DETROIT -- North Carolina defeated Villanova 83-69 in Saturday night's second semifinal at the 2009 Final Four at Ford Field.
The Tar Heels advanced to play Michigan State in Monday night's NCAA championship game.
HOW THE GAME WAS WON: North Carolina flexed its balance, with four-time All-American Tyler Hansbrough posting a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. When the Wildcats paid too much attention inside, the Tar Heels' perimeter shooters made them pay.
The Tar Heels made 50 percent of their 3-point attempts (11 of 22), with Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington combining to make seven.
Overall, though, UNC coach Roy Williams couldn't have been too thrilled about his team's 14-point victory. The Tar Heels were outrebounded by a 53-48 margin and they had one of the worst games of their season at the foul line (22-of-37).
TURNING POINT: Villanova trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, but it cut UNC's lead to 49-40 at the half.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a quick 5-1 run, which cut the Tar Heels' lead to 50-45 with 18:11 to play. But then Villanova missed its next eight shots, falling back behind by 13 points just a few minutes later.
UNC forward Danny Green ended the Wildcats' comeback hopes with a 3-pointer that made the score 58-45 with 15:22 to play. Villanova got as close as 12 points in the final five minutes, but was never able to mount a serious comeback.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: UNC guard Wayne Ellington grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood, which is just a few miles from the Villanova campus. The Wildcats desperately tried to sign Ellington, even hiring his high school coach as an assistant.
But Ellington ended up signing with the Tar Heels, and he reminded the Wildcats of his sometimes spectacular shooting skills Saturday night. Against his hometown school, Ellington scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He shot 7-for-14 from the floor, including 5-for-7 on 3-pointers.
PLAYER OF THE GAME II: Ellington and UNC point guard Ty Lawson really caused Villanova's guard-oriented lineup some serious problems. Lawson continued his sizzling play in the NCAA tournament, scoring 22 points with eight assists and seven rebounds.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Wildcats shot only 5-for-27 on 3-pointers, or 18.5 percent. The Tar Heels made 50 percent of their 3-point attempts, going 11-for-22 from beyond the 3-point arc.
STAT OF THE GAME II: Do you think the Tar Heels will be working on foul shots on Sunday? UNC made only 22 of 37 foul shots in the game, or 59.5 percent. Lawson missed 7 of 17 foul shots and Hansbrough missed 4 of 12.
DID YOU KNOW? Starting with the 2005 NCAA tournament, nine of the past 10 semifinal games at the Final Four have been decided by 10 points or more. The only exception was Ohio State's 67-60 victory over Georgetown at the 2007 Final Four in Atlanta.
HALFTIME ANALYSIS: The Tar Heels had a 49-40 lead at the half at Ford Field.
HOW THE HALF WAS WON: North Carolina came out sizzling against Villanova's match-up zone, making six of its first 11 3-pointers to take a 43-27 lead with 6:45 to play. Guards Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington were both accurate from beyond the 3-point line, along with forward Danny Green.
Villanova's guards struggled for much of the half, until the Wildcats made a late run to cut UNC's lead to nine points at the half. It could have been much worse for Villanova, which shot only 39 percent from the floor, including 2-for-12 on 3-pointers.
TURNING POINT: Villanova stayed close to the Tar Heels for a few minutes in the beginning, cutting UNC's lead to 10-8 on forward Dante Cunningham's dunk with 15:38 to go.
But the Tar Heels went on a 9-0 run from there, taking a 19-8 lead on Deon Thompson's layup with 13:11 to play.
Villanova never got closer than eight points during the rest of the half.
PLAYER OF THE HALF: Villanova has had few answers for UNC senior Tyler Hansbrough, who scored 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting. The four-time All-American also grabbed five rebounds and went 6-for-8 on foul shots.
PLAYER OF THE HALF II: UNC junior Wayne Ellington, a native of suburban Philly, hurt Villanova a bunch during the first half. Ellington scored 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists.
STAT OF THE HALF: The Tar Heels shot 54.5 percent on 3-pointers, making 6 of 11 attempts in the first 20 minutes. The Wildcats shot only 2-for-12 from beyond the 3-point line.
THREE THINGS NORTH CAROLINA HAS TO DO TO WIN:
1. Keep feeding the basketball to Hansbrough. The Wildcats are having a lot of problems containing him.
2. Keep finding Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green on the perimeter. The Wildcats are spending so much time worrying about Hansbrough that UNC's perimeter players are getting a lot of open shots. The Tar Heels need to keep kicking the ball outside.
3. Stay in front of Scottie Reynolds. The Tar Heels did a terrific job defending him until late in the half, when he started to drive to the basket for easy shots.
THREE THINGS VILLANOVA HAS TO DO TO WIN:
1. Make some 3-pointers. The Wildcats don't rely on 3-pointers too much, but they'll have to do better than 2-for-12 in the second half to have a chance to win.
2. Take better care of the basketball. Villanova turned it over seven times in the first half, which is too many against a team like UNC.
3. Keep getting back on defense. The Tar Heels scored only two fast-break points in the first half, a very low total for a team that loves to score in transition.
Mark Schlabach covers college basketball and college football for ESPN.com. You can contact him at schlabachma@yahoo.com.