North Carolina went on a rampage Thursday night at the Smith Center in its first game after eight days off for Christmas break, and outmanned Elon was demolished.
In an overwhelming performance, North Carolina won 100-62 after building a 50-point lead with 8:49 left. The Tar Heels led 53-19 at halftime, scoring near the basket with ease, and were up 63-27 with 16:12 left after Tyler Zeller's six-foot hook shot.
Coach Roy Williams gave his players five days away from basketball for the holiday, and Dexter Strickland thought everyone came back focused for practice and ready to resume play.
"I wouldn't say it was easy; every game is tough," Strickland said. "I think we just did our job. We went out there and played hard. Everybody was ready to play tonight. We just executed what Coach wanted."
The lead was 18-14 when North Carolina used its size and Kendall Marshall's passing to generate a 23-0 run. The Tar Heels extended the run to 29-3 for a 47-17 lead with 2:05 left before halftime. They finished the first half on a 35-5 surge.
The 23-0 scoring run was North Carolina's biggest since Jan. 12, 2008, when it had a 25-0 run against N.C. State at the Smith Center in the first half of a 93-62 victory. North Carolina won its 25th consecutive home game and tied its Smith Center-record winning streak.
Elon couldn't handle Zeller, a 7-footer, John Henson, who is 6-11, or Harrison Barnes, 6-8, on defense or in attacking the basket on offense. After North Carolina led 14-10, Elon scored four points in the next 12:02.
By the time Sebastian Koch hit a layup for Elon with 3:01 left in the first half, North Carolina had built a 41-16 lead. Elon missed 14 consecutive shots before Koch made his basket, and the Phoenix made only one of 21 shots in the final 15:23 before halftime.
Coach Matt Matheny of Elon lamented his team's shot selection during the run, which he thought helped ignite North Carolina's fast break for easy baskets.
"We have struggled offensively, and the medicine for struggling offensively is not playing at North Carolina," Matheny said. "What happened is we did not get good shots. Then they got out in the open court, and they're a great transition team.
"So they get a dunk, and then we go back down and shoot a quick shot because we want to try to get the first shot we can get, and we shoot an unbalanced shot. They get it, and then they go out in transition again. It snowballed on us in the first half."
North Carolina improved to 12-2, and Elon fell to 7-5.
The Tar Heels made 24 baskets in the first half, and only five were outside the lane. Their first nine baskets were dunks or layups, as were 12 of their first 13.
"Our goal was to try and get a heck of a lot better," Williams said. "I do think we made some significant steps tonight."
Zeller led North Carolina with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Barnes scored 18 points. Henson had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Henson made seven baskets in the first half.
Barnes played while recovering from an illness.
"He was sick (Wednesday) night; he was throwing up," Williams said. "I didn't know exactly what we were going to get (from him)."
Zeller has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in North Carolina's past four games. He helped North Carolina forge a 64-35 advantage on the boards.
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