UNC 89, NCCU 42

And the long, slow march towards a respectable opponent continues.

With 12:20 to play in the first half, Central was down by only four points with the ball; they drew up a play that resulted in a missed dunk and didn't score for the next 8:12. UNC finished the half with a 30-3 run, and after that, it was just a showcase to see what various players can do.

The immediate question, of course, is how the freshmen played. But even with an entire half of the game pplaye with the outcome no longer in doubt, Williams kept the freshman on the leash. Only Dexter Strickland had more than thirteen minutes of playing time, in which he managed nine points, three assists, and two turnovers. John Henson struggled from the floor, but had 3 of the Heels' nine blocks and looked to settle in towards the end of the game, while David Wear through himself around the court with abandon, in ways that didn't appear in the box score but bailed the Heels out of more than a few situations. He was the only freshman to not have a turnover, and came back from a rolled ankle to rack up the same amount of playing time as much of the second team.

But for the most part, it was the upperclassmen who were on the court for much of big lead, with Marcus Ginyard taking a clear leadership role on his was to 17 points, and Thompson and Zeller rounding out the high scorers. Otherwise, it was the same as Monday's game – a defense that racked up the steals (10) and blocks (9) and an offense that was way too free with their own turnovers (19) as they ran the other team to exhaustion. There's one more of these sort of games, Valparaiso, before the opponents get serious in New York. There we'll be able to get a truer measure of this team.