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UNC Basketball: Redemption for 2009 Tar Heels completed in win over Michigan State

By Zack Pearson

DETROIT - APRIL 06: Wayne Ellington #22, Tyler Hansbrough #50 and Danny Green #14 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate with their teammates after they won 89-72 against the Michigan State Spartans during the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship game at Ford Field on April 6, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT - APRIL 06: Wayne Ellington #22, Tyler Hansbrough #50 and Danny Green #14 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate with their teammates after they won 89-72 against the Michigan State Spartans during the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship game at Ford Field on April 6, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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We take a look back at the North Carolina Tar Heels’ national championship in 2009 as they earned some redemption

We often use the word ‘redemption’ when talking about the 2016-17 North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team that beat Gonzaga to claim the program’s sixth national championship. And rightfully so as it came a year after that team lost in the title game to Villanova on a buzzer beater.

But for today’s look back, we are turning back the clock to 11 years ago when the 2009 Tar Heels’ team earned some redemption of their own.

All No. 1 seeds in the 2008 NCAA Tournament reached the Final Four, setting up what would be a classic run of games over the three-day stretch. North Carolina was set to take on Kansas while Memphis battled UCLA in San Antonio.

For the Tar Heels, they matched up against a good Kansas team as Roy Williams went up against his former team for the first time. UNC got off to a slow start as the Jayhawks jumped out to a 28-point lead with just over five minutes left in the first half. UNC then cut that lead down to just four with 5:21 left in the game. But Kansas proved to be too much and pulled away again for a 84-66 win to send them to the title game where they would win it all.

That UNC team was flat out stacked. They would return all of their core players including Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Danny Green for another year plus added Tyler Zeller in 2009.

UNC entered that 2009 season as the favorites to win it all and when it came time for the NCAA Tournament, they cruised. The Tar Heels won every game in that 2009 NCAA Tournament by double-digits and their average margin of victory was 20.2 PPG. That included a dominant 89-72 win over Michigan State in the title game.

Check out some highlights below:

https://twitter.com/UNC_Basketball/status/1247204167971528705

That was one of our favorite UNC teams of all time as they flat out dominated that season en-route to the title. It was great to see them get their redemption that season and capture a title to wrap up the career of Hansbrough.

Next. Bubba Cunningham joins NCAA Basketball Committee. dark

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