22.8 ppg, 10.3 rpg)
G Wayne Ellington
(16.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 41.4 pct. on three-pointers)
G Ty Lawson
(12.8 ppg, 5.3 apg)
F Deon Thompson
(8.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
G-F Marcus Ginyard
(7.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg).
KANSAS STARTERS F Darrell Arthur
(12.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg)
G Mario Chalmers
(12.7 ppg, 4.4 apg)
G Brandon Rush
(13.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
F Darnell Jackson
(11.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
G Russell Robinson
(7.4 ppg, 4.1 apg).
about the writer
Kirill Kaprizov had three assists after going two games without much offense and taking a cut to the face.
