North Carolina didn't match Butler's toughness on Tuesday night in the Maui Invitational. ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAHAINA, Hawaii — One night after North Carolina’s best performance of the season came its worst. A look back at the Tar Heels’ 82-71 defeat against Butler in the Maui Invitational:

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Before his team’s game against Butler here on Tuesday night in the Maui Invitational, Roy Williams went over his talking points, as he usually does, and he specifically instructed the Tar Heels to play hard and play with intelligence. Williams expected Butler to do both.

What he didn’t expect was his team to do neither for long stretches during its 82-71 defeat – one that left Williams so agitated he briefly snapped at a tournament public relations staffer who attempted to fix his microphone during his postgame press conference. Williams apologized for that, but not for the anger and disappointment he directed toward his team, and his own coaching.

“On game nights,” Williams said, “you’ve got to freaking step up and be a man on game night.”

Dexter Strickland's all-around game was one of many positives  for North Carolina during its 95-49 victory against Mississippi State in Maui on Monday. ROBERT WILLETT

LAHAINA, Hawaii — North Carolina made 15 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beating 75-footer from P.J. Hairston to end the first half and Leslie McDonald had a career-high 21 points. Just what we thought would happen during the Tar Heels first game of the Maui Invitational, right?

The look back at UNC’s 95-49 victory against Mississippi State:

UNC coach Roy Williams said he was "stunned" and "shocked" by Maryland's decision to leave the ACC and join the Big Ten. ROBERT WILLETT

LAHAINA, Hawaii — North Carolina coach Roy Williams said on Monday that he was “stunned” and “shocked” by the news that Maryland would be leaving the ACC to join the Big Ten.

“I’m an old ACC guy,” Williams said after his team’s 95-49 victory against Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational. “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been around probably longer than the league has, I don’t know. So I was shocked by it and didn’t see it coming whatsoever.”

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Sometimes during lighter moments before or after North Carolina practices, P.J. Hairston will carry a ball to the far end of the court and take a few shots from 75 feet or so.

“I knew at some point it was going to go in,” Hairston said here on Monday, after the Tar Heels’ 95-49 victory against Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational.

As improbable as it seemed in the moment, that shot did go in for Hairston on Monday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

During one stretch in the second half of its 78-63 victory at Long Beach State on Friday night, No. 11 North Carolina vindicated coach Roy Williams. The Tar Heels during those moments proved they could take control of a game from the perimeter, just as Williams believed they could.

The Tar Heels (3-0) entered the season surrounded by questions, but with an array of returning guards Williams didn’t think shooting would be among those questions. He insisted UNC would be an effective team from the outside, even while the Heels struggled to find their shot during their first two games. 

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina’s 80-56 victory against Florida Atlantic at the Smith Center on Sunday was a lot like the Tar Heels’ season-opening victory against Gardner-Webb on Friday night. In both games, the Heels showed positive glimpses of the team they might become amid sloppiness that proves they still have a long ways to go. 

UNC's 76-59 season-opening victory on Friday night against Gardner-Webb provided coach Roy Williams with plenty of teachable moments. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina on Friday night began the season with a 76-59 victory against Gardner-Webb. Let’s get to it … the look back: 

Updated 11 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL — Underneath the glare of cameras and seated comfortably in the public spotlight on Friday night, James Michael McAdoo, the North Carolina sophomore forward, thought back to a year ago. Then he was a timid freshman, uncertain of his abilities and his role on a team with no shortage of star power.

Marcus Paige begins his college career as the starting point guard at North Carolina. How ready is he? ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — It’s here. Basketball season is here. Finally. It never really goes away in Chapel Hill, but it returns tonight when North Carolina begins the season at the Smith Center against Gardner-Webb.

Around this time a year ago, the Tar Heels began the 2011-12 season with national championship aspirations. Entering this season, though, who knows what to expect? I wrote some about that in a story we ran earlier in the week, which you can read right here.

The headline tells the story: “More questions than answers” for UNC.