North Carolina began the season as the unanimous No. 1 in both the Associated Press and the coaches’ basketball polls, and the Tar Heels confirmed the hype by completing one of the most dominating runs in NCAA tournament history as they downed Michigan State, 89-72, in the Division I men’s championship game at Ford Field in Detroit on Monday night.

North Carolina won all six of its tournament games by double figures and registered an average victory margin of more than 20 points.

Most of the NCAA tournament-record crowd of 72,922 was dressed in green and rooting for Michigan State, which carried the torch for one of the hardest-hit states in the current economic recession.

Unfortunately for the Michiganders, North Carolina proved to be too tall a hurdle for the Spartans to clear.

North Carolina all-American forward Tyler Hansbrough ended his career with 18 points. Junior point guard Ty Lawson finished with a game-high 21 points and Wayne Ellington, the tourney’s most outstanding player, had 19.

All three players have professional hopes for the future, but they all wanted to make one more run at a national title, which is the fifth for the North Carolina program.

“I felt like it was fitting for us to do what this group just accomplished,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams told the media after the game.

This is also the second time Williams has led his alma mater to the victory stand, having previously accomplished the feat in 2005. He is the 13th coach to win multiple NCAA Division I men’s basketball championships.

“Roy Williams is not that good,” said Williams, whose team finished 34-4. “But boy, ol’ Roy’s got some big-time players. That’s what it takes.”

North Carolina, which beat Michigan State by 35 points December 3 in Ford Field, showed the regular-season thumping was no fluke. The Tar Heels opened with a 17-7 run and never let Michigan State back in the game.

The Tar Heels’ advantage was 55-34 at the break, the largest halftime lead in championship-game history.

“I just don’t think we did the things we did all year,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “When you say that, you take away some credit from North Carolina, and I don’t want to do that. It was a combination of us and them, but we need to take some of the blame.”

Senior center Goran Suton led the Spartans (31-7) with 17 points.

Semifinals

Michigan St. 82, Connecticut 73

Michigan St. – Raymar Morgan 7-13, 4-6, 9, 18; Delvon Roe 2-4, 0-0, 8, 4; Goran Suton 2-5, 0-0, 7, 4; Kalin Lucas 7-15, 4-6, 2, 21; Travis Walton 1-6, 0-0, 0, 2; Idong Ibok 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0; Chris Allen 1-6, 0-0, 2, 2; Durrell Summers 4-9, 1-1, 6, 10; Draymond Green 3-4, 2-4, 2, 8; Korie Lucious 3-8, 3-3, 0, 11; Marquise Gray 1-2, 0-0, 2, 2. Totals: 31-72, 14-20, 40, 82.

Connecticut – Jeff Adrien 5-10, 3-7, 7, 13; Stanley Robinson 5-6, 4-4, 13, 15; Hasheem Thabeet 6-13, 5-7, 6, 17; A.J. Price 5-10, 4-4, 6, 15; Craig Austrie 2-4, 2-2, 3, 6; Donnell Beverly 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Kemba Walker 1-5, 3-9, 2, 5; Gavin Edwards 1-1, 0-0, 4, 2. Totals: 25-59, 21-33, 41, 73.

Halftime: Michigan St. 38, Connecticut 36; Three-point field goals: Michigan St. 6-19 (Lucas 3-6, Lucious 2-5, Summers 1-5, Suton 0-1, Allen 0-2); Connecticut 2-6 (Robinson 1-1, A.J. Price 1-3, Austrie 0-2). Officials: John Cahill, Mike Stuart, Les Jones. Attendance: 72,456.

North Carolina 83, Villanova 69

Villanova – Dwayne Anderson 2-12, 2-2, 11, 6; Dante Cunningham 5-13, 2-2, 12, 12; Shane Clark 3-4, 0-0, 6, 6; Scottie Reynolds 6-18, 2-3, 4, 17; Reggie Redding 5-9, 3-3, 4, 15; Antonio Pena 0-1, 0-0, 3, 0; Corey Fisher 5-19, 3-6, 7, 13; Corey Stokes 0-3, 0-0, 3, 0. Totals: 26-79, 12-16, 50, 69.

North Carolina – Deon Thompson 2-6, 2-3, 4, 6; Tyler Hansbrough 5-13, 8-12, 11, 18; Ty Lawson 5-13, 10-17, 7, 22; Danny Green 4-11, 0-0, 3, 12; Wayne Ellington 7-14, 1-2, 9, 20; Bobby Frasor 0-1, 0-0, 7, 0; Larry Drew 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Ed Davis 2-5, 1-3, 5, 5; Tyler Zeller 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0. Totals: 25-62, 22-37, 46, 83.

Halftime: North Carolina 49, Villanova 40. Three-point field goals: Villanova 5-27 (Reynolds 3-11, Redding 2-3, Stokes 0-3, Fisher 0-4, Anderson 0-6); North Carolina 11-22 (Ellington 5-7, Green 4-10, Lawson 2-4, Hansbrough 0-1). Officials: Scott Thornley, Karl Hess, Pat Driscoll. Attendance: 72,456.

Championship game

North Carolina 89, Michigan St. 72

Michigan St. – Raymar Morgan 1-2, 2-2, 1, 4; Delvon Roe 1-1, 0-1, 8, 2; Goran Suton 7-10, 0-0, 11, 17; Kalin Lucas 4-12, 6-8, 0, 14; Travis Walton 0-2, 2-2, 1, 2; Idong Ibok 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Chris Allen 0-8, 3-5, 1, 3; Austin Thornton 0-1, 2-2, 3, 2; Durrell Summers 4-10, 3-4, 5, 13; Isaiah Dahlman 1-1, 0-0, 1, 2; Draymond Green 2-2, 3-5, 7, 7; Jon Crandell 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Korie Lucious 2-5, 0-0, 0, 6; Tom Herzog 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Marquise Gray 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Totals: 22-55, 21-29, 40, 72.

North Carolina – Deon Thompson 3-8, 3-4, 3, 9; Tyler Hansbrough 6-14, 6-10, 7, 18; Ty Lawson 3-10, 15-18, 4, 21; Danny Green 2-4, 0-0, 3, 6; Wayne Ellington 7-12, 2-2, 4, 19; Marc Campbell 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0; Bobby Frasor 1-2, 0-0, 1, 2; Larry Drew 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; J.B. Tanner 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Justin Watts 1-2, 0-0, 1, 2; Ed Davis 5-7, 1-4, 8, 11; Patrick Moody 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Mike Copeland 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Tyler Zeller 0-0, 1-2, 1, 1. Totals: 28-61, 28-40, 33, 89.

Halftime: North Carolina 55, Michigan St. 34; Three-point field goals: Michigan St. 7-23 (Suton 3-4, Lucious 2-5, Summers 2-6, Lucas 0-1, Allen 0-7); North Carolina 5-12 (Ellington 3-3, Green 2-3, Frasor 0-1, Hansbrough 0-2, Lawson 0-3). Officials: Tom O’Neill, Curtis Shaw, Tony Greene. Attendance: 72,922.