The No. 24 North Carolina men’s basketball team used Kennedy Meeks’ team-leading 18 points to down UNC-Greensboro , 79-56, Tuesday night inside the Greensboro Coliseum and improve to 7-3 on the season.

With the loss, the Spartans dropped to 4-7 overall.

***Listen to the story***

The Tar Heels sprung out to a quick 16-4 lead with 11:21 to go in the first half and never looked back from there with tenacious defense and efficient offense.

UNC head coach Roy Williams was in good spirits, calmly instructing his players on the sideline – seemingly in full teaching mode with the game well in hand. But the UNC Hall of Famer wasn’t pleased with everything. Coach Williams says his team’s 17 turnovers were discouraging.

“We made too many turnovers in the second half, but Kennedy [Meeks] and Joel [James] sort of dominated. We turned it over 17 times. Again, that’s too many turnovers,” Coach Williams says.

***Listen to Roy Williams’ postgame remarks***

Every UNC player appeared fully engaged and locked in for the midweek tilt and even though Brice Johnson got into foul trouble, he stayed on the floor and produced later on.

Junior forward Joel James led the way for UNC in the first half with a season-high 8 points as Carolina headed to the locker room with a commanding 40-19 advantage.

James tied a career-high in scoring Tuesday night (UNC Athletics)

James tied a career-high in scoring Tuesday night (UNC Athletics)

Kennedy Meeks has been carrying the scoring load this season (Nick Vitali)

Kennedy Meeks has been carrying the scoring load this season (Nick Vitali)

In the second half, Meeks started to flex his muscles a bit more, flashing some athletic moves around the rim, but the sophomore says he wasn’t as happy with the defensive performance in the final 20 minutes.

“I think we held them to like 27-percent [shooting] in the first half, but we kind of let off with the 44-percent [shooting] in the second half. We just have to get better each day. Now we have to focus on Ohio State,” Meeks says.

Sophomore Isaiah Hicks provided some quality minutes off the bench, tallying 8 points and 6 rebounds. Junior guard Marcus Paige continued to struggle with his shot, missing his first five attempts from the field. But Paige says he believes his shots will start falling soon.

“I mean, it’s a little frustrating, but honestly, they felt good today. Some of these games earlier in the year have felt weird, but they all felt really good tonight. They were all back rim and right on. It was a little disappointing, but I’m not worried about it at all. The shot feels good,” Paige says.

The under-manned Spartans could do little to threaten the more talented Tar Heels, but former UNC player Wes Miller could use the contest as a measuring stick for his program going forward.

But as for UNC, the game was a chance to exhale and collect itself on the heels of a difficult loss at top-ranked Kentucky and to prepare for the impending challenge ahead.

Coach Williams is relishing an opportunity for his team to hit the practice courts hard this week. With no exams or classes to worry about, his players’ schedules are free.

“Now we get the chance to have some practices that will hopefully be long, long and long. We have no class – no classes to go to, not ‘class’. We’ve got a lot of ‘class’, but we need to get some work done the next couple days,” Coach Williams says.

Next up for the Tar Heels comes a Saturday meeting with the No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes in the CBS Sports Classic in Chicago.

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