CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina built a 12-point lead and shot as well from the perimeter as it had at any point during this early season. Inside the Tar Heels' locker room in the depths of the Smith Center though, Roy Williams didn't care about any of it.

Instead of focusing on his team's offensive success during the first half Tuesday night against Tennessee State, Williams spent halftime reminding his players of a message he had written on the white board in the locker room. It was still there on the board, written for his players to see: "Can you guard the ball?"

"That's one of his main speeches before the game," said Reggie Bullock, a sophomore guard. "Can you guard the ball?"

Through the first 20 minutes against the Tigers, top-ranked North Carolina failed to answer that question in the affirmative. The Tar Heels, though, increased the defensive intensity during the second half of a 102-69 victory in which the offense shined.

Bullock provided his share of offensive highlights, finishing with a career-high 23 points. After making six of his seven attempts from behind the 3-point line, he left the game with about 41/2 minutes to play to chants of "Reg-gie! Reg-gie!"

He wasn't North Carolina's only player who had a night to remember. John Henson recorded his third consecutive double-double - 16 points and 10 rebounds - and Kendall Marshall finished with 15 assists for the second time in three games.

In 24 career starts, Marshall has had at least 15 assists three times. No other player in school history has had more than one 15-assist game.

North Carolina (4-0) set a record with assists during the Williams era - with 32 - and shot 62.1 percent from the field, but Williams couldn't let go of the defensive lapses.

"I chewed their rear ends out," he said of his halftime talk. "Because I didn't think we were very good defensively guarding the ball in the first half. And it's pretty simple: If you're not going to deny the pass, that means that you're (playing) off the guy. Well if you're off the guy, he shouldn't drive you straight to the dad-gum basket."

His players apparently understood the message. Tennessee State (2-3) shot 44.7 percent during the first half, when the Tigers had little trouble penetrating the defense. They had a more difficult time during the second, though, when they shot 33.3 percent and found little space to drive.

In addition to his double-double, Henson finished with four blocked shots.

"It's a pride thing, keeping someone in front of you," he said. "And I think in the second half, that's what we did. We took it as a pride thing and held our defensive intensity the whole half."

Bullock and Henson were two of North Carolina's four players who scored in double figures. Harrison Barnes finished with 16 points and Tyler Zeller with 12. The Tar Heels' bench combined to score 47 points.

North Carolina 102,

Tennessee St. 69

Percentages: FG .394, FT .400. 3-Point Goals: 11-31, .355 (Moore 4-6, Conner 2-2, Covington 2-8, Thornton 1-1, Miller 1-4, Peters 1-5, Butcher 0-1, Fredrick 0-2, Cyphers 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cyphers, Moore, Bawa). Turnovers: 12 (Peters 3, Covington 2, Rhett 2, Moore 2, Butcher, Thornton, Cyphers). Steals: 6 (Peters 2, Butcher, Miler, Fredrick, Covington).

Percentages: FG .621, FT .563. 3-Point Goals: 11-18, .611 (Bullock 6-7, Hairston 2-6, Marshall 1-1, Dupont 1-1, Barnes 1-2, Crouch 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 6 (Henson 4, Marshall, Zeller). Turnovers: 11 (Marshall 4, Strickland 3, McAdoo, Barnes, Crouch, Henson). Steals: 9 (Strickland 3, Zeller 2, Hubert, Barnes, McAdoo, Bullock).

Att.-17,509. Officials-Roger Ayers, Dwayne Gladden, Ron Tyburski.