Williams gets 600th win as Heels hold off UNR

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Roy Williams' milestone victories are starting to blend together for No. 11 North Carolina.

The Tar Heels gave their Hall of Fame coach his 600th career win Sunday, an 80-73 triumph over pesky UNR behind a career-high 23 points from Deon Thompson.

"We went in the locker room and I was thinking, 'I was just here,' and it was for his 500th win," Thompson said. "Now I'm here for his 600th. It feels like I've been here forever, but it's definitely cool to be part of Coach Williams' history and Carolina history."

Ed Davis added 16 points, a personal-best 15 rebounds and a pair of momentum-changing blocked shots late for the Tar Heels (6-1).

They endured a lengthy second-half slump before warming up down the stretch with an 11-3 spurt, then hit 4 of 7 free throws in the final minute to dodge UNR's upset bid and avoid a letdown two nights before a championship-game rematch with No. 2 Michigan State.

"This is the first time we got into a late-game situation, and we needed to step up and make big plays, and we did," senior Marcus Ginyard said. "It's one of those things that you've got to go through to learn from, being in a tight game, and making big plays like that."

Armon Johnson scored 20 points and Luke Babbitt added 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead UNR (2-3). The Wolf Pack shot 41 percent and held the Tar Heels without a field goal for five minutes before missing 10 of their final 14 shots.

"We thought if we played zone and went inside-out and ... not let their big guys get easy baskets around the hoop, I thought that'd be to our advantage," UNR coach David Carter said.

Things were sticky for a while before Williams became the 33rd coach in Division I history to reach 600 wins. He's the third-fastest in NCAA history to get there. Williams, who spent 15 years at Kansas before taking over at his alma mater in 2003, improved to 600-139 in his 22nd season and became the eighth active coach to hit that milestone.

"I don't think you'll ever hear Roy Williams say, 'I won 500 or I won 600,' " the coach said. "I'd say, 'We won this, and we won that,' and that's really what I believe. I'm not being corny. ... I've been at two great institutions, I've been in places that really are passionate about basketball."

For a while, that landmark victory seemed like anything but a certainty against a Wolf Pack team playing Game 2 of a three-game, 5,731-mile road swing.

Larry Drew II finished with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists, and hit two 3-pointers 45 seconds apart during the burst that gave the Tar Heels just enough breathing room.