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GREENSBORO — This one was all about the big fella.

Yes, it's still the NCAA tournament, college basketball's grandest stage where legends are made and George Mason got to the Final Four three years ago, and blah, blah, blah.

That's all well and good. But the reality of this 16th seed vs. top seed matchup was a gritty, hard-working, overmatched mid-major program went head-to-head with a national powerhouse playing in its home state a short drive from its own campus.

In the end, Tyler Hansbrough supplied all the drama in North Carolina's 101-58 victory over Radford at the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday.

The Tar Heels' all-everything senior shot 12-for-12 from the foul line and scored 22 points as North Carolina (29-4) clobbered Radford (21-12). The Heels never trailed, led by as many as 43 points and advanced to a second-round game against eighth seed LSU at 5:45 p.m. Saturday.

In the process, Hansbrough passed Duke alum J.J. Redick to become the ACC's all-time leading scorer.

"It means a lot," Hansbrough said. "You know, I look back and think of all the players I've watched when I was young and in the ACC. All of those guys, and for me to top all of the scorers in that league, it's special. It's an honor. But still, at the same time I came here to win the game."

Hansbrough missed his first two shots before scoring inside over Radford's Joey Lynch-Flohr, a 6-foot-8 forward, 3 minutes 32 seconds into the game. The basket pushed Carolina's lead to 11-5 and tied Hansbrough with Redick's record: 2,769 career points.

"When you think of the players in this league," Carolina coach Roy Williams said, "the caliber of the players, and understand that he scored more points than anybody that's played here, that's as big as it can be. But as he said, he was trying to focus on winning a game. Tyler Hansbrough, from the first day he stepped on our campus, has tried to be the best player he can possibly be."

Hansbrough broke the tie with Redick less than a minute later. Hansbrough, already the NCAA's all-time leader in free throws made, set the ACC scoring record at the foul line.

Hacked on the way to the hoop by Radford's Phillip Martin, a 6-6 junior forward, Hansbrough waited through a TV timeout before toeing the line with 15:43 left in the half and the record in reach.

"In the timeout, I was like, 'Just shoot your free throws like you always shoot them,' " Hansbrough said. "So I tried to block everything out."

He hit them both, and the first brought most of the crowd of 20,226 -- and everyone wearing a light blue shirt -- to their feet for a long, loud cheer.

"Once I got the standing ovation, I thought about waving," Hansbrough said. "But no disrespect to anybody. I just wanted, again, to stay focused on the game."

Oh yeah. The game.

Wayne Ellington shot 11-for-16 from the floor and scored 25 points for Carolina. Danny Green finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ed Davis had 15 points and four blocks off the Carolina bench.

Lynch-Flohr had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Radford, and 6-11 center Art Parakhouski had 10 points and 10 boards.

Parakhouski's dunk cut the lead to 13-11 with 15:36 left in the half, but Lynch-Flohr missed a hook shot from the baseline that would've tied it, and Carolina's Green grabbed the rebound.

The Heels responded with a 15-5 scoring run to push the lead to 12, and they led 53-34 at halftime. Game over.

Hansbrough finished up with 2,789 points and counting, and he also tied Duke alum Johnny Dawkins' 23-year-old record for most career double-figure scoring games by an ACC player (129).

Redick held the scoring record for three seasons. Before than, Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric held it for 51 years.

How long will Hansbrough's mark stand up? Redick's coach thinks it will be a long, long time.

"Tyler had been one of the great players in the history of our conference," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Wednesday. "The fact that in this day and age for him to stay four years is, I think, really a big compliment to their program. &ellipses; Who knows who will break it? It will probably stay for while because guys are not staying the whole time."

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

RADFORD (21-12)

FG FT Reb

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

Martin 15 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 4 0

Lynch-Flohr 28 5-17 2-2 7-11 2 3 12

Parakhouski 31 3-15 4-6 5-10 0 3 10

Johnson 38 5-14 0-0 0-2 3 2 12

Thomas 36 4-14 1-2 0-7 1 2 11

McEachin 27 3-9 0-0 1-4 1 1 7

Wilder 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Mitchell 2 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 0

Jenkins 3 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Hall 18 2-5 2-4 5-10 0 2 6

Totals 200 22-80 9-14 20-48 9 17 58

Percentages: FG .275, FT .643. 3-point goals: 5-17, .294 (Johnson 2-5, Thomas 2-6, McEachin 1-3, Mitchell 0-1, Jenkins 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 6 (Hall 3, Parakhouski 2, McEachin). Turnovers: 18 (Thomas 6, Johnson 5, Martin 3, Parakhouski 2, Lynch-Flohr, Hall). Steals: 9 (Johnson 3, Parakhouski 2, Hall, Martin, McEachin, Thomas).

NORTH CAROLINA (29-4)

FG FT Reb

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

Green 29 6-14 2-2 5-10 1 0 15

Thompson 21 3-9 0-0 3-8 2 2 6

Hansbrough 20 5-16 12-12 3-5 1 1 22

Frasor 24 3-4 0-0 0-2 3 0 7

Ellington 30 11-16 0-1 3-8 3 1 25

Drew II 19 1-3 0-0 0-3 5 4 2

Tanner 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Watts 9 0-1 0-0 0-2 2 0 0

Wooten 2 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Davis 19 5-7 5-7 2-5 0 3 15

Moody 2 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 0 0

Copeland 7 2-7 1-1 1-2 0 0 5

Zeller 13 2-3 0-1 1-8 0 2 4

Totals 200 38-84 20-24 20-59 17 13 101

Percentages: FG .452, FT .833. 3-point goals: 5-14, .357 (Ellington 3-5, Frasor 1-1, Green 1-3, Hansbrough 0-1, Tanner 0-2, Drew II 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 8 (Davis 4, Thompson 2, Ellington, Zeller). Turnovers: 12 (Ellington 3, Hansbrough 3, Watts 2, Drew II, Moody, Frasor, Wooten). Steals: 11 (Hansbrough 4, Green 3, Frasor 2, Thompson 2).

Radford 34 24 — 58

North Carolina 53 48 — 101

Officials—Pat Driscoll, Doug Sirmons, Jeff Anderson. A—20,226.