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CHAPEL HILL - During least one point during Monday's first half, North Carolina coach Roy Williams was heard yelling one of his seemingly favorite phrases at new backup point guard Dexter Strickland as the freshman inbounded the ball: "Go, go, go!"
Good thing for the sixth-ranked Tar Heels they were also able to stop, stop, stop.
The reigning national champions recorded eight blocks and held Florida International 36.8 percent shooting during their 88-72 season-opening win. The numbers on 'D' were especially key, considering North Carolina committed 26 turnovers - tied for the eighth most in school history - and was outrebounded by one on the offensive boards.
North Carolina (1-0) only wants to improve on those stats, beginning when it plays N.C. Central in the Tar Heels' second game of the 2K Sports Classic on Wednesday.
"The kind of identity I want this team to take on is defensively, being incredible," said point guard Larry Drew II, who finished with seven points and six assists. "Because I think we can be incredible."
The Tar Heels looked like they had that potential at times, such as when Marcus Ginyard and Tyler Zeller took back-to-back charges in the first half, and when Ed Davis (13 points, 11 rebounds) swatted any of his four blocks.
"I think we like playing defense because we have a coach over there who likes us to play defense," said Will Graves, who started at small forward and finished with six points and six rebounds. "It's really just talking and enthusiasm on defense, and just wanting to stop the other team.
"I think we really do like playing defense - but we don't like it if we turn the ball over and have to go back to play defense (again). If we cut down our turnovers, we'll love our defense."
Graves was joined in the starting lineup by Drew at point guard, Ginyard at shooting guard, and Davis and Deon Thompson (20 points, 10 rebounds) at power forwards.
It was a new look for the Tar Heels, who lost four of last year's starters to the NBA and thus, are still trying to smooth out their timing and build their identity.
That likely accounted for some of the sloppiness.
"We were careless and definitely not as focused as we needed to be at times," Ginyard said. "And that's something we've got to take care of."
North Carolina led 46-30 at halftime, holding FIU to 30.3 percent shooting in the first half. Then the Golden Panthers (0-1) managed one bucket before the first TV timeout of the second half, as the Tar Heels extended their advantage to 55-32.
The Golden Panthers finished the game by scoring seven straight points, but the outcome was never really close; North Carolina led by as many as 26. Marvin Roberts led FIU with 18 points.
"I felt like we were definitely playing against an NBA team," said new FIU coach Isiah Thomas, whose last college game came in 1981, when he helped Indiana beat North Carolina for the national title as a player. "They are going to be a tough basketball team."
But Williams, in particular, wants the Tar Heels to get even tougher on both ends of the floor - go-go-going and stop-stop-stopping.
"I think they will like to play defense - I don't know if they like it now as well as I'd like them to," he said. "I do believe this will be a very good defensive club."
