UNC (7-2) rolled 85-59 over the Golden Eagles of the Ohio Valley Conference, who were the basketball equivalent of a Music Appreciation final.

“We needed a game like this at this time,” said Tar Heel forward Jason Capel, who led the Heels with 21 points. “School comes first, so this is always a tough time of year.”

Capel wasn’t the only Tar Heel who enjoyed himself during only the team’s second home outing of the season. (The first home appearance was an ugly loss to Michigan State on Dec.1.)

Brendan Haywood played 22 of the easiest minutes of his life. He made all seven of his shots — mostly dunks — and was seldom interrupted by the vertically challenged Eagles on his way to 16 points. Even freshman football phenom Julius Peppers threw in seven points, easily outmuscling the Eagles around the hoop.

Senior Ed Cota shot 7-for-8 from the field and had seven assists with his usual Smith Center-pleasing mix of lob, lookaway and behind-the-back deliveries. Cota’s layup with 14:55 left in the game gave him 1,000 career points. He joined Lebo, Tar Heel assistant coach Phil Ford and ex-NBA star Kenny Smith as the only four players in UNC history to record 1,000 points and 500 assists.

“Ed’s always under control,” praised Lebo. “He’s a leader and a winner.”

“Scoring a thousand is no big deal,” said Cota. “It took me four years. A lot of guys do it now in two or three.”

The seventh-ranked Tar Heels started the game like someone had just awakened them for an 8 o’clock class. After eight stumbling minutes, they led 16-15. But they finished the half on a 26-7 tear for a secure 42-22 lead, getting a flurry of short bankers from Capel, a jumper by freshman guard Joe Forte and a soft jump hook from Peppers.

Peppers was the most sought-after Heel for postgame comments after a surprisingly smooth performance and impressed his coach, Bill Guthridge, as well as the media.

“Julius is an athletic presence,” said Guthridge, stating the obvious about the 6-6, 280-pound specimen who looks like he just walked off the cover of a fitness magazine. “He’s very intelligent. He’s learning how we do things around here and has a chance to play for us.”

Peppers got 17 minutes of action at power forward thanks to Brian Bersticker’s injury and the absence of Kris Lang. Lang is suffering from shin splints and added a twisted a knee to his troubles in the Tar Heel’s recent loss to No. 1 Cincinnati. Lang will likely return to action when the Tar Heels play at Miami on Dec. 18.

Tennessee Tech, which came into the game averaging 89.2 ppg (sixth in the nation) and making 10.5 3-pointers per game (third in the world), tried to turn the second half into a H.O.R.S.E contest.

Down 48-24 early in the half, the Eagles literally threw in their next 24 points on 3s from all corners of the Smith Center — each a little further out than the preceding one.

“You could see why we were so scared of their 3s,” said Guthridge. “I thought we did a good job of chasing them around.”

All told, the Eagles hoisted 40 3-point attempts. They made 13. Josh Heard led Tech with 18 points, going 6-for-19 on 3s.

“There will be games where we shoot even more 3s,” said Lebo, a fixture for the Heels from 1986-89. “Hopefully, there will be games where we make more.”

Still, even when Heard was smoking, the Eagles (3-4) could gain little ground on the Heels, who effortlessly punched the ball inside for pointblank shots. UNC made 12 of its first 13 field goal attempts in the second half.

Eagle sort-of-big men, 6-9 stringbean Eric Akins and bulky Adonis Hart, only stopped Haywood when they fouled him. Not that bad an idea, really, since the 7-footer suffered through a Shaq-like 2-for-7 afternoon from the charity stripe. Haywood punctuated several nasty dunks with several nasty words for Akins, who was saddled with two fouls in the game’s first two minutes.

The Tar Heels cruised down the stretch, leading by as many as 29 and putting walk-ons on the floor for the final three minutes.

“I thought it was a good game for us,” said Guthridge. “We improved on rebounding and defense. We’re not a real good team yet, but we have a chance to be.”