Raleigh, N.C. — The days of playing basketball are over for North Carolina. What happened Sunday at the RBC Center had nothing to do with play.

The Tar Heels demolished Arkansas, 108-77, but Carolina didn’t so beat the Razorbacks as much as dismantle them.
The Tar Heels led 9-0 and 35-11 and never relented. Tyler Hansbrough drew a charge in the second half – when Carolina had a 23-point lead.

UNC blew out Mount St. Mary’s 113-74 in the first round, meaning it outscored two opponents by 70 points at the RBC Center.
“We knew we wanted to come in here and make a statement,” guard Wayne Ellington said. “We wanted to attack teams.”

And so they did.

The victory launched UNC into the East Regionals in Charlotte against Washington State. That game is expected to be Thursday night at 7:26 p.m.

Carolina is 34-2, tying the school record for wins in a season. The Tar Heels were 34-4 in 1993 and 1998.

While coach Roy Williams cautioned against drawing too many conclusions, it’s clear Carolina is playing with intensity and drive. Some of that relates to what happened to UNC a year ago, when the Heels collapsed in the regional finals to Georgetown.

Ellington, again, brought that game up again Sunday.

“We’re not ready for that,” he said of seeing the season end. “We’re taking it very serious. We’re attacking.”

Ellington said he could sense the team was ready to play in the locker room before the game.

“Everybody’s relaxed, but they’ve got that demeanor,” Ellington said. “We know what time it is.”

Arkansas, the ninth seed, was no match for Carolina’s onslaught. Five UNC players scored in double figures, led by Ellington with 20 and Lawson with 19.

In a day full of strong impressions, one that stood out was how well the Tar Heels’ moved the ball. As on Friday, each pass seemed smart and crisp and the Tar Heels moved and cut with purpose. At times this season, Carolina has pitched the ball into Hansbrough and watched as he whirled and wheeled.

That hasn’t been the case in Raleigh. Sunday’s win was an impressive display of ball movement as UNC piled up 28 assists (on 44 baskets) against just seven turnovers.

The 28 assists was a high for the season, and Carolina had 53 assists and 16 turnovers in the two games in Raleigh.

“The more you move the ball, the more the defense has a chance to mess up,” point guard Ty Lawson said.

Williams said ball movement has been stressed all season, but the return of Lawson in recent weeks has made a major difference.

“One thing is we got Ty back and getting easy baskets, and that’s deflating to the other team,” Williams said.

That, combined with the rapid improvement of Quentin Thomas, has made the team that much stronger.
Another area of improvement has been at power forward, where Deon Thompson has taken off in Raleigh after a poor ACC Tournament. Williams urged Thompson to work in practice on shots he took in games, and Thompson put in extra shooting time earlier in the week. He made all eight of his shots on Sunday and scored 16 points.

The only real complaint Williams could come up with involved the NCAA.

“Let’s stop putting the stupid logos on the floor,” he said of the big blue sticker at midcourt. “Eventually somebody is going to slip and get hurt. That is dangerous.”

For now, though, playing North Carolina is dangerous. The Tar Heels are talented, relaxed – and confident – as this tournament unfolds.

“We have a lot of goofy guys on this team, a lot of jokesters - but not a lot of them are real funny,” Hansbrough said with a smile.
“But when we step on the court, we know what time it is.”