No. 21 North Carolina 89, UAB 58: Marcus Paige scored 16 points as one of six players to reach double figures for the host Tar Heels, who easily disposed of the Blazers.

Kennedy Meeks added 14 points to go with a game-high nine rebounds for North Carolina (9-3), which recorded its third straight win. Justin Jackson totaled 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, Brice Johnson contributed 11 points and seven rebounds and Isaiah Hicks chipped in with 11 points off the bench for the Tar Heels, who shot 50 percent from the field.

C.J. Washington registered 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench to lead the way for UAB (4-9), which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. Robert Brown finished with 11 points and Chris Cokley collected 10 points, five rebounds and two steals for the Blazers, who shot 30.5 percent, including 3-of-25 from 3-point range.

North Carolina controlled play from the start, jumping out to an early 15-2 lead off the opening tip as UAB converted just one of its first seven field-goal attempts. A basket from Tosin Mehinti pulled the Blazers to within 27-17 with 5:13 remaining in the first half before the Tar Heels closed the period on a 17-6 run, with Jackson putting the exclamation point on the opening 20 minutes with a tip-in at the buzzer to send the Tar Heels into halftime up 44-23.

After the break, North Carolina came out of the locker room with spurts of 8-3 and 11-3 within minutes of each other to extend the lead to as many as 30 in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half. Down the stretch, UAB was able to shrink the deficit to 25 with just over 6 1/2 minutes remaining, but the Tar Heels finished strong with an emphatic dunk from Hicks and a 3-pointer from Theo Pinson standing out as highlights as North Carolina closed things out.

GAME NOTEBOOK: North Carolina moved to 4-1 against UAB, while Tar Heels coach Roy Williams is 2-1 against Blazers coach Jerod Haase, who served as an assistant under Williams at North Carolina and played for him at Kansas. ... Brown, who entered play averaging a team-high 13.6 points, shot 3-of-11 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range. ... North Carolina is 4-1 at home this season, with its wins coming by an average of 33.8 points.