Healthy Lawson is back up to speed

CHAPEL HILL -- Considering the way he's playing right now -- blowing by defenders, protecting the ball, making steals -- it would be easy to think there's something new going on with North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson.

Actually, it's the opposite.

"He looks like the old Ty," said shooting guard Wayne Ellington, whose top-ranked Tar Heels play No. 13 Michigan State in Detroit as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge tonight. "But better."

It's been a while since fans have seen this Lawson -- the one who can deal out 47 assists but have just nine turnovers; who can average 16 points a game and lead the team with 17 steals, who can dominate so thoroughly that he was the obvious MVP of the Maui Invitational.

Then again, it's been a while since he has been this healthy.

Remember, the junior from Maryland was playing the best basketball of his career last January -- including a 23-point, 10-assist, one-turnover performance at Miami -- when he sprained his left ankle at Florida State on Feb. 3, sidelining him for six games.

Even when he returned, he was never quite the same.

Despite a trip to the Final Four, neither was the team.

"It was tough because a lot of things I did before I couldn't do," Lawson said. "I was afraid to go to the basket. If I jumped too hard off my left ankle, it would start hurting again. It was just tough to try to play through that and still be productive like I was.

"... Last year, even in the Kansas game, I wasn't 100 percent."

So after "testing the NBA waters" and opting to pull his name out of the draft, Lawson re-committed himself to working on his defense (which coach Roy Williams said has improved), to making better passing decisions (he has 30 assists and three turnovers in his past four games) and making more outside shots (he's hitting 52.6 percent of his 3-point attempts, compared to 35.9 percent his first two seasons).

As a result, he's made himself even more of a threat to the likes of Spartans point guard Kalin Lucas, one of the handful of players in the country who might be able to match Lawson's RPMs.

Lawson said that with his improved offense, "teams also have got to respect my jump shot ... then I've got people coming up to me, and I can pass off to Danny [Green], Wayne and Deon [Thompson]."

Plus, Williams said, Green, Ellington and Thompson have learned to run better with Lawson -- making for easier targets to finish plays.

"He's doing what we thought he could do, and I think would have continued to do last year if he hadn't gotten hurt," Williams said of Lawson.

Lawson's biggest test since his injury, though, will come tonight. MSU coach Tom Izzo is known for a playbook full of halfcourt sets, but with Lucas at point the Spartans have been looking to speed things up, a la the 2000 national championship team that liked to push the pace after every rebound and turnover. So far, they lead the Big Ten in scoring (78.2 ppg), although they're still averaging about 18 points fewer than the Tar Heels.

And there's no telling whether they'll be able to keep up a the healthy Lawson.