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CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Dexter Strickland made it a priority lately to play more aggressively, pushing the ball downcourt and making things happen at both ends of the floor. It's not a coincidence that when that happens, North Carolina looks like North Carolina again.

Strickland scored a career-high 19 points, and the Tar Heels had five players reach double figures in an 85-60 rout of William & Mary on Tuesday night.

"When Dexter's attacking, we definitely feed off of that, because that's like Carolina basketball," teammate Reggie Bullock said. "Push the ball in transition, get easy fast-break points. Dexter's doing a great job of that, and the team's just got to do it with him."

Tyler Zeller and Leslie McDonald added 14 points apiece for the Tar Heels (8-4), who bounced back from a final-seconds loss to Texas by putting the Tribe away with two notable first-half runs.

Harrison Barnes scored all 13 of his points in the second half and Bullock added 11 for North Carolina, which shot nearly 44 percent on 32-of-73 shooting and took advantage of some awful early shooting by the Tribe.

"It's very important for us to attack," Strickland said. "One of the emphases ... is attacking. Give them a chance to make a mistake. That's what we did tonight."

Kyle Gaillard scored a career-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting for William & Mary (4-7), which shot 37 percent on 23-of-62 shooting.

The Tribe were held to one field goal during a significant stretch of more than 11 minutes of the first half, then didn't get closer than 20 points after the break and finished with 21 turnovers.

"We were getting great looks, and they weren't falling for us," Gaillard said. "That was tough, because a lot of our offense is taking the open 3s that we get."

North Carolina certainly had a much easier time against the Tribe this time than it did in the first round of last year's NIT. The Tar Heels won that one 80-72, but decided this one much sooner by taking command with a pair of big spurts.

They used a 14-2 run midway through the first half to go up by double figures, then pushed the lead into the 20s with a 20-4 burst late in the half. Zeller's three-point play capped the second run, making it 40-16 with 1:23 before the break.

Most of the early heavy lifting, though, was done by North Carolina's non-starters. The reserves scored 19 of the Tar Heels' first 33 points — including 10 at that point from McDonald, a backup guard who had his third double-figure game of the season.

"Coming off the bench, we just feel like we need to bring more pressure and more enthusiasm," McDonald said. "We feel like we need to get the first team in gear, and just really put a lot of pressure and bring a little life to the team."

Strickland, who was 8 of 12, surpassed the 18 points he scored both last year against Rutgers and last week against Texas. He finished in double figures for the third straight game, the first time in his college career he's done that, and has combined to score 50 points in his last three games after making a conscious decision to be more aggressive.

"I felt like there's points in the game where I didn't take shots, and I had the open shot, and I didn't drive to the basket," Strickland said. "When people drive, it's not just to help me, it's to help others — someone rotates, you pass it off to (Zeller) or pass it off to (forward John Henson) and get them the ball. So it's very important for me to be aggressive and everybody else."

Said coach Roy Williams: "He couldn't throw it in the ocean the first part of the season. Now he's making shots. ... Everything looks better when the ball goes in the basket."

The Tribe couldn't get anything to fall early and spent the rest of the night playing catch-up. They shot below 27 percent in the first half, missed their first 12 3-pointers and misfired on 18 of 19 attempts during the 11-minute stretch when things got away from them.

"You can't get behind like that on the road against a great basketball team," said Tribe coach Tony Shaver, a former North Carolina player. "I thought there were two keys to the first half. One, our defensive transition was not good at all. That was our No. 1 priority, and we did it poorly. Part of that is their speed and athleticism. The other thing is we have to shoot the ball better. To be good, we have to make those shots."

Henson, a long-armed sophomore who has been bothered by a sprained right thumb, was held out of the second half as a precaution, after leaving with 2:04 left before the break. Williams said Henson's thumb was "swollen and really painful," and team trainers think he may have re-aggravated that injury.

WILLIAM & MARY (4-7)
McDowell 2-10 0-0 6, Gaillard 11-14 1-2 25, Kitts 2-6 0-0 4, Rum 0-4 0-0 0, Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Ludwick 0-3 0-0 0, Britt 4-12 5-7 15, Rusthoven 3-4 0-0 6, Boatner 0-4 2-3 2, Pavloff 0-1 0-0 0, Heldring 0-1 0-0 0, Whitlatch 0-1 0-0 0, Howard II 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 8-12 60.

NORTH CAROLINA (8-4)
Henson 3-6 0-0 6, Barnes 5-12 2-5 13, Zeller 4-9 6-7 14, Strickland 8-12 1-1 19, Drew II 0-3 0-0 0, McDonald 5-10 2-2 14, Bullock 4-8 2-4 11, Marshall 0-4 0-0 0, Watts 1-3 0-0 3, Knox 2-3 0-0 4, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Bolick 0-2 0-0 0, Hatchell 0-1 1-2 1, Dupont 0-0 0-0 0, Crouch 0-0 0-0 0, Johnston 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-73 14-21 85.

William & Mary 20 40 — 60
North Carolina 42 43 — 85

Percentages—William & Mary (FG .371, FT .667), North Carolina (FG .438, FT .667).

3-point goals—William & Mary 6-26 (Gaillard 2-4, Britt 2-5, McDowell 2-7, Whitlatch 0-1, Brown 0-1, Pavloff 0-1, Boatner 0-2, Ludwick 0-2, Rum 0-3), North Carolina 7-23 (Strickland 2-2, McDonald 2-5, Watts 1-1, Barnes 1-4, Bullock 1-5, Bolick 0-1, Hatchell 0-1, Drew II 0-2, Marshall 0-2).

Fouled out—None.

Rebounds—William & Mary 39 (Kitts 6), North Carolina 47 (Zeller 9).

Team rebounds—William & Mary 4, North Carolina 2.

Assists—William & Mary 14 (Boatner, Britt, Brown 3), North Carolina 20 (Marshall 8).

Blocked shots—William & Mary 3 (Kitts, Rusthoven, Brown), North Carolina 6 (Henson 3).

Turnovers—William & Mary 21 (Kitts 6), North Carolina 12 (Drew II 3).

Steals—William & Mary 6 (Kitts, Brown, Britt, Gaillard, Boatner, McDowell), North Carolina 14 (Strickland 3, Zeller 3).

Total fouls—William & Mary 18, North Carolina 15.

A—17,357.

Officials—John Cahill, Sean Hull, Sean Corbin.