CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ That's more like it.
North Carolina played the way it wants to play, and looked good doing it, in a 96-66 win over Boston College on Tuesday night.
The 20th-ranked Tar Heels (13-4, 2-2 ACC) were more aggressive on offense and had more players involved. Junior forward Luke Maye led the way with a career-high 32 points and 18 rebounds as UNC evened its ACC record at 2-2 and won its 11th straight game over the Eagles.
Back-to-back conference losses to Florida State and Virginia left the Heels out of sync and searching for answers on offense. In those losses, it was guard Joel Berry doing a lot of the scoring and everyone else doing a lot of watching.
Berry, who had averaged 20.3 points in the first three ACC games, actually came out cold (1 of 7 in the first half) but the Heels had more juice from the jump against the Eagles (11-6, 2-3 ACC).
Maye, who scored six points in Saturday's 61-49 loss at Virginia, had eight points in the first 4 minutes on Tuesday. He keyed an early 13-2 run, which gave UNC some breathing room.
Guard Ky Bowman (21 points) tried to keep the Eagles in the game but they couldn't repeat their upset of Duke from earlier in the season. Maye wouldn't let them. His step-back 3 at 2:16 in the first half gave the Heels a 45-29 lead. He scored the last five points of the first half for good measure.
The most encouraging part for UNC, which went with its smaller lineup (Berry-Kenny Williams-Cam Johnson-Theo Pinson-Maye) to start the game for the first time this season was how many other players were aggressive.
Pinson, who had been struggling, had a drive and over-the-shoulder pass to Maye for an easy lay-in at 8:04 in the first half.
Johnson, who has been trying to find his niche, had then a beautiful drive-and-dish to freshman forward Garrison Brooks for a dunk. Johnson finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Pinson also was aggressive in the second half with a drive and assist to freshman forward Sterling Manley for a dunk and three-point play to put UNC up 79-55 at 10:35.
Two minutes later, Pinson drove baseline kept the ball for himself and hit a pull-up hook shot for an 84-61 advantage.
Pinson, who had a total of nine points in two games last week, finished with eight points, eight rebounds and five assists.
