No. 11 seed North Carolina played perhaps its best offensive game of the season and cruised to a 95-68 win over fellow No. 11 seed San Diego State in an NCAA Tournament First Four contest on Tuesday night at the UD Arena.

Carolina (23-13) won for the ninth time in 11 games and improved to 8-2 in the NCAA Tournament in four years under head coach Hubert Davis. The Tar Heels advance to the South Region first round to play No. 6 seed Mississippi on Friday at 4:05 p.m. in Milwaukee on TNT.

In the midst of much national discussion and controversy after their selection as one of the last teams in the NCAA field, the Tar Heels justified their bid by building a big first-half lead and putting the game away early, making a statement from the opening tip.

RJ Davis led all scorers with 26 points, hitting all six of his three-point attempts and 8 of 12 shots overall. Jae'Lyn Withers had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Seth Trimble scored 16 points and Elliot Cadeau had nine points and 12 assists.

UNC improved to 11-1 this season and 32-2 overall under Hubert Davis when scoring 90+ points. Carolina shot a season-best 60.9 percent and drained 7 of 9 three-pointers while building a 47-23 lead at halftime. The lead grew to as many as 40 at 82-42 after the break.

Carolina won its 134th all-time NCAA Tournament game, extending its own record for the most in history. UNC is 33-2 in 35 previous appearances in the round of 64.

UNC built a big lead in the first half by shooting well and stifling the Aztec offense. The Tar Heels led by as many as 24 points before halftime, hitting 60.9 percent of their shots overall including 7 for 9 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes against the team that led the nation in field goal percentage defense entering the game. It was the Tar Heels' best shooting half of the season.

Meanwhile, an active UNC defense limited SDSU to 26.7 percent shooting. Carolina led, 47-23, at the break.

The Aztecs never threatened in a non-competitive second half.