When American took an early 18-13 lead at the 12:36 mark of the first half, a 52-point win by North Carolina didn't seem to be in the cards. The visitor was knocking down threes at an alarming rate, and for a moment it looked like another nail-biter like we saw against Elon might be in store.

That was not the case. It was a thrashing by the Tar Heels from there on the way to a 107-55 victory. Even though they went over the century mark with room to spare, the defense set the tone Friday night in the Dean Dome.

The Eagles were held to 31% shooting, and 23% from three-point range. The Tar Heels were stingy without fouling. The opponent only shot 11 free throws, and were minus-18 in the foul shooting department. But it was the opportunistic defense that turned stops into points that ignited UNC. 13 turnovers led to 22 points while the Heels won the transition contest by a whopping 23-0 margin.

We normally look at offensive strategy, but there wasn't as much of that in the Tar Heels' third game. This time around we will look at how the UNC defense doomed the Eagles.