CHAPEL HILL — Seven hours before his team's game against Texas on Wednesday night, North Carolina's Harrison Barnes already was at the Smith Center, waiting for the Longhorns shootaround to end.

Roy Williams, the Tar Heels coach, had told his players to arrive at 1:45 for their shootaround.

But Barnes was there by noon, waiting to go onto the court. Williams recounted the story after North Carolina's 82-63 victory against the Longhorns - after Barnes scored a season-high 26 points and broke out of a slump, by his standards, during which he'd scored just nine points in each of North Carolina's past two games.

"He's going to pay the price and give you the effort," Williams said of Barnes, who also had a season-high 10 rebounds.

Williams had told Barnes he'd play well. Williams had a feeling. It was the way Barnes had arrived so early to take extra shots. It was the fact that a bigger-name opponent was coming in - that the crowd would be louder, the stage brighter.

"I think he's a competitive kid and things hadn't gone as well recently," Williams said. "And a better opponent, I think that sometimes fires him up even more."

Williams was right about that, and about something else, too: After admonishing his team's lack of intensity during a lopsided but uninspired 50-point victory Monday night against Nicholls State, he figured the Tar Heels (11-2) might play with more energy, more effort, on Wednesday night.

Had they? Williams answered the question with a question: "What do you think?"

"We didn't do anything like the other night like we wanted to," said Williams, who had been 0-3 against Texas during his years as head coach at North Carolina. "And we did tonight. We were more aggressive, we were alert. We didn't miss 27 free throws or whatever it was the other night. I think we were better in every phase of the game and I expected that."

The Tar Heels have scored more points than they did Wednesday. They have shot a better percentage than the 44.4 percent they shot against Texas (9-3).

But rarely had they played with more energy and focus.

"It is easier to get up for these big games," North Carolina senior forward Tyler Zeller said, admitting it's more difficult to find the passion for games against more overmatched opponents. "I think that was kind of what we're capable of."

Zeller, who finished with eight points and 11 rebounds, said the performance against Texas "was probably the most fun we've had this year."

It wasn't difficult to understand why. The Tar Heels brought the Smith Center crowd out of its seats numerous times, especially during one first-half stretch when they scored on back-to-back dunks from freshman P.J. Hairston and John Henson, a junior forward.

"We lost ourselves in the game," Henson said.

It showed, too, with the Tar Heels making their dominance seem effortless at times. Henson finished with 14 points, and Reggie Bullock, a sophomore guard, with 12. Barnes, meanwhile, scored 19 of his 26 during the second half.

North Carolina was ahead 39-23 at halftime and never led by less than 14 during the second half.

Williams was so perturbed by his team's lack of intensity against Nicholls State that he considered gathering his players at 7 a.m. the next day for what he described as a "track practice."

Instead, though, a second-half surge saved the Tar Heels from running sprints, and the effort carried over into Wednesday night.

"We were so much more gifted that we relied on that instead of playing hard," Williams said of the Nicholls State game.

Wednesday, his team was more gifted again - but also more intense and energetic.