To describe what Washington State does with a basketball as "tempo" does not do justice to the Cougars' game. Or to the word "tempo."

"Waltz" would be a more accurate depiction of these Cougars' move. Their sticky defense held Winthrop to 40 points in WSU's first-round victory and Notre Dame to 41 in the second victory for the Cougars.

"We grind teams down with our defense and, once we go on offense, we grind them on offense," said Cougar point guard Taylor Rochestie. "When we play defense like we did, we frustrate teams. They were frustrated. I knew that because they weren't taking the shots they wanted."

Carolina, on the other hand, is a break-dancer spinning at the speed of light. It's topped 100 points in its first two games in this NCAA Tournament.

"There is a big collision coming," said Washington State's Tony Bennett.

To say the two's styles are not compatible is a grand understatement. Where Washington State focused on squeezing the life out of its first two opponents in the NCAA Tournament, UNC (34-2) ran its opponents to death.

No. 1-ranked and top-seeded UNC will play the fourth-seeded Cougars at 7:27 p.m. on Thursday at the Bobcats Arena in Charlotte. Carolina just won three games in the same building to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Carolina defeated Mount St. Mary's 113-74 and then beat Arkansas 108-77 in displays of dazzling offensive production in UNC's first two NCAA games at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Washington State tied the school record from a year ago with the most wins (26) by strangling opponents' offenses.

"It will be an interesting match-up," coach Roy Williams said. "In the two games this week we averaged 111 points. They gave up 40 in one game and 41 in another game. That is a pretty big contrast. Something has to give."

The danger for a team that plays the Carolina way is overly quick shots and quick misses; do that and it's 35 seconds of playing defense on each possession. If that happens, Washington State will seize control of the tempo. The game will become 40 minutes of tooth-pulling with no Novocaine for the Tar Heels.

If, however, UNC has the patience to take the best possible shots, to move the ball with the same intelligence and purpose as it did against Arkansas, to make its shots and rebound the Cougars' misses, the Tar Heels should get the lead, get its running game going and exert the kind of force that would make Washington State the uncomfortable one in this contest.

"What we have to do is figure out how to score more than 40 points a game and how we can speed them up when they are on offense," Williams said. "They hurt you with tempo. They hurt you with low-scoring games on both ends of the floor. They are controlled on offense. They get the shot they want. They are not going to let you speed them up. It's a slower tempo there."

Williams, who likes his Tar Heels to generate speed by forcing turnovers, recognizes that Washington State similarly likes to control speed by defense.

"They really, really guard you," he said. "They double down on the post. They play off some people they want to shoot the ball. They do a lot of good things. Tony has done a great job."

One of Carolina's ways of pulling this off would be getting power forwards Alex Stepheson and Deon Thompson to continue to play the way they did in Raleigh. They combined to score 53 points and grab 22 rebounds against Mount St. Mary's and Arkansas. Neither one missed shot in the second-round game.

"Those guys, they were awesome," Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said. "This time of year when you're playing one-and-done situations, guys get focused and guys get themselves to the right levels. You've got to give those young men praise for playing that way."

Tyler Hansbrough loved having the help along the front line. He said that Thompson and Stepheson can be the difference when they perform as they did.

"Deon and Al were the X-factor for us," Hansbrough said.

As Williams noted after the win over Arkansas, "We talked earlier this week about Deon and Alex giving us something at the four spot. They were 13-of-13 (from the field)."

There is one more key for Carolina: Have Tywon Lawson and Quentin Thomas simulate their performance in the first two games. That will place a great deal of stress on Washington State. The two point guards combined to pass out 21 assists without a single turnover in two games.

"I do believe (Lawson) is getting closer to being 100 percent," Williams said. "Against Arkansas was the first time since early February that I've seen him actually explode past somebody. We set a screen for him. He crossed it over, used the screen and went to the basket. That is the first time since he got hurt. He is getting closer."