CHAPEL HILL -- Twelve games into the season, the experimentation continues for North Carolina.
Freshman David Wear started his first game at small forward Tuesday, classmate John Henson dropped from one of the first guys off the bench to the fifth, and coach Roy Williams inserted 10 players in the first eight minutes during the 10th-ranked Tar Heels' 98-61 blowout of Marshall.
Despite saying a couple of weeks back that he wanted to cut the rotation, Williams acknow ledged that has been a little more difficult than he expected.
"Because guys haven't stepped up, that's the bottom line,'' he said after the Tar Heels started out tight, then unwound on the Thundering Herd, outrebounded it 53-34 for the game and holding it to 27.5 percent shooting in the second half. "It's not about coaching decisions; guys have got to play. I have never in my life - never - played favorites. If you play the best, you're going to play the most, so guys have got to step up.
"Tonight, I sat Will [Graves] down and didn't start him, and he played better when he got in there - so the second half, I started him. It's really simple ... you play well, you play."
Still, it hasn't been that simple so far for UNC (9-3), which has three more games before the start of its ACC schedule.
Tuesday, for instance, starter Ed Davis had another great game (19 points, 10 rebounds), yet senior Deon Thompson (14 points, six rebounds) had another quiet one.
Tyler Zeller (18 points) and Graves (13 points, 10 rebounds) posted solid games off the bench, yet Henson, who had been the backup at small forward, played most of his 10 minutes near the end of the game - including the closing moments with the walk-ons.
But judging by what has happened already this season, that could all go upside-down and inside-out the next time the Tar Heels take the court.
"There's no question after tonight - it's very apparent, the consequences that your play has," said senior Marcus Ginyard, who finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds. "And I think some of that might have had [an affect] on Will Graves, and the way he played today. There's no question what Coach expects out of us, and he's doing what he can do get us to understand that."
Williams tried different combinations early, as Marshall (9-2) led by as much as 21-17 in the first half, in part because of a 9-0 run driven by guard Shaquille Johnson (16 points). But Carolina ended the first half with a 13-6 run of its own, culminating in a 3-point bucket from Graves (who didn't know he had been replaced by Wear in the starting lineup until just before the game).
Leading 44-39 with 19:20 left, the Tar Heels then pulled away for good with an 18-0 sprint that included seven points from Davis and five from Ginyard.
"We didn't come out in the second half with as much energy," said Marshall coach Donnie Jones. "I am a little disappointed with how we came out."
Williams, in comparison, seemed encouraged by his team's performance, although he'd like to see enough consistency in upcoming games to set a more consistent rotation, himself.
In the end, 10 players played at least 10 minutes at the Smith Center, with Henson (nine minutes), Justin Watts (four) and Leslie McDonald (three) being the scholarship players who earned fewer.
"I'd probably say, it's taken longer [to set the rotation than previous years]," Williams said. "But if you get down to nine - I can play nine and be comfortable, and sometimes I've even played 10. It's hard to play 12. It's up to them, and I believe that from the bottom of my heart."
