By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — This was exactly how these sorts of games are supposed to go for No. 12 North Carolina, but they’ve been rare this season.

There have been slow starts, choppy offensive play and bad finishes in several games against overmatched opponents. But there was none of that against East Carolina, as the Heels kept the punches coming in a 99–51 victory Monday at the Smith Center.

“I think that’s growth,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said, saying that having 11 new players and Seth Trimble missing nine games made it hard to figure out roles and rotations. “One of the things that we have talked about is obviously getting to that level, but [also] staying at that level. It was really huge for us to put together two halves on both ends of the floor.”

Trimble (12 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) watched many of those slow starts from the bench but was determined to make sure there wasn’t another one.

“We just want to put them away right away,” Trimble said. “That was our pregame talk. We wanted to enjoy our Christmas break as much as possible. So we said the better we take our business, the better our break will be.”

Between Caleb Wilson’s stat-stuffing game (21 points, 12 rebounds, season-high 4 blocks, 3 steals; ninth double-double), Henri Veesaar stretching the floor with a career-high four 3-pointers (16 points, 10 rebounds; sixth double-double) and double-figure games from Trimble and Luka Bogavac (15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), the Pirates (5–8) were helpless to stop UNC (12–1).

Davis said that the transition game that returned in Saturday’s win over Ohio State kept coming against the Pirates.

“I felt like we took levels up tonight,” Davis said. “Obviously, it depends on getting stops and getting rebounds, but I felt like consistently we had five guys sprinting to the offensive end, and we were living in transition.”

UNC’s dominance wasn’t just in transition. It extended to the perimeter, where the Tar Heels knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers, shooting a season-high 48% outside the arc and tying a program record with eight players scoring 3-pointers.

Davis said the perimeter threat adds a productive dynamic to the offense.

“You can see us trying to throw the ball to Caleb and Henri down low on the post,” Davis said. “They’re getting met with two to three guys. When that happens, you have to make teams pay. And the only way you can make them pay is either hit from three or drive off of closeouts.”

Veesaar was the biggest weapon from the perimeter. Trimble said it changes UNC’s offense when he’s firing in those shots.

“When teams are going to ice us, when teams gonna play their big in the drop, we just make a simple fix and tell Henri to pop,” Trimble said. “And if teams can’t get out fast enough, we know it’s pretty much automatic.”

Wilson was spectacular, even when he missed a dunk attempt, as he slammed five to push his national-leading total to 41 and became the first freshman since Phil Ford to score 20 points in five consecutive games.

“Sometimes, I’m just out there having fun, honestly,” Wilson said, bemoaning his misses. “There’s been a couple like that. If they go in or not, I just live with it.”

UNC piled up a 19-point lead early with a 29–8 run as ECU went without a field goal for nearly six minutes, getting six of the first eight points from Bogavac. A Veesaar 3-pointer gave UNC a 29–10 lead at 9:07 of the first half.

The Tar Heels finished the first half with a 10–2 run to lead 49–26 at halftime. Carolina didn’t relent after halftime, going on a 22–6 run, taking a 39-point lead, 72–33, on Bogavac’s three-point play with 11:48 left. When the last starter left the game with 6½ minutes left, UNC led by 38 points.

Carolina kept pouring it on with 3-pointers from Jonathan Powell and Jaydon Young in a 10–0 run, shoving the lead to 46 before Davis cleared the bench with 1:52 left.

The final UNC points came on a 3-pointer from Elijah Davis to give the Tar Heels their biggest lead of the season at 50, making his father emotional after the game.

“It was a really awesome, cool moment,” Hubert Davis said after a long, emotional pause to collect his thoughts.

As Trimble put it, Elijah Davis put himself in history.

“We know his dad’s got a lot of history here, but just knowing that Elijah can be up there in the books with him, that’s incredible,” Trimble said.

Big ECU center Giovanni Emejuru led ECU with 21 points and 14 rebounds.—UNC gets a week off before opening ACC play at home Tuesday, Dec. 30, against Florida State in one of only three home games between now and Feb. 2. The Seminoles (7–6), who have struggled under first-year coach Luke Loucks, beat Jacksonville 87–63 at home Monday night.

Notes

— At 12–1, the Tar Heels are off to the program’s best start since the 2008–09 national-championship team won its first 13 games.
— Wilson and Veesaar both had double-doubles in the same game for the sixth time, tying the fourth-most in a season by a UNC duo.
— Carolina has won all five meetings with East Carolina, which fell to 3–85 all-time against Top 25 teams and 0–59 against ranked teams on the road.
— It was UNC’s 52nd consecutive win against in-state nonconference teams, pushing its record in such games to 182–18.
— Wilson got a flagrant-one foul for hooking an ECU defender underneath as Veesaar was scoring a 3-pointer.
— As good as Wilson’s numbers were, he had four of UNC’s 12 turnovers and six of its 11 missed free-throw attempts.
— Wilson’s nine double-doubles is the third-most by a UNC freshman behind 13 from Antawn Jamison (1995–96) and 11 from Armando Bacot (2019–20).
— Five-star Class of 2027 recruit CJ Rosser of Rocky Mount watched from courtside.
— Eight Tar Heels also scored 3-pointers at Wake Forest in Feb. 16, 2019, and vs. N.C. A&T on Dec. 27, 2001.
— Carolina held the Pirates to 26.0% shooting, the second-lowest by an opponent this season.
— The 48-point margin was the largest since a 107-55 win over American on Nov. 15, 2024.

No. 12 UNC 99, ECU 51

Team	League	Overall	NET*
California	0–0	12–1	44
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	12–1	19
No. 6 Duke	0–0	11–1	4
No. 21 Virginia	0–0	11–1	30
Miami	0–0	11–2	35
Virginia Tech	0–0	11–2	59
No. 16 Louisville	0–0	10–2	15
SMU	0–0	10–2	37
Stanford	0–0	10–2	76
Clemson	0–0	10–3	38
N.C. State	0–0	9–4	31
Notre Dame	0–0	9–4	82
Syracuse	0–0	9–4	92
Wake Forest	0–0	9–4	68
Georgia Tech	0–0	8–4	187
Florida State	0–0	7–6	139
Pittsburgh	0–0	7–6	119
Boston College	0–0	6–6	177

* — Through Sunday games
Sunday’s results
Pittsburgh 80, Penn State 46
N.C. State 76, Ole Miss 62
No. 11 Vanderbilt 98, Wake Forest 67
Purdue Ft. Wayne 72, Notre Dame 69
SMU 99, Central Arkansas 82
Clemson 68, Cincinnati 65
Miami 105, North Florida 67
California 74, Columbia 56
Monday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 99, East Carolina 51
No. 21 Virginia 95, American 51
Syracuse 77, Stonehill 48
Boston College 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61
Florida State 87, Jacksonville 63
Saturday’s game
Cal State Northridge at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACCN Extra
Sunday’s games
Le Moyne at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cal State Fullerton at SMU, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Florida A&M at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday, Dec. 30, games
Florida State at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Pittsburgh at Miami, 7 p.m., ACC Network
No. 16 Louisville at California, 9 p.m, ACC Network
Notre Dame at Stanford, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 21 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 16 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 6 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte