A smooth ride home

A tenacious defensive effort propelled North Carolina to an early insurmountable lead against Southern California, and as halftime neared, UNC was looking for an exclamation point to punctuate the first half.

With a little more than a minute remaining, junior Rashad McCants came down to the left baseline to swat a shot from behind. After he used a spin move to get away from one defender, McCants threw a pass to Raymond Felton, who proceeded to throw up a lob that Jawad Williams threw down with two hands.

Williams' dunk emphatically capped a 24-4 run that UNC used to put away Southern California as the Tar Heels went on to trounce the Trojans 93-65 in the team's first regular-season game at the Smith Center this season.

"Defensively, in the first half, I thought it was such a frenzy, and everybody was trying to help each other out," said UNC coach Roy Williams. "We got some double teams that helped us early and helped (us) create."

Although the Trojans (1-1) knew UNC would employ the trap, they still had no answer for it.

"We knew they were coming, we knew they were going to trap, and we talked about that, but we tried to dribble through the traps," said USC coach Henry Bibby. "We were prepared for it, but they were long, athletic, quick, and they beat us to some of the spots."

Still jet-lagged from their trip to Maui, the Tar Heels (4-1) missed easy opportunities in the game's first minute. But for the next 39, UNC thoroughly dominated.

Five Tar Heels scored in double digits, led by a game-high 23 by Jawad Williams. Their up-tempo offense led to a 28-15 edge in fouls drawn and their frenetic defense forced 28 Trojan turnovers. North Carolina capitalized on those turnovers for 23 points.

By halftime, UNC had doubled USC, 56-28. When Roy Williams emptied the bench with 5:26 left, the Tar Heels held a commanding 36-point lead.

"The first three of our first four shots were from six inches, but we missed those," Roy Williams said. "I was worried about us being a little bit stagnant, a little too casual out there, and I congratulate the kids for really being into it on the defensive end of the floor."

UNC also played an exceptional team game on offense, dishing out 28 assists. Felton led the team with 12, but nine other Tar Heels recorded at least one assist as well.

Along with the team's feverish defensive intensity, Felton's presence has been one of the biggest differences in UNC's winning streak in which it has notched four resounding victories after its shocking loss to Santa Clara in the season opener.

"We're doing a great job of distributing the ball and sharing it," said center Sean May, who recorded his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. "Against Santa Clara, I think that's what hurt us, is guys started trying to do things on their own. Coach said, 'Let's get back to playing the way we know we're supposed to play.' Ever since that game, we've done a great job of distributing the ball."

It's no coincidence that the Tar Heels have played better as a team since Felton returned to the lineup after being suspended against Santa Clara.

"I think it definitely gets contagious, when you see a guy has a wide open layup and throws a lob to Jawad," May said of Felton. "I think it just trickles down the line. Last year I think that was our problem - we all were excited when we scored. This year, when our teammates score, you see everybody get excited."

But the difference between Sunday's win and the victories against Tennessee and Iowa earlier in the week was UNC's ability to carry its defensive intensity over to the second half.

The Tar Heels allowed Iowa to shoot 65 percent from the field after halftime but held the Trojans to just 35 percent in each half.

"If you were going to say 'consistently,' I'd say no," Roy Williams said. "But we've come closer to playing the way I want to play than we did at any time last year probably."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.