bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- Former North Carolina standout Tyler Hansbrough will be on hand tonight to see his No. 50 jersey retired at halftime of the Duke-UNC game at the Smith Center.
The 2007-08 national player of the year will be just the eighth UNC player to have his jersey retired and the first since Antawn Jamison, who was the unanimous player of the year in 1997-98, had his No. 33 jersey retired in 2000.
Hansbrough was a first-round draft pick by the Indianapolis Pacers in 2009 but has been out since Jan. 16 with an inner ear infection.
"One of these days when I'm sitting back in the golf cart waiting for my time to tee it up, I'm going to think how special it was to coach Tyler Hansbrough," UNC coach Roy Williams said Tuesday. "I'm going to think about how lucky I was to coach Tyler Hansbrough.
"I'm going to think how effective he was for himself and for our team because he set the standard. ... He set a standard for four years for everybody that stepped out onto the court. And even some of his own teammates, no all of his teammates, at some time were in awe of what he did."
Hansbrough broke many school records while at UNC and is the ACC's career scoring leader with 2,872 points. He also broke Sam Perkins' record for career rebounds (1,219).
Hansbrough was the only ACC player to earn first-team All-American and first-team All-ACC honors in each of his four seasons and holds the NCAA record for most free throws (982) and is second in free throw attempts (1,241).
Only national players of the year get their jerseys retired, but the criteria to have a jersey honored include ACC player of the year, first- or second-team All-American, MVP of a national championship team, most outstanding player of Final Four and Olympic gold medalist.
"You can't say enough about Tyler Hansbrough," UNC junior Will Graves said. "I thought the crowd was already going to be rocking, but with Tyler here, the roof might come off from the screaming."
