MEMPHIS, Tenn. — North Carolina expects strong offensive performances from junior leaders Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II, but Luke Maye provided an unexpected bonus Friday night.

Berry scored 26 points and Jackson had 24, but it was the first career double-double from Maye – 16 points and 12 rebounds – that helped set the tone early and send the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 92-80 victory against Butler in the NCAA tournament.

“He has the ability to shoot the ball. He has the ability to rebound the ball,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said of the sophomore forward and former walk-on. “But the reason Luke is going to be successful is what he’s got in his brain and in his heart.”

Carolina reached the Elite Eight for the 27th time.

Maye’s early jolt off the bench helped Carolina (30-7) build a first-half lead to as many as 20 as the Tar Heels benefited from accuracy, connecting on 54.4 percent of their shots while Butler was at 43.5 percent.

“We knew we were going to have to make some perimeter shots to give ourselves a chance,” Butler Coach Chris Holtmann said. “They were going to give us some clean looks and we were going to have to make them. We just didn’t.”

Andrew Chrabascz led the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (25-9) with 21 points and seven rebounds, and Kelan Martin finished with 16 points for Butler, which struggled shooting early and didn’t recover.

“We let them get into a rhythm, especially in the beginning,” Chrabascz said. “When you let a team like that feel good about themselves, it’s tough to get them out of that with how many talented guys they have on their team. And also they answered every run that we had.”

The Tar Heels broke out of the gate early, building a double-digit lead and really weren’t threatened after halftime, although Butler did get within 10 at one point. Carolina, which let Arkansas claw back before defeating the Razorbacks 72-65 last weekend, weren’t going to let that happen again.

“We got by with very little room against Arkansas,” Jackson said. “We knew it was a game of runs. Butler is a good team and they keep on coming at you. For us, we tried to stay focused and stay poised.”

North Carolina used early accurate shooting to build a 16-point lead as the Tar Heels connected on 13 of their first 18 shots, including missing only 1 of 7 from outside the arc.

While Butler managed to whittle the deficit to single digits on a couple of occasions before halftime, North Carolina simply answered with another rally, helping the Tar Heels carry a 52-36 lead into the break.

KENTUCKY 86, UCLA 75: Kentucky advanced to the Elite Eight behind a big night from freshman De’Aaron Fox.

The second-seeded Wildcats beat third-seeded UCLA in the South Region semifinals in Memphis, Tennessee.

And Fox scored a season-high 39 points to get the better of UCLA’s Lonzo Ball in a matchup of star freshmen point guards. Kentucky will play North Carolina on Sunday.

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