NEW ORLEANS -- No. 6 North Carolina's 95-75 season-opening victory over Tulane on Friday night -- sparked by Justin Jackson's career-high 27 points and Joel Berry's career-high 23 -- was a nearly perfect tuneup for what coach Roy Williams hopes will be a magical season.

The game also marked the college debut for new Tulane coach Mike Dunleavy, who spent 17 seasons in the NBA before taking the job in April. Dunleavy, 62, watched his young Green Wave players hustle, struggle and learn -- and he also learned about something he had never seen in an NBA game.

Dunleavy was dumbfounded when Tulane was called for a technical foul in the second half because one of its fans in the Smoothie King Center threw a miniature basketball onto the court. Dunleavy had never seen that before.

"In a tight game, I'm going to take a Tulane fan on the road with me and say, 'OK, bring a couple of balls with you and throw them out there just when I need it,'" Dunleavy said, laughing. "I said (to the ref), 'Seriously?' I did not know about that rule."

It was business as usual for the Tar Heels, who led from start to finish despite allowing Tulane to crawl back into the game at 20-19 with a 7-0 run midway through the first half.

From that point, Carolina outscored Tulane 26-13 in the final 8:24 of the half to take control, 46-32 at halftime. Jackson, Berry and Isaiah Hicks led the Tar Heels with 12 points each as Carolina pushed the pace and got easy shots.

Carolina shot 17 of 31 from the floor in the first half and held Tulane to 32 percent shooting. For the game, Carolina shot 49 percent, made 9 of 20 from 3-point range and outrebounded the much smaller Green Wave 52-38.

Jackson has been a solid scorer for Carolina, but he showed a lot of range in going 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

"If he's got great shots," Williams said. "I don't look for one guy to take over the scoring load. We won the regular season and the conference championship last season and we had one guy to make all-conference. That's because we're a basketball team. I don't look for one guy to take over."

Forward Kennedy Meeks pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, but Williams wasn't happy with his shot selection.

"I'm not real positive when a guy goes 4 for 13," Williams said. "Kennedy had 15 rebounds, but the problem is he had seven offensive and five of them were after he missed his first shot, and that helps your rebound total but kills your field goal percentage.

"I was really mad at him. I want him to get the ball and shoot it quicker instead of holding it so long and drawing a crowd. In the second half, defensively he did a very nice job. He came up with some loose balls, but I was not pleased with what he did offensively."

Guard Cameron Reynolds scored a career-high 21 points for the Green Wave. Guard Kain Harris added 15 and guard Colin Slate had 14.

Williams said it was great to see how hard Tulane played despite its height disadvantage, which he attributed to Dunleavy's influence.

"They were very scrappy, gave great effort, beat us to death on the offensive backboards," Williams said. "I've known Mike a long time. He's going to do a great job. They'll be harder and harder to guard as the season goes along and they have an understanding of what he wants them to do.

"I can't coach his team for him, but I would think he'd be pleased with how hard they played."

Dunleavy said he's delighted to be coaching college players.

"I'm very excited, I love it," Dunleavy said. "I wanted to come to a school that can build a great program. I love going to work every day. I think our guys come and work hard. I like every part about it.

"A big part of it is teaching. At every level, it's about how do you process the speed of the game. With superstar players, the game's always in slow motion for them. That comes with experience and repetitions, and that's what we're hoping to do."

NOTES: Carolina was better from long range (40 percent) than from inside the arc (31 percent). ... Carolina will host Chattanooga on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Chattanooga upset Tennessee 82-69 on Friday night. ... After hosting Long Beach State on Tuesday, Carolina will travel to Hawaii for a Nov. 18 game against Hawaii and then three games in the Maui Invitational. The Tar Heels will play Chaminade on Nov. 21 at 11:30 p.m. (ESPN2). Other teams in Maui include Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Oregon, Tennessee and Wisconsin.