CHAPEL HILL – For any of the North Carolina fans in Chapel Hill hoping to finally get a glimpse of Tyler Hansbrough in action, the best bet by the end of November might have been the purchase of a time machine and a ticket to Maui.

After helping the No. 1 Tar Heels to the championship at the Maui Invitational, UNC's senior forward was back on the bench when the team returned home to face UNC-Asheville.

But even without the National Player of the Year, the Tar Heels walked all over the Bulldogs, 116-48, the most points scored and largest margin of victory for North Carolina under Roy Williams.

"It was just a case of we were much more gifted than they were," Williams said.

The rest of the UNC starters got to join Hansbrough on the bench eventually as the Tar Heels' second-half lead swelled over 60 points and Williams started emptying the bench with five minutes to go.

Even the walk-ons kept things rolling, eventually increasing the lead to as many as 71 points.

All five UNC starters scored in double figures, led by Ty Lawson's 22 points, the most he has ever scored in the Smith Center.

Lawson added eight assists against just one turnover to continue his hot start to the season.

"I thought Ty was really dominating the game," Williams said. "He was really, really something."

Once again, Deon Thompson filled the void left by Hansbrough up front, notching 12 of his 17 points and seven of his nine rebounds in the first half as Carolina ran away with it early.

Hansbrough, coming off a 34-point performance in Carolina's win against Notre Dame in the Maui title game, went back to the bench for this one after the long flight back from Hawaii caused him some stiffness.

It was the fifth game Hansbrough has missed this season.

That meant neither of the big men from last year's matchup between these two teams were on the floor.

Asheville center Kenny George is done playing basketball after having to have part of his foot amputated at the beginning of October.

Last year, one of the highlights in Carolina's win against the Bulldogs was when Hansbrough dunked over the 7-foot-7 George.

This time around, fans at the Smith center had to settle for watching the rest of the Tar Heels put on a show.

By halftime, the Tar Heels were up 53-19 and the game was all but over.

Carolina shot better than 55 percent in the first half while holding Asheville to a 24.2-percent shooting mark and forcing 12 turnovers.

In the second half, Carolina didn't slow down at all, instead keeping the crowd excited by building a bigger and bigger lead.

Danny Green got the building rocking when he buried an incredibly long 3-pointer to put the Heels up by 50 points with 11 minutes remaining.

Green hit six 3-pointers in a row in the second half.

"It was fun," Green said. "It was a good confidence booster for me. I wasn't expecting to shoot that deep, but I figured why not? I took a couple of heat checks, and they kept going in."

The Tar Heels fell behind 6-2 in the opening minutes before Williams went with a smaller lineup to better match up with the Bulldogs and because he was unhappy with the effort Thompson and Ed Davis were putting forth.

Not long after William Graves and Bobby Frasor came in for Thompson and Davis, Carolina went on an 11-0 run.

In the middle of the first half, the Tar Heels went on an 18-2 run, capped by a Frasor 3-pointer, to open up a 35-14 lead they just kept building on.

Considering the final margin, it was a pretty impressive showing for a team hitting the floor without its best player, even against a lesser opponent like Asheville.

"I don't think about it during the game," Davis said, "but when I get back to my room, I think, 'Dang, if Tyler played, it could have been double.'"