news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL -- A record Phil Ford wore at times like a crown of thorns, Tyler Hansbrough broke with a flourish Thursday night.

With the former record holder watching, Hansbrough spun off a baseline trap and banked in a shot over two men to become the all-time leading scorer in Carolina basketball history, a mark held in various levels of respect in this state. His shot to pass Ford gave him a four-year total of 2,292 points, two more than Ford's record set in 1978. He scored 20 points in North Carolina's 91-73 win over Evansville to finish the game with 2,302 career points.

The game was stopped, and the UNC center was given the game ball before hugging teammates, coach Roy Williams and Ford himself. The ceremony continued after the game ended. The fans cheered his every move. They stood as one when he left the game with more than five minutes to play, and they stood and roared afterward when he stood near center court and thanked his teammates, his family, his coaches and fellow students.

"And everybody back at Poplar Bluff," he said.

The senior from Missouri will likely become the most beloved Tar Heel of them all once his career is over. Ford is the only person on earth who knows how that feels.

Hansbrough is now the 10th all-time leading scorer in ACC history, and with eight more points he will move ahead of David Thompson's three-year total of 2,309. That in itself is one of the many reasons Ford struggled with a record he called "one of the least important in Carolina history." He was of the old administration, a point guard who ran the "Four Corners" offense that forced the game's rules to be changed. And he is credited with wresting control of the conference away from Thompson and N.C. State in the mid-70s.

For that, not the record, Ford was accorded most favorite son status. Hansbrough is the first player since 1978 to approach that eminence at UNC, not Sean May, not Antawn Jamison or Vince Carter or Sam Perkins or even Michael Jordan himself.

So it was with mixed emotions that Hansbrough approached the mark, a sense of accomplishment tinged with a sense of history. When the shot fell, there was only relief. "I was glad it was over with," he said.

He got the school record as a result of hard work, perseverance and inside baskets, the pillars of the game at North Carolina. Hansbrough came back for a fourth season to win a national title, something that eluded Ford, too. In doing so, he is now running down the greats of the game at his school, the state, the ACC and the nation.

He's done it with put-backs and free throws, rebounds and two-point field goals. In an era when scoring records are deemed suspect by the advent of the 3-point shot (22 years ago), Hansbrough has made only five 3-pointers and 787 free throws.

In this state, which produced so many strange records through the years, this one has its place. Thompson's career totals came before freshman eligibility as did the records of Lennie Rosenbluth, whose mark Ford eclipsed in a 1978 home game against Clemson. Wake center Dickie Hemric, whose long-standing points total included a year in the old Southern Conference, gave way to Duke's J.J. Redick, who surpassed Hemric in 2006 and became the all-time scoring leader in the ACC with 2,769 points in four seasons.

The arguments have raged through the years as to what would've happened had Thompson played another year, what would've happened had Rosenbluth played another year. To make the argument level, however, you'd also have to ask what would've happened had the NBA been a viable option in 1957 or 1975. Rosenbluth might've gone early, too, and Carolina would never have won its first national title. Thompson might never have played in college.

Ford mentioned all that Thursday night. He said it was always a little uncomfortable holding a somewhat dubious record. But he also said Hansbrough deserved it now.

"I'm proud to be mentioned in the same breath as Tyler Hansbrough," Ford said.

The shot went in with 7:41 left in the first half, a vintage Hansbrough basket. He spun away from the baseline trap invented by former UNC coach Dean Smith, then moved hard left before rising up, switching hands and banking in a shot that shook the rafters of the Dean E. Smith Center.

Ford shrugged when it went in, and he walked onto the floor. He'd always said it was "ironic" that he held the record to start with and not Rosenbluth or Jamison or Jordan. But there's no irony in Hansbrough holding it now. He earned it.

The irony comes next when he catches the most revered name in the history of basketball in North Carolina and Hansbrough begins to understand why Ford struggled with a mark he was supposed to enjoy a lot more than he did.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com