North Carolina used hot shooting from outside and buckets inside after offensive rebounds to defeat No. 4 Gonzaga 103-90 in Chapel Hill as the Zags failed to avenge their national championship loss to the Heels. (12/15)

"We are lethal from inside, outside, mid-range, fastbreaks," said UNC senior Luke Maye, who led the way with 20 points and 16 rebounds. "We have a lot of guys that can knock down shots."

UNC coach Roy Williams, who has indicated in the past that this could be one of his best shooting teams, said he has been waiting for the Tar Heels to shoot like they should. "I tell them that they shoot the ball very well - why don't you do it in the games?" he said.

"We took some weird shots but if the ball goes in the basket it makes things look better," he added.

"We made shots and we rebounded the ball really well."

Carolina had 27 points off offensive rebounds whereas Gonzaga had none.

But it was the outside shot that dazzled the boisterous crowd. Cam Johnson led the way with a season-high 25 points by hitting six of eight three-pointers, several from way out and a couple in key moments.

In the first half, Johnson popped in a three from the right side that gave Carolina its largest lead of the game at 39-22. In the second half, after Gonzaga had cut the deficit to under double digits, Johnson hit a stop and pop three in front of the Carolina bench to push the lead back up to 12 at 81-69.

Johnson all but wrapped up the win with his longest shot of the evening to make it 92-75 as the shot clock was running out with 5:41 left.

As a team the Tar Heels were 13 of 25 from behind the three-point line.

Carolina reached the century mark for the fourth time this year when Kenny Williams slipped a pass to Maye, who scored on a lauup and was fouled. The three-point play made it 102-88 with two minutes left.

UNC point guards Coby White and Seventh Woods combined for 29 points from that position. Woods, who already had a career high in the first half with 11 points, finished with 14. White, who had several highlight plays, perhaps got the biggest ovation when he took a pass after a Maye steal and drained a spread-legged long jumper during a 14-6 UNC run late in the game.

The biggest negative of the game for the Heels was the fact that they turned the ball over 23 times, many of which were unforced errors. But Carolina helped make up for that stat by outrebounding a highly regarded rebounding team by a 42-21 mark.

North Carolina moves to 8-2 while Gonzaga drops to 9-2. The tough games keep coming as UNC plays Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic Dec. 22.

Box score

UNC's Cam Johnson led the Heels with 25 points. (UNC Sports Information photo)