James Michael McAdoo has too often allowed his emotions to get the best of him during his freshman season at North Carolina.

 “I did allow it to get to me at times,” McAdoo said. “The past couple weeks have been real big, ups in practice and downs in the games. I felt like I was really going to be able to turn it up for ACC play. I wasn’t, but at least it never affected my work ethic.”

McAdoo is coming off his most effective Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season, a nine-point, six-rebound performance in Sunday night’s victory against Georgia Tech.

“I want to be out there and when I’m out there I want to be productive, the player I know I can be, and not let whatever happens affect my confidence," McAdoo said.

McAdoo’s wired nature has left him susceptible to picking up fouls while also accentuating some awkwardness and lack of polish down low.

Tar Heels center Tyler Zeller is more aggressively battling for position, coach Roy Williams said.

“He’s going to the boards more; it’s pretty simple,’’ Williams said. “Early in the year, we’d have to yell at him to get to the boards, but I think he’s establishing a spot in there, he’s trying to get to the offensive boards. He got two offensive boards for baskets in the first half just by getting to the boards and finding an open spot. We need that.”

Indeed, Zeller has now pulled down 116 rebounds in his past 10 games, recording double-digit boards in nine of them.

In UNC’s first 10 games, he’d managed 10 or more rebounds only twice.

And entering this season, he had posted 10 or more rebounds only seven times.

Tar Heels point guard Kendall Marshall, who is averaging a team-high 31.2 minutes this season, doesn’t seem particularly worried about his potential increase in playing time now that starting shooting guard/back-up point guard Dexter Strickland is out for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Since last season, he said, he’s learned to take better care of his body -- stretching more, getting to bed earlier.

Williams said Marshall could still improve in the weight room, but “he’s worked, done a nice job on his body. Not anything as much as I want him to do, but I might be able to say that about a lot of other guys, too.”

Still, he's sure his starting point guard can compete for longer stretches, just like last season.

“I think he can play 34, 35 minutes per game,’’ Williams said. “I hope that he doesn’t have to. But I think he can, if we ask him to.”

Roy Williams and North Carolina will need to make several adjustments with Dexter Strickland out for the remainder of the season.

Reggie Bullock will be promoted to the starting lineup, while Stilman White will play more minutes at the backup point guard.

“It’s always difficult, because you do change the minutes, you do change the rotation, you do change habits,’’ said Williams. "Kendall [Marshall] is a guy, as a point guard, who really studies what his teammates like -- where they like the ball. We know, for a fact, that Dexter’s not just going to catch the ball and go up and shoot it, he’s going to put the ball on the floor, and if he can do that, he’s got a much greater chance of making it. And now, you’ve got somebody in the game that’s doing it different than Dexter. 

“So it takes a while to get smooth with the playing style … it changes. It changes how everything goes on the court out there. Sometimes those transitions are pretty easy, and sometimes they’re difficult. So we’re just going to have to wait and see.” 

Isaiah Hicks, a North Carolina commit who is ranked in the top-20 for the class of 2013, returned to action on Friday. Hicks had to sit out the first semester due to transfer eligibility issues.

Hicks scored 28 points to go with 11 rebounds and five blocks in Webb High's 79-69 win over Northern Vance.

Hicks played for Webb as a freshman before transfered to Body of Christ Christian Academy as a sophomore.

North Carolina hasn't won consecutive regular-season road games since February of last year, when the Tar Heels beat Clemson, N.C. State and Florida State.

"We need to correct a lot of things, and that's one of them," UNC senior forward Tyler Zeller said earlier this week. "We've got to be able to show that we can play on the road. And if we want to have a chance of winning the ACC, you've got to be able to win on the road."

Following an 80-70 loss against UNLV on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, and the 73-72 defeat at Kentucky on Dec. 3, UNC's loss at Florida State was its third consecutive away from home.

“The biggest thing is just a sense of urgency,” UNC sophomore Harrison Barnes said. “Coming out - just being ready to play on the defensive end."

Tar Heels power forward John Henson is right-handed but is comfortable shooting left-handed as well.

"I love my left hand," he said. "I came in shooting my left-hand jump hook - that was kind of my go-to move. Now that I've expanded it, it's a little easier to get that shot off now."

He ranks second in the ACC in field-goal percentage (54.6 percent), but that's not only because of his dunks and post moves. He also has developed a jumper.

"You always want to improve something every year, and I felt like offensively is where I had to improve this year," Henson said. "The little jump shot I've been working on, it's not necessarily automatic, but it'll keep the defender honest."

Thomas Robinson of Kansas is the leader in the Player of the Year straw poll released by ESPN. Robinson received 25 first place votes and 98 total points.

Jared Sullinger of Ohio State received 13 first place votes and 73 total points.

Doug McDermott of Creighton received 10 first place votes and 69 total points.

Anthony Davis of Kentucky and John Jenkins of Vanderbilt received the other two first place votes. Davis had 12 points in total.

Harrison Barnes of North Carolina was ranked fifth with 11 points, followed by Kevin Jones (West Virginia), Perry Jones III (Baylor), Jenkins, Draymond Green (Michigan State), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Kentucky), Jeremy Lamb (UConn), Damian Lillard (Weber State), Jorge Gutierrez (Cal), Julian Mavunga (Miami Ohio), Mike Scott (Virginia), Marcus Demon (Missouri) and Kendall Marshall (North Carolina).

Harrison Barnes is taking 35.3 percent of his shots from 10-20 feet, where he shoots just 31.3 percent.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams disagrees with the notion that Barnes is settling for too many jumpers.

"I don't think that was valid at all,” Williams said. “Because for us, I want him to take the open shot. And we talked in the preseason, and last ... spring about what we wanted him to work on over the summer, and that was to get to the free throw line more. I think he was passing up open shots to penetrate and take more contested shots."

Barnes’ free throw rate (which is the percentage of free throws to field goal attempts) has increased from 24.9 percent as a freshman to 35.5 this season.

A primary question for North Carolina heading into the season was whether the Tar Heels could muster enough of a 3-point attack to keep opponents honest.

Tar Heel guards P.J. Hairston and Reggie Bullock have done enough.

42.9 percent of Hairston’s possessions are coming on spot-up situations (not just 3-point attempts), and he’s averaging 1.294 points per possession on 64.6 adjusted field goal percentage (which weights made 3-pointers more heavily). Off screens (10.1 percent of his possessions), he’s at 1.167 points per possession and 50 adjusted field goal percentage.

Bullock isn’t quite as reliant on spot-ups; only 34.5 percent of his possessions are of the spot-up variety, and he’s averaging 1.026 points per possession on 52.8 adjusted field goal percentage. Off screens (9.1 percent of possessions), he’s at 1.2 points per possession and 60 adjusted field goal percentage.