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CHAPEL HILL — Listen long enough to the pundits, experts and opponents, and eventually you'll hear North Carolina described as "explosive."

Sounds cool. But what exactly does it mean?

N.C. State found out the hard way in the first 4 minutes of the second half.

Tyler Hansbrough scored 27 points and hit a free throw to pass another legend in the record books as No. 3 North Carolina won its 10th consecutive game, defeating N.C. State 89-80 Wednesday night at the Dean Smith Center.

Hansbrough and Danny Green converted back-to-back three-point plays to start a 14-0 scoring run early in the second half as the Tar Heels (24-2, 10-2 ACC) turned a 39-38 lead into an insurmountable 15-point lead in a span of six possessions.

"We wanted to play a lot better defense than we did in the first half, and we just didn't," Hansbrough said. "So it came down to us making shots, and fortunately we were able to do that."

Green finished with 19 points, Ty Lawson scored 17 and Wayne Ellington had 16 for North Carolina, which sank 62 percent of its shots in the second half and pushed its lead to as many as 19 points.

That's all well and good, but N.C. State (14-10, 4-7) made 64 percent of its shots in the second half, prompting North Carolina coach Roy Williams to drop an F-bomb describing his Heels' defense in the postgame press conference.

"I definitely hear it more than you guys," Hansbrough told reporters. "About once every other ballgame he'll say it, and we'll know he means business."

North Carolina was never threatened by the Wolfpack's second-half shooting because the Tar Heels got to the foul line more (10-for-11 after halftime) and outscored N.C. State 16-4 on baskets after offensive rebounds.

Javier Gonzalez finished with 18 points to lead four Wolfpack players in double figures. The little point guard shot 7-for-8 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range, but he scored 16 of his points in the first half when the lead changed hands nine times.

"I thought we had a good first half," N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. "We came out with good energy and kept ourselves in the ballgame. Second half, (Carolina) made the run. We made a couple of turnovers, a couple of second shots for them, and they were able to pull away from us."

N.C. State's Brandon Costner, who finished with 12 points, scored the first basket of the second half to cut Carolina's lead to 39-38. But Carolina answered with its big run, and the Heels scored on their first nine possessions of the second half to take command.

On one of those possessions, Hansbrough's free throw to complete a three-point play pushed him past Pete Maravich into second place on the NCAA career list of made free throws. Hansbrough finished 7-for-7 and has 896, nine behind the all-time record set by Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric in 1955.

"Am I happy with my team? Darn right," Williams said, toning down the potty mouth moments after his slip of the tongue. "Because we start out 0-2 (in the ACC) and everybody's abandoning ship and these kids were tough enough to handle the adversity and some injuries. &ellipses; I'm as proud as I can be with everything except our press (defense)."

Carolina's 7-foot freshman Tyler Zeller returned to the court for the first time since November with 8:28 left in the first half, coming off the bench to replace fellow freshman Ed Davis.

Zeller, who broke his wrist in the second game of the season, got a one-minute standing ovation from the Dean Dome crowd, and a chant went up from the student section.

"Ty-ler-Zell-ler! Ty-ler-Zell-ler!"

The chant died away when Wolfpack veteran Ben McCauley schooled the freshman on a spin move to the basket for a layup that tied it at 24.

Zeller atoned a minute later. After Tracy Smith's basket inside gave N.C. State a two-point lead, Zeller scored his first points in three months, hitting a soft baseline jumper to tie it at 26.

Zeller's basket started a 13-3 scoring run that put the Heels ahead by eight points, their biggest lead of the half. Danny Green scored seven points in the run on a layup, a dunk and a 3-pointer.

NOTES: The game featured seven 1,000-point scorers: Carolina's Hansbrough (2,639), Ellington (1,484), Green (1,224) and Lawson (1,208), and N.C. State's Costner, Ben McCauley and Courtney Fells.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

N.C. STATE (14-10, 4-7)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

TSmith 31 7-12 1-4 6-8 1 2 15

Costner 23 5-7 1-1 0-4 1 3 12

McCauley 36 4-11 1-2 2-6 4 1 9

Fells 26 3-8 0-0 0-4 4 3 7

Gonzalez 26 7-8 0-0 0-0 3 1 18

Degand 15 0-2 0-0 0-0 4 1 0

Williams 17 2-5 0-0 0-1 0 2 6

Horner 26 5-8 0-0 1-3 3 3 13

Totals 200 33-61 3-7 10-28 20 16 80

Percentages: FG .541, FT .429.

3-point goals: 11-20, .550 (Gonzalez 4-4, Horner 3-5, Williams 2-4, Costner 1-3, Fells 1-3, Degand 0-1).

Team rebounds: 2.

Blocked shots: 5 (Fells 3, T.Smith, Costner).

Turnovers: 15 (Costner 5, Gonzalez 5, McCauley 2, Degand 2, Fells).

Steals: 2 (Horner, Costner).

Technical fouls: None.

NORTH CAROLINA (24-2, 10-2)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Green 32 8-12 1-1 1-2 2 0 19

Thompson 21 2-5 2-3 2-3 1 2 6

Hansbrough 33 10-15 7-7 1-7 4 2 27

Ellington 36 7-13 1-1 2-6 0 0 16

Lawson 35 7-9 2-2 0-2 9 2 17

Frasor 11 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 1 0

Davis 17 1-4 0-1 1-4 1 4 2

Drew II 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Zeller 8 1-4 0-0 0-3 0 4 2

Watts 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Copeland 1 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Totals 200 36-65 13-15 12-34 18 15 89

Percentages: FG .554, FT .867.

3-point goals: 4-12, .333 (Green 2-4, Lawson 1-2, Ellington 1-3, Copeland 0-1, Frasor 0-1, Hansbrough 0-1).

Team rebounds: 4.

Blocked shots: 5 (Thompson 2, Davis 2, Green).

Turnovers: 9 (Green 3, Drew II 2, Lawson, Zeller, Hansbrough, Ellington).

Steals: 12 (Thompson 3, Green 3, Hansbrough 2, Lawson 2, Ellington, Frasor).

Technical fouls: None.

N.C. State 36 44 — 80

North Carolina 39 50 — 89

Officials—Jamie Luckie, Ed Corbett, Mike Eades.

A—21,750.