North Carolina's Caleb Love and Dawson Garcia each scored 22 points to lead the Tar Heels to a plodding 80-63 over Elon in Chapel Hill. (12/11)

The Tar Heels suffered through their worst shooting half of the season at 29 percent but improved on that in the second half to finish with just 39 percent from the floor.

"Maybe it was a week of finals that made us dull as far as execution," UNC coach Hubert Davis said adding that practices have been sloppy after two good performances against Michigan and Georgia Tech.

"I'm very frustrated," he added. "I wasnt happy with the energy or the effort."

There were six lead changes and three ties in the first half before Carolina went on an 11-3 run, highlighted by a Garcia three, on the way to a 37-29 halftime lead.

Love hit a fade away jumper in the first seconds of the second half to give the Heels their first double-digit lead at 39-29. Back-to-back threes by Love opened it up at 52-37 with just over 13 minutes to go.

It never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way while the Heels led by as many as 19 points before settling for the 17-point victory.

In addition to Love and Garcia's efforts on both the offensive and defensive ends, Coach Davis praised the Tar Heels for getting to the free throw line more and for hitting them as Carolina went 27 of 35 from the line.

The Tar Heels also came up with 12 steals an doubled up the Phoenix on the boards, 48-24.

Armando Bacot, saddled with foul trouble in the first half, came on to score nine, pull down seven rebounds and steal the ball four times in the second half.

North Carolina, now 7-2, hosts Furman Tuesday night. Elon falls to 2-8.

Box Score

UNC's R.J. Davis tallied 11 during Carolina's home win over Elon. (UNC Sports Information photo)