Former UNC point guard King Rice brought his Monmouth team to Chapel Hill but got a rude welcome from Tar Heel Justin Jackson, who scored 28, and the refs, who slapped him and his players with technicals during a key stretch in North Carolina's 102-74 win. (12/28)

UNC coach Roy Williams recruited Rice to Carolina back in the 1980s and said he was one of the toughest kids he'd ever seen. "He got a little frustrated with the officiating and that took away from what I thought be be a good experience for him," Coach Williams said, calling Rice "a competitive rascal."

Monmouth had cut a 19-point Carolina lead in the first half to just nine at the break, 50-41, after the visitors hit four straight three pointers in the last two minutes of the half.

But in the first few minutes of the second half, two Monmouth players picked up technicals as they lost their cool. And then Rice lost his cool and picked up a technical. During that stretch, the Carolina lead swelled from 10 points to 21 points, and the lead stayed that comfortable the rest of the way.

A tearful Coach Rice fought to get the words out about how he feels about Coach Williams and how he lost his cool.

"I can take losing - I thought it would be closer," he said. "I have to be a better coach and not let other people on the court besides the players affect me so much."

He said that his complaining rubbed off on his players who reacted by losing their cool. Then he finally got his technical after yelling at the officials.

It was the last non-conference game of the regular season for the Tar Heels who improve to 12-2 and start conference play at Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon. But Coach Roy Williams wasn't particularly impressed.

"Well, we won," Coach Williams said. "I wasn't very pleased with much of it - 17 turnovers, 11 in the second half."

He also didn't like that Carolina only scored four fastbreak points while Monmouth managed 14.

Coach Williams said he felt much more confident going into the ACC season after the second half of the Northern Iowa game than he did after the second half of this one.

Williams and some of the players, including Joel Berry, have been fighting a bug and didn't feel well.

In addition to Jackson's 28 points, which included six three pointers, Kennedy Meeks contributed a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Isaiah Hicks scored 15 and Tony Bradley added 10.

There were a total of 56 fouls and 72 foul shots. The Tar Heels were 33 of 46 from the line and shot an unimpressive 43 percent from the floor.

The Heels face off against the Yellow Jackets at noon Saturday.

Box Score