No. 4 North Carolina led Evansville 63-27 with just more than 14 minutes to go in the first half when senior forward Tyler Zeller scored his 999th career point at the Smith Center on Tuesday night.
But the senior forward will have to wait a little bit longer for point No. 1,000.
The Tar Heels handedly beat the Purple Aces, and Zeller, one point shy of his milestone, went to the bench for the rest of the game with more than eight minutes to go in the second half.
But after a 97-48 victory, the senior forward didn’t have much to complain about.
“Coach told me he has confidence I’ll score one more bucket this year,” he said.
Five different players had double-digit points in Tuesday’s game, and Zeller and forward John Henson each recorded a double-double.
For Williams, the commanding lead throughout the game was significant, as it gave him the opportunity to give his bench players some much-needed playing time.
“It would have been nice to have gotten Z one more point,” Williams said. “But I wanted to get those guys out of there. I like it when I look down and Kendall has 25 and nobody else has more than 22 minutes. That’s the way it should be.”
Sophomore forward Harrison Barnes led all scorers with 17 points, and sophomore reserve guard Reggie Bullock wasn’t far behind with 15. Bullock, who shot four of seven from behind the arc against Evansville, was one of six bench players to record at least nine minutes of playing time.