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CHAPEL HILL — Roy Williams admits he's thrown a lot at his young North Carolina players to get them ready for the season. It sounds like he's about to demand a little more.

Deon Thompson matched his career high with 22 points to help the 11th-ranked Tar Heels beat Gardner-Webb 93-72 on Monday night, bouncing back from their first loss of the season with a relatively easy win against an overmatched non-conference opponent.

Tyler Zeller added 16 points off the bench for the Tar Heels (5-1), who led by double digits most of the way and had little trouble with the instate Big South Conference program. It was the 599th victory for Williams, now in his seventh year at his alma mater following 15 seasons in Kansas.

Williams was pleased with his team's effort against the Runnin' Bulldogs (3-1) -- even though the Tar Heels watched Grayson Flittner put on a 3-point shooting display that matched a Smith Center record -- and said his team might have been a little tight early by trying to do everything perfectly after the loss to Syracuse.

But he also was frustrated with the Tar Heels' shaky free-throw shooting and 11 second-half turnovers.

"These kids, they're good kids, they care about what's going on," Williams said. "They're always concerned about what happened last game, so I expected some of that.

"I did tell the guys in the huddle one time that we're getting close to that point that I'm not going to play everybody just because I like their smile, that you've got to produce when you get out there."

Despite the fact the Tar Heels are more talented than the last time they had to reload following a national championship run, they are still young in key positions and still learning how to blend numerous skilled players into a cohesive unit.

For example, Williams experimented for the first time with playing sophomore point guard Larry Drew II and his backup, freshman Dexter Strickland, together for stretches.

"He's definitely trying to see who plays well together and who meshes well together," Thompson said. "Coach is still trying to find out what this team is about."

The Tar Heels' frontcourt production hasn't been much of a question mark, at least. Thompson, who scored his 1,000th point late in the first half, hit 9 of 11 shots while Ed Davis had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Zeller hit 6 of 8 shots and played through getting a small cut over his right eye early in the second half that required two stitches.

Behind that trio, North Carolina got 58 points in the paint and took four 3-pointers for the entire game.

"When we're playing a team that their starting 4 (power forward) is 6-3, we're going to try to get the ball into the post," Davis said.

Flittner scored 32 points and hit nine 3-pointers to match the Smith Center record for any player. The Runnin' Bulldogs shot 38 percent, but hung around by hitting 15 of 36 3-point attempts.

"I thought our kids played hard, but obviously we were overmatched," Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs said. "I mean, North Carolina is so big, long and athletic and it's hard as heck to play against those guys."

UNC led by 15 points at halftime and 21 points early in the second half. It shot 56 percent and took a 50-32 rebounding advantage against its undersized opponents, but made 18 of 33 foul shots -- the kind of performance that won't be good enough come ACC time.

Flittner hit six threes in the first half, but the Tar Heels used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to build a 35-17 lead on a dunk by Davis off a turnover with 8:05 left. Zeller scored on a rebound just before halftime to make it 53-38.

GARDNER-WEBB (3-1) — Henley 3-9 0-2 6, MacMillan 1-6 0-0 2, Flittner 10-19 3-3 32, Hailey 1-6 0-0 2, McNair 4-8 0-0 9, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Brown 1-5 0-0 2, Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Engelken 2-5 0-0 6, Staton 1-4 2-2 5, Silver 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 26-69 5-7 72.

NORTH CAROLINA (5-1) — Graves 2-5 0-0 4, Thompson 9-11 4-4 22, Davis 6-12 3-8 15, Ginyard 4-9 0-0 8, Drew II 3-5 0-1 6, Zeller 6-8 4-6 16, Henson 1-2 1-2 3, Strickland 2-5 0-0 4, Watts 1-1 0-0 2, D.Wear 1-3 0-2 2, T.Wear 1-4 5-6 7, McDonald 0-0 1-2 1, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Petree 0-0 0-2 0, Thornton 1-1 0-0 3, Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-66 18-33 93.

Halftime—North Carolina 53-38.
3-point goals—Gardner-Webb 15-36 (Flittner 9-16, Silver 2-3, Engelken 2-4, Staton 1-2, McNair 1-5, Hailey 0-1, Moore 0-1, Brown 0-4), North Carolina 1-4 (Thornton 1-1, Strickland 0-1, Ginyard 0-1, Graves 0-1).
Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Gardner-Webb 32 (Henley 10), North Carolina 50 (Davis 13).
Assists—Gardner-Webb 19 (Flittner 6), North Carolina 21 (Ginyard 6).
Total fouls—Gardner-Webb 23, North Carolina 8.
A—17,005.