In the building where North Carolina previously won two national Championships, Penn State wiped away any Tar Heel hope of continuing down the road to a third crown.

And the Nittany Lions can credit their defense for the victory.

The intense Penn State pressure caused 22 turnovers and 18 steals as six-foot-four senior Titus Ivory led the charge with five steals and 21 points.

The Penn State offense hit some big shots in key moments, but shooting 27 percent from the three-point line and only 44 percent overall isn't going to win many ballgames against North Carolina.

But backcourt pressure by Ivory and sophomore Jon Crispin caused North Carolina star Joseph Forte to commit five turnovers and score only six points.

"They were really physical," Forte said. "You don't want to be considerd a ballhog, so I was trying to get my teammates the ball."

The kudos to the Penn State defense go all around as eight of the ten Lions who played got at least one steal and starters Jon Crispin, Gyasi Cline-Heard and Ivory combined for 12 of them.

"They deserve credit, but there were times we deserved credit for those turnovers," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said.

Not only did Penn State cause an astronomical amount of turnovers by getting in passing lanes and denying the low post in the second half, the Lions only committed 11 turnovers the entire game.

The Tar Heels and the Lions were equal with 17 assists per team, but the deciding factor in North Carolina's loss was that they doubled Penn State's turnovers.

"If we could play solid defense, we were hoping it would create turnovers," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "We simply tried to put pressure where it would be advantageous for us. Our guys really hustled. We are overmatched at different positions, but we can take advantage of some things as well."

The Lions were definitely outmatched in the front court — on paper. With a seven-footer in the middle and three agile big men in Julius Peppers, Kris Lang, and Jason Capel, Penn State knew it was going to have its hands full.

Early in the game, Haywood, who finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, was getting the ball lobbed to him down low and the big man was scoring with ease.

But after a few minor adjustments, like bringing more help from the weak side, the Penn State defense contained Haywood. Along with pushing the ball upcourt in transition, and causing turnovers, the small detail of doubling down on Haywood caused a lot of havoc on the Tar Heels' sideline.

"The inside presence was a real concern going in to the game," Dunn said. "They were very good at passing out of the double-team if we went down too fast."

Haywood was a non-factor in the second half. He had only three points and four rebounds. Penn State figured him out perfectly.