Ed Davis had 18 points to help No. 9 North Carolina beat Albany 87-70 on Wednesday night.
Deon Thompson added 15 points for the Tar Heels (11-3), who had an easy time in their next-to-last game before opening Atlantic Coast Conference play. Despite being short-handed, North Carolina built a double-digit lead midway through the first half and coasted the rest of the way for its third straight win since losing to No. 2 Texas.
The Tar Heels played without fifth-year senior Marcus Ginyard and sophomore Justin Watts. Watts injured his right ankle during Monday's win against Rutgers, while Ginyard has missed two straight since spraining his right ankle in practice.
Will Harris scored 22 points to lead the Great Danes (4-10), who ended an eight-game road trip with just one victory. Albany hasn't played at home since beating Robert Morris on Nov. 22.
For the Tar Heels, it was a drama-free night _ and that's a good thing considering the way they played in Monday's win against Rutgers. In that game, they saw a 17-point second-half lead whittled all the way to four with about 2 minutes left before taking an 81-67 victory.
Afterward, coach Roy Williams said he was "so ticked off it is unbelievable" at the performance, which included everything from guys forgetting repeated instructions not to try to save the ball under their defensive basket to one play in which two players lined up to guard the same guy. Williams said his team can't afford to keep making the same mistakes with the ACC opener against Virginia Tech looming next weekend.
It was hard to really say how much the team responded considering the absences of Ginyard and Watts from an already thin perimeter, which forced Williams to use walk-on Thomas Thornton for a few plays during the first half against an overmatched opponent. The Tar Heels appeared to get out in transition better, with freshman John Henson throwing down a couple of dunks _ including one in the first half in which he posed with his right hand behind his head while throwing it down with his left _ to highlight the effort.
North Carolina got a 3-pointer from Larry Drew II, followed by two more from Will Graves on the ensuing possessions for a 39-19 lead with about 5 minutes left in the first half on the way to a 46-29 halftime lead. The Tar Heels increased that margin steadily, at one point shooting 17 of 22 in the second half before getting a little ragged while playing with a big lead in the final 5 minutes.
The Tar Heels finished at 60 percent after halftime and 50 percent for the game. They led by as many as 38 points midway through the second half, though Albany closed the game on a 23-2 run in the final sloppy minutes that were sure to give Williams something new to dwell on.
Davis had just five points on two shots in the first half, but finished 7 of 9 from the field to go with four blocked shots. Henson, the lanky 6-foot-10 rookie who has looked lost at times this season, finished with eight points, two steals and two blocks in a season-high 19 minutes.
