An easy 97-48 victory against Evansville allowed the No. 4 North Carolina basketball team to return to its fundamentals.

The North Carolina men’s basketball team has been hyped since it was announced in April that all five starters would be returning to Chapel Hill for the 2011-12 season. But Friday at the Dean Smith Center, the newest Tar Heel squad will take the court for the first time together.

Dexter Strickland consistently has the toughest job on the defensive end of the basketball court. But for his hard-nosed defense on good players, Strickland doesn’t get the recognition like some of his teammates.

Hamilton knew Harrison Barnes was going to get the ball with the clock winding down, but there was nothing else his team could have done to prevent him from knocking down the game-winning 3-pointer for North Carolina, sealing the 72-70 win with 3.1 seconds left.

For the past eight years, the North Carolina men’s basketball team has been the hammer to N.C. State’s nail.

By now, opponents of North Carolina should have seen the scouting report on John Henson. He’s long and he blocks shots.

CLEMSON, S.C. – Both teams struggled to play anything resembling basketball for the first 37 minutes of North Carolina’s 64-62 win against Clemson.

DURHAM –It had to be coming. Surely the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils wouldn’t allow their heated rivals from down Tobacco Road to come into their house and dominate as thoroughly as North Carolina did in the first half of No.

DURHAM — Tyler Zeller sat with a Gatorade towel draped across his body. The junior had won big at Duke. He had lost even bigger at Duke. But this had never happened.

When the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels visit No. 5 Duke tonight, they will do so carrying the bitter memories of a 32-point drubbing at Cameron Indoor Stadium a year ago — the lowest point in a season full of embarrassing moments.

With Larry Drew II gone from North Carolina’s basketball team, freshman point guard Kendall Marshall didn’t just cover his own average production. He covered Drew’s, too.

North Carolina picked an interesting time to turn in its best offensive game of the season against Florida State in a 89-69 win in the Smith Center.

Forgive Harrison Barnes for the last shot of his game against N.C. State. His step-back 3-pointer with 4:58 left in an 84-64 blowout victory was such an egregiously bad shot that he felt the need to apologize to head coach Roy Williams. Then again, he had hit 10 of his previous 15 shots, including the last four, scoring 25 points while sustaining a level of play that had previously only surfaced in short bursts so far in his freshman year.

The Tar Heels couldn’t kick-start any offense in Sunday night’s loss against Georgia Tech and shot 27.6 percent from the floor, the lowest shooting percentage by a UNC team since 1956 and the fourth lowest all-time.

The difference between this year’s men’s basketball team and last year’s was readily apparent in the last six minutes of North Carolina’s 74-69 win against College of Charleston on Sunday. Armed with a 62-56 lead, UNC got stops and continued scoring to put away the Cougars. Sometimes it is that simple. Last year, the Tar Heels would have allowed the Cougars back into the game by allowing just enough scores on defense and faltering offensively. This year’s team instead held College of Charleston to 4-for-13 shooting for the final six minutes as it pulled away.

North Carolina’s men’s basketball team left for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament last week playing with a confidence that resembled past teams coached by Roy Williams. UNC had beaten its two opponents by an average of 29 points, and the Tar Heels were one of the top teams in the tournament.

The most memorable moment in Roy Williams’ life was not when he hoisted the 2005 National Championship trophy in St. Louis. Nor was it when he held the 2009 National Championship trophy in Detroit. Rather, he stated it occurred one morning when he was quoted in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times about agents.

DURHAM — Duke's Saturday-night thrashing of North Carolina was a tale of two seniors.

On one hand, there was Duke's Brian Zoubek. The 7-footer from Haddonfield, N.J., hauled in 13 rebounds as Duke clobbered the Tar Heels on his Senior Night.

Roy Williams sits at a midweek press conference early this season in the Smith Center, answering questions about collegiate athletics.

“If we play one fewer home game, it affects field hockey, it affects baseball, it affects everything we do here,” Williams said.