bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina senior Deon Thompson is the only returning starter off the 2009 NCAA championship squad, and he has watched the film from the title game victory over Michigan State just once.
Even then, Thompson said, he only watched the first half.
"I didn't even watch the second half honestly because the first half was the fun part," said Thompson, whose team led 55-34 at halftime to break the 42-year-old record for the biggest lead after the first half.
The No. 9 Spartans visit the No. 10 Tar Heels tonight (9 p.m., ESPN) in a rematch of the national title game for the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
It's the third time in the past year Michigan State and UNC have met on the hardwood. The Tar Heels beat the Spartans 98-63 in Detroit in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge a year ago and then four months later topped Michigan State 89-72 for the program's fifth NCAA championship.
"They'll be fired up, but I think we will be also," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "If they beat us, we're not going to give them any trophy and if we beat them we're not going to get another one. It's a regular-season game where we're going to try to play as hard as we can."
Even though UNC easily handled MSU twice a season ago, the Tar Heels (6-1) enter tonight's game as the underdogs. Gone are four starters -- Ty Lawon, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough -- from the national championship squad, while the Spartans return three starters -- Raymar Morgan, Delvon Roe and Kalin Lucas.
"I think just the fact that Ty and Wayne and Danny and Tyler and everybody that did what they did last year against Michigan State, having them leave and kind of passing the torch down to us," said starting point guard Larry Drew II, who played four minutes in the national title game. "I feel like now it's going to be our turn to prove that we can do the exact same thing they did last year to Michigan State."
Michigan State (5-1), which was ranked as high as No. 2 a week ago before falling to unranked Florida 77-74 on Friday, is one of the most balanced teams in the country.
The Spartans are led by an experienced backcourt, and as a team have been shooting an impressive 55.6 percent from the floor over their past three games, including 46.9 from beyond the arc. MSU's rebounding margin (+11.5) is slightly better than frontcourt heavy UNC's (+11.1) and no opponent has shot better than 41 percent against the Spartans.
"I was kind of disappointed when they lost to Florida because I wanted them to stay at No. 2 when they came here," Thompson said. "But it doesn't really matter; we're definitely all excited to play them. I know myself and Ed [Davis] and the guys who played in the game last year are definitely prepared to play."
And even some who didn't compete in the 2008-09 MSU games are ready to play. Senior Marcus Ginyard, who missed the past two games against the Spartans with a foot injury, is the Tar Heels' third-leading scorer this season and the unquestioned leader. He also understands what a test tonight's matchup will be for a young UNC squad that is about to play three straight ranked opponents.
"I'm sure they've been thinking about this for a long time," Ginyard said. "We've got to be ready to play. There's no question [that] it's going to be a big-time ballgame."
