UNC crushes Evansville, 97-48

CHAPEL HILL -- Usually, North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall said, the Tar Heels' practices on the day before games are a little more relaxed - a little "lighter," he said Tuesday. That wasn't the case Monday, though.

Monday, "he made us really get after it," Marshall said of UNC coach Roy Williams. "So we knew he meant business."

The practice Monday, it turned out, might have been more difficult than No. 4 North Carolina's 97-48 victory Tuesday night against Evansville at the Smith Center. The Tar Heels' 49-point victory was their most dominant since winning by the same margin 11 months ago against St. Francis.

After suffering a one-point loss at No. 1 Kentucky on Saturday, this is perhaps the kind of victory that UNC (7-2) needed most: one that came easily, with little stress or doubt about the final score.

Dexter Strickland, the junior guard, called it "a confidence builder."

"The loss to Kentucky motivated everybody," he said.

Strickland and the Tar Heels' other starters hadn't had much time to relax during the past week and a half. Not during a difficult three-game stretch that started with a 90-80 loss against Nevada- Las Vegas in the Las Vegas Invitational and finished with a 73-72 loss at Kentucky in front of a wild, loud crowd at Rupp Arena.

The game between those two wasn't easy, either - a 60-57 victory last week against then-No. 9 Wisconsin. Against Evansville (3-4), though, the Heels finally could take a breather. Not that Williams designed it that way.

Before the game he said wrote a simple message on a board in the UNC locker room.

"No plays off," Williams said. "Don't take any plays off."

After watching film of his team's performance against Kentucky, Williams said he saw some things on defense that he didn't like. That led to the more-intense-than-usual practice on Monday.

Which led to the rout on Tuesday night. Though the Tar Heels overmatched the Purple Aces, who trailed by 30 at halftime, Williams wanted his players to take the task seriously.

He said he told them, "Let's use this to help our team." More than anything, the game on Tuesday might have helped his team - especially his starters - get some needed rest.

"I like it when I look down there and Kendall has 25 (minutes) and nobody else has more than 22 minutes," Williams said. "And that's the way it should be. But at the same time, I wanted to get James Michael (McAdoo) and Stilman (White) and Desmond (Hubert) and particularly those three more quality time."

During its most competitive games this season - the three against UNLV, Wisconsin and Kentucky, and the opener this season against Michigan State - UNC has primarily used an eight-man rotation. Against Evansville, 11 players received at least nine minutes of playing time. Reserves and walk-ons played the final three minutes.

Harrison Barnes led five UNC players in double figures with 17 points. Reggie Bullock, the sophomore guard, added 15 and John Henson (13 points and 12 rebounds) and Tyler Zeller (12 and 10) both finished with double-doubles. Zeller finished one point shy of breaking the 1,000-point mark for his career.

The low point of the game for UNC came with 11:36 to play, when freshman guard P.J. Hairston left the game with a right ankle injury. He was helped off the court, then left the Tar Heels' bench. He returned a few minutes later with ice wrapped around his right ankle.

"It's a moderate sprain, is the early diagnosis," Williams said. "He'll probably let you know on Twitter that he won't be able to play until July."