CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ It didn't take long for North Carolina to establish that it was a better team than Stanford on Monday night.
The Tar Heels got out to an early 26-point lead, and never looked back, beating the Cardinal 90-72 in their home-opener at the Dean Smith Center.
The seventh-ranked Tar Heels continue to roll after picking up their third consecutive win to open the season. UNC (3-0) first beat Wofford 78-67 last Tuesday, and Elon 116-67 on Friday.
UNC coach Roy Williams is now 4-1 against his former player and assistant coach, Jerod Haase, now Stanford's coach. Haase, who played for Williams at Kansas, served as an assistant coach at UNC from 2003 to 2012.
Graduate forward Cam Johnson continued his hot shooting, finishing with 17 points, and 7 rebounds. After shooting 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point line, Johnson is now 10-for-14 through three games, which is 71 percent.
Maye had 16 points and was 5-for-9 from the floor. He was briefly checked on by trainers before heading to the locker room, but he returned a short time later.
Senior guard Kenny Williams, who was 0-for-10 through the first two games of the season, broke through Monday night. He had 12 points, was 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3.
His first basket was a layup, as he drove past the Stanford defender.
The Tar Heels dominated the first half. They led the Cardinal (2-1) in almost every major statistical category, but it was the Tar Heels' defense that gave them a spark.
The Tar Heels forced eight first half turnovers and turned them into 14 points. They finished the game with 22 points off turnovers.
The biggest highlight was an alley-oop pass from Seventh Woods to Nassir Little with about three minutes left in the first half. Little ran a backdoor cut to the basket, jumped in the air, and Woods found him for the slam.
After the alley-oop, Woods jumped in the air and skipped down court.
Maye added a 3-pointer before the halftime buzzer to make the score 52-26.
The biggest statistical difference in Monday's game was rebounds. The Tar Heels outrebounded the Cardinal 45-35.
The Tar Heels got sloppy, turning the ball over seven times in the second half, and allowed the Cardinal to get the score within 15 points.
But that was all. The Tar Heels were just better.
