Hansbrough becomes UNC all-time leading scorer

Dec 19, 2008 - 5:13 AM CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- North Carolina senior forward Tyler Hansbrough became the school's all-time leading scorer on Thursday, passing Phil Ford in the Tar Heels' 91-73 victory over Evansville.

Entering the game, Hansbrough needed nine points to pass Ford, who totaled 2,290 from 1974-78, and scored the Tar Heels' first six points to open the contest.

He tied Ford with a jumper from the left wing with 14:04 left in the first half and, after resting on the bench for a few minutes, moved into first place with a turnaround shot in the lane with 7:45 remaining in the half.

"I was happy it was over with," Hansbrough said. "I didn't really think about it much before until a couple games ago when someone mentioned it to me. I hadn't really been keeping up with it until everybody started talking about it. I was just tried to get it over with so we could move on.

"When you play here you have a lot of respect for the guys that have kind of been there and done a lot. It meant a lot to me."

The game was paused as the Smith Center gave him a standing ovation.

"I was relieved," said Ford, who was in attendance. "I know I remember walking into the locker room when I did it in the first half. I remember Coach (Dean) Smith looking at me and saying, 'I'm glad that's over.' And I was glad it was over too because there was so much attention.

"As I said, I don't know how Tyler feels, but I think the scoring record is the least most-important record for a Carolina basketball player. We don't care who scores. We just want a North Carolina guy to get the ball in the basket."

Last season's consensus National Player of the Year, Hansbrough was averaging 22.8 points and 7.6 rebounds coming into the game.

The 6-9 forward scored 587 points during his freshman season, 699 in his sophomore campaign and 882 last season. Slowed by injuries at the start of this season, Hansbrough netted 114 points in his first five games.

Hansbrough finished with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor to register his 61st career 20-point game. He now has 2,302 points in his career.

"One thing for me was that I'm not usually nervous before games and I was a little nervous before tonight just because I felt like there was a lot of pressure," the senior said.

"And one thing for me was I didn't want to strictly focus on trying to break the scoring record. We had a game and I was trying to do whatever I could do to help the team. Whenever it did happen, I was thrilled and excited it was over with, but also felt very honored."