BY BRIANA GORMAN

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- Earlier in the week, North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams called the Tar Heels' performance in a closed scrimmage at Vanderbilt on Sunday "yucky."

Five days later, it was a different story.

UNC, the reigning national champions, dominated on both sides of the ball to rout Division II Belmont Abbey 107-59 at the Smith Center on Friday. It was the Tar Heels' final scrimmage before their regular season-opener against Florida International on Monday (7 p.m., ESPNU).

"They say many times an exhibition game is a glorified practice, and I think it was that," Williams said. "I think Belmont Abbey is going to have some good things for them at their level of play; we're just so much bigger."

Belmont Abbey's tallest starter was 6-8, and UNC utilized frontcourt its depth to control the game. Senior Deon Thompson led UNC with 23 points -- just the third time in his career he has scored at least 20 points -- and tied for a team-high eight rebounds. Forwards Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis were the other Tar Heels to finish in double figures with 17 and 13 points, respectively.

UNC scored 76 points in the paint, while limiting Belmont Abbey to 16 inside, and held a 56-36 rebounding advantage. The Tar Heels also combined for 13 blocks, with Davis and freshman John Henson recording four a piece.

The Tar Heels attempted just eight 3-pointers -- making two -- which was perfectly all right with Williams.

"If we have that size advantage I think we'd be dumb standing out there shooting 3-point shots, so I hope my teams aren't dumb," Williams said.

As expected, seniors Thompson and Marcus Ginyard, along with sophomore forward Ed Davis and sophomore point guard Larry Drew II started. Will Graves, who was suspended for most of the 2008-09 season, was UNC's fifth starter on the perimeter, the position with one of the biggest question marks.

But 2:11 into the game, the junior was replaced with Henson. The lanky freshman finished with five points and eight rebounds compared to Graves' six points and seven rebounds.

Williams constantly subbed players in and out -- a dozen players recorded at least 12 minutes -- but he said he's not worrying about lineups just yet.

"There's no plan there," Williams said. "If Will doesn't sprint back on defense like he didn't do on the third possession, he'll come out even faster."

UNC started the game slowly but steadily built a 57-31 halftime lead thanks to Thompson's 16 points in the first period. The Tar Heels continued to run the floor in the second half, and Williams emptied his bench with his team up 50 points and 2:19 remaining.

Overall, Thompson said the Tar Heels played better than against Vanderbilt, despite turning the ball over 20 times to the Crusaders.

"After [the Vanderbilt game], we had a whole week of practice to prepare for this, and mentally we were a lot sharper of knowing where to go and execute on simple plays," Thompson said.