Mel Evans / AP

North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough fights through USC defenders Friday. Hansbrough, who struggled against the Trojans, must step up against Georgetown.

It appeared youth was finally going to catch up to the Tar Heels Friday. North Carolina played poor defense, allowing easy dribble penetration by USC, and showed impatience on offense, taking 12 three-point shots and hitting only two in the first half.

But Brandan Wright, who may be capable of leaping the Empire State Building with a running start from the Meadowlands complex, and Marcus Ginyard started cleaning the glass during that 18-0 run. Those two had nine of North Carolina’s 20 offensive rebounds and that gave the Tar Heels the energy they needed to win.

“We had a lot [of passion] saved up because we didn’t use very much of it in the first half,” Williams said. “We’ve got to understand they’re not machines. They’re young kids. Sometimes they’re gonna mess it up. But you’ve got to keep trying, keep plugging, keep trying to do the right thing.  It’s not just North Carolina. That other team is responsible for some things.”

Hansbrough has been North Carolina's symbol of power, will and energy for the past two seasons. He played a lackluster 29 minutes against USC, finishing with five points and four rebounds, and will have to play better than that against Georgetown’s Hibbert. The big man for the Hoyas had only three points and three rebounds at halftime against Vanderbilt. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but put his team in jeopardy when he fouled out with 3:58 left in the game.

“Once the ball gets thrown into [Hansbrough], he’s not passing it,” Hibbert said. “He’s very good around the basket. He’s very good at getting his own rebounds. I’m gonna have my hands full. We’re going to try to take it one possession at a time and make sure it’s not a one-on-one game against any player, but a Georgetown-North Carolina game.”

It wouldn’t be a North Carolina-Georgetown game without the players who can make those one-on-one plays. Green has proved he can do it. So can Wright. It might be Hansbrough or Hibbert. It might be Ty Lawson or Jonathan Wallace.

There are plenty of candidates in this game. We already know not to count either team out until the end. A new generation of players might be talking about this game 25 years down the road. If they are, it really shouldn’t surprise anybody.

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