By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — It was only an exhibition game against a Division II team coming off a bad season, but North Carolina’s performance on Friday sent fan expectations jumping nonetheless.

Just like the Tar Heels didn’t look like a No. 1 team a year ago, this group doesn’t look like a No. 19 team. The 3-pointers were raining in. There was good spacing on offense, block parties on the other end and quick transitions from defense to offense.

It produced an impressive show as the Tar Heels coasted to a 117–53 victory at the Smith Center over St. Augustine’s, which went 8–18 last season.

“We want to run and be able to transition from defense to offense,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “And I thought that was really good. I just love the way that we share the basketball.”

Newcomers showed off their talents and the versatility they will bring to UNC. Unlike last season, the ball didn’t get stuck on offense, as it was flowing well. It helps when you make 16 of 35 3-point attempts (10 of 18 in the first half).

“The encouraging part was that the things that we were doing translate,” Davis said. “It wasn’t something that we did well tonight. It was something that we can do well, every night moving forward and that was encouraging for myself.”

A flashy move from freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau on his way to a 3-point play left a defender sprawling on the floor in the first half. In the second half, he drove for a one-handed slam. He finished with seven points, four assists and only one turnover in 31 minutes.

“He’s a really good on-the-ball defender,” said Coach Davis, noting that Cadeau’s biggest celebrations were when another player made a shot. “He’s another player that is just not affected by physicality, loves to compete. You saw him push the ball up the floor. Just instinctively, can just see things that most people can’t see in terms of dribbling the basketball.”

Junior Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram (3), freshman Zayden High (3) and junior West Virginia transfer James Okonkwo (1) all swatted away shots. Senior RJ Davis (5), senior walk-on Creignton Lebo (3) Notre Dame transfer fifth-year guard Cormac Ryan (2), Ingram (2) and fifth-year Brown transfer Paxson Wojcik (2) all swished in 3-pointers.

High’s energy on the court was, well, high, with a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) in only 20 minutes.

RJ Davis led the way with 22 points and five 3-pointers on the same week he didn’t even make second-team Preseason All-ACC.

“The whole preseason, the summer has been leading up to this moment,” he said. “So nothing that we displayed today was new to us. I think we just prepared well. But I think some positives were the way we moved the ball. The energy was there on both ends of the floor and we were able to share the ball. I think everyone got the chance to play today and we had a lot of fun.”

Fifth-year center Armando Bacot had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Jalen Washington scored 14 points.

Hubert Davis started the same lineup as in the closed-scrimmage victory at No. 10 Florida Atlantic, which features 17 seasons of collective experience: three guards — RJ Davis, Wojcik and Ryan — Ingram and Bacot.

Cadeau, who came off the bench but started the second half, was the point guard whenever he was on the court, with RJ Davis handling those duties when the freshman was on the bench.

“It’s great for us to have two playmakers and two great lead guards,” Wojcik said. “Makes us hard to prepare for. They are both great players and the they both bring different things to the game.”

Ingram showed that he can not only be the stretch four that Brady Manek was two seasons ago, but be more versatile than that.

“I can play the four, play more in the paint, post up, get rebounds, guarding one through five and then playing the three, showing up my shooting ability, playmaking ability — just being all around player,” said Ingram, who gave as much energy to his responses as he did in his play on the court.

Knowing how deep Carolina’s rotation will go may not be clear for a while. But with two players out with injuries — graduate Louisville transfer forward Jae’Lyn Withers (upper-body injury) and sophomore guard Seth Trimble (ankle injury) — nine players played at least 18 minutes.

Even though three starters were new, the chemistry seemed good for so early in the season.

“The summer was big for us to get experience and build that chemistry playing with each other,” Wojcik said. “But this group just loves being around each other both on and off the floor. And I think that’s pretty apparent. We love playing with each other.”

UNC scored the game’s first 10 points, the first seven from Davis. Two consecutive Davis 3-pointers gave him 17 of Carolina’s first 24 points.

The Tar Heels led 24–6 lead with 14:14 left and 65–31 at halftime, with every available scholarship player getting into the game in addition to Lebo.

There were some lulls in the second half but it was still an impressive night for Carolina. Three walk-ons came in with six minutes left and Washington earned fans the biscuits discount on a 3-pointer with 4:58 remaining to put UNC over 100 points.

NOTES — UNC opens the season with a home game at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, against Radford, which has a KenPom rank of 168, three lower than Notre Dame (the lowest-rated ACC team). The Highlanders, who play a home exhibition game Monday against Roanoke College, went 2–1 in a three-game trip to Japan in August after going 21–15 last season and making it to the third round of the College Basketball Invitational. … The game was so lightly attended that fans in the upper arena were invited to move down at the first television timeout. The student risers were only half full. … Ryan rolled his ankle in the last minute of the first half, but Coach Davis said it was just a little tweak and that he decided not to put him back in.

No. 19 UNC 117, St. Augustine’s 53

UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	20:00	Davis	Wojcik	Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	12–3
12–3	16:45	Cadeau	Davis		High		12–3
24–6	14:14		Wojcik	Ingram		Washington	3–4
27–10	12:05	Davis		Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	11–6
38–16	8:07	Cadeau	Davis	Ingram	High	Okonkwo	13–4
51–20	4:52		Wojcik	Ryan		Bacot	8–3
59–23	2:32				Washington		2–0
61–23	2:08				High	Washington	4–3
65–26	0:45			Lebo			0–0
65–26	Half	Cadeau		Wojcik	Ingram	Bacot	8–3
73–29	17:20	Davis	Wojcik	Ingram	High		2–1
75–30	16:12					Washington	4–6
79–36	12:48	Cadeau			Okonkwo	Bacot	3–4
82–41	11:21		Davis				0–0
82–41	10:45				High		2–0
84–41	9:23			Wojcik			5–2
89–43	7:40		Wojcik	Ingram	Okonkwo	Washington	5–2
94–45	6:06	Lebo	Landry	Farris			23–8
117–53	Final

Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. `1` Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8