No. 2 North Carolina Beats Gardner-Webb 103-50 Sunday Afternoon
November 19, 2006 | Men's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 2 North Carolina led from start to finish, and used its depth to overwhelm Gardner-Webb, 103-50, Sunday afternoon at the Dean E. Smith Center.
Gardner-Webb (0-3) was playing its first top-5 team since moving to Division I and in a venue that it had nearly upset the Tar Heels just 365 days earlier. When the final buzzer sounded, however, North Carolina (3-0) had delivered the Runnin' Bulldogs their worst defeat in the program's senior college history - a span of 36 seasons.
Gardner-Webb shot just 28.4 percent for the game (19-of-67) and went to the free throw line just seven times in the game, while shooting just 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) from three-point range against the taller Tar Heels.
Senior Chris Gash scored 10 of the team's 19 points in the first half, as Gardner-Webb trailed by 38 at the break (57-19). The Kingstown, N.C., forward scored a team-best 14 points for the game and was one of just two Bulldogs in double digits - as Takayo Siddle netted 10 markers in 29 minutes of action. Jake Sims had eight points, Thomas Sanders had five and Auryn MacMillan netted four points in just eight minutes of action. No other GWU player made more than one basket.
North Carolina got 21 points from freshman Brandan Wright, 19 points from freshman Wayne Ellington and 18 points from All-America center Tyler Hansbrough, and shot 53.0 percent for the game (35-of-66). The Tar Heels outrebounded Gardner-Webb 58-20, grabbing 19 boards on the offensive end to control the glass. Wright and Ellington were both McDonald's All-Americans last season as high school seniors.
Gardner-Webb's leading scorer, Ricky McPhee, was the focal point of North Carolina's defensive scheme on Sunday, and shot just 1-of-12 from the field. McPhee had 21 points in last season's near upset of the Tar Heels, and netted a career-high 22 points in this year's season opener at Texas Tech.
GWU will turn its attention to UNC Greensboro on Tuesday, as the Runnin' Bulldogs open their home schedule at 8 pm ET in Paul Porter Arena (Nov. 21).
