Hansbrough makes victorious return home

~ North Carolina cruised to a 69-48 victory over St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS -- Tyler Hansbrough was greeted by his grandmother as he walked off the team bus, spent some time visiting with his brothers and sisters, and then got to work.

North Carolina's star sophomore forward had 15 points and matched his career best with 13 rebounds, making his homecoming a big success in the second-ranked Tar Heels' 69-48 victory over Saint Louis on Friday night.

"It's a lot of pressure on a youngster to come back home and have half the town up here from Poplar Bluff," coach Roy Williams said. "Everybody expected him to score 80 and get every rebound and shut out his man."

Danny Green added 14 points and Brandan Wright and Ty Lawson each had 12 for the Tar Heels (10-1), who pulled away from a one-point halftime lead. The result was a convincing win in the program's first game in St. Louis since Williams led them to the NCAA title here in 2005.

The game drew a record sellout crowd of 22,539 to the Scottrade Center, and it was bolstered by several thousand Carolina-blue wearing faithful that nearly turned it into a neutral site. Among the crowd were about 3,000 fans from Hansbrough's hometown of Poplar Bluff, Mo., a town of about 16,000 near the Missouri boot heel.

"A lot of people who watched me in high school got a chance to see me play in college, which is really great for them," Hansbrough said. "I'm really glad we got to come here and play."

All the visiting fans did not surprise the Billikens, who lost for the first time in six home games.

"I guess we kind of expected it with Hansbrough coming back so close to his hometown," guard Kevin Lisch said.

Ian Vouyoukas had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Saint Louis (9-3). He guarded Hansbrough much of the game, getting help from double- and triple-teaming near the basket.

Hansbrough hoped his homecoming wouldn't be a distraction and he helped settle down North Carolina, scoring on a putback on the third shot of a possession after the Tar Heels had missed their first six shots combined with two turnovers. He earned his third double-double.