The Morning After: Thoughts, notes and anything else that didn’t quite make this space after North Carolina’s latest game (in this case, No. 7 UNC's 86-74 victory at NC State on Tuesday night).

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall has thrown so many assists to teammates Tyler Zeller and John Henson that the starting forwards didn’t mind taking on a couple of negative stats for the sophomore Tuesday night.

“For all the passes he gives to me and makes easy for me, I’ll take one of his turnovers,” Zeller said, smiling.

Added Henson: “I told him, ‘I’ll take it.’ If that’s what he needs for 13 assists and zero turnovers, I’ll take that, because that’s a great line for him.”

Although Marshall -- who also scored a career-high 22 points in No. 7 UNC’s 86-74 win over NC State -- posted no turnovers for the first time as a starter, he freely admits he should have had two.

“But they ended up giving them to the catcher,” Marshall said.

One was described by coach Roy Williams as an “out-of-bounds, 90-miles-per-hour pass off Z’s hands," and the other a “silly backdoor” throw to Henson. Both came late in the game.

Williams joked that the Wolfpack must have had a scorekeeper who liked Marshall.

But the coach was still impressed.

“It’s really special. I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody that’s been 13-zero,’’ he said. “... I can sit up here and nitpick, but he played a phenomenal basketball game.”

FINDING Z: Zeller had only two points by halftime, as the Wolfpack collapsed on the interior in an attempt to make UNC beat them from the outside (which it did). But he had a stronger second half, as the Tar Heels made a point of getting their 7-footer the ball.

“It was a little bit of an emphasis, to say the least, that we throw the ball to Tyler Zeller,’’ Williams said. “He’s only leading the league in field goal percentage, and he only had three shots in the first half. So we did try to make him more of an emphasis in the second half, and he did some good things.”

The senior finished with 14 points on 3-for-7 shooting, plus eight rebounds.

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: The Tar Heels are now 5-0 in road games since losing by 33 points at Florida State -- a good sign, with neutral-site tournament play right around the corner.

"This team has done a good job of bonding together," sophomore forward Harrison Barnes said. “Earlier in the season, when we were at UNLV, at Kentucky, we didn’t always do the best job of everyone coming together, of being focused and relaxed and poised. But we came out here tonight and laid the first punch, and I thought we never let down.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.