CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Roy Williams wants North Carolina to have fun in the NCAA Tournament.
The best way to do that? Win.
The No. 2 seed Tar Heels took care of No. 15 seed Lipscomb, 84-66, on Friday in the West region and had a little fun along the way.
Senior wing Theo Pinson led UNC (26-10) with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and junior guard Kenny Williams added 18 points.
The pursuit of a third straight Final Four trip began on Friday for the Tar Heels, who haven't pulled off that trick since 1967, '68 and '69.
Without the pressure of the 2016 tournament, as the No. 1 seed and overall favorite, or the redemption motivation of last year, this UNC group has been loose.
Why not? The Heels have a pair of seniors, in Joel Berry (14 points, three assists, three steals) and Pinson, who are unflappable, and a coach who has won more games in this tournament than anyone else since he got to Chapel Hill in 2003.
In 28 NCAA trips with Kansas (14-0) and UNC (14-0), Williams has never lost an opening-round game. He is the only coach with three national titles who can make that claim.
The Heels closed the first half with a 12-3 run to take a 43-34 lead into the break. The Bisons (23-10), led by guard Kenny Cooper (14 points), spent all but two possessions in the second half down by double-digits.
With junior forward Luke Maye in a shooting funk in the first half, the Heels did get off to a slow start.
Maye missed his first five shots and was 1 for 8 in the first half. Lipscomb led 12-9 and then by as many as 21-15 before freshman forward Sterling Manley gave UNC a lift off the bench.
Manley, who towered over Lipscomb's smaller lineup, had seven rebounds and four points in just 6 minutes in the first half. He finished with 10 rebounds and six points.
Maye's only field goal in the first half, a 3-pointer at 8:47, gave UNC a 25-23 lead the Heels would only give up one more time the rest of the game.
Maye finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Kenny Cooper led Lipscomb with 14 points.
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