RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina made everything look easy in its first two NCAA tournament games, from running out to big early leads to cracking the 100-point mark with plenty of time left on the clock.

The only people who don't sound all that impressed are, well, those same Tar Heels.

"We don't think that winning two games in the NCAA tournament is a huge success for us," junior Marcus Ginyard said.

Fair enough. But even the hard-to-please coach of the tournament's overall No. 1 seed can't deny how sharp his team looked here after the Tar Heels' 108-77 rout of Arkansas in yesterday's second round. Now Roy Williams' team — after putting on a show for its home-state fans — is off and running to the round of 16.

Wayne Ellington scored 20 points and the Tar Heels (34-2) raced to a double-digit lead in the first 5 minutes to earn a trip to the East Regional semifinals in Charlotte, located about two hours southwest of their Chapel Hill campus. They will face fourth-seeded Washington State, led by former 'Iolani standout Derrick Low, on Thursday in the same arena where they won last weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Ty Lawson added 19 points and seven assists for the Tar Heels, who followed their first-round rout of Mount St. Mary's with a similar offensive display. They scored the first nine points, led 51-26 at halftime and shot 68 percent for the game. Along the way, North Carolina became the first team to score 100 points in its first two NCAA games since Loyola Marymount did it against New Mexico State and Michigan in 1990.

The ninth-seeded Razorbacks (23-12), who upset Vanderbilt and Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament in Atlanta last week, never got closer than 21 points after the break.

"We were pretty doggone good," Williams said. "We really were."

It marked only the third time in the past 25 years that the Tar Heels won both of their first two NCAA games by 20 or more points. The only other teams to do it — 1993 and 2005 — went on to win the national title.

TENNESSEE 76, BUTLER 71

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Tennessee Volunteers scrapped, pounded and grabbed.

They also survived. The second-seeded Vols mostly ditched the glamorous 3-pointer and got physical in the second round, moving on with an overtime victory over Butler (30-4).

Tennessee (31-4) got a little assist from Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt, who called her men's counterpart a few hours before the game.

"She said, 'Just tell those guys to rebound the basketball,' " Bruce Pearl said of his colleague, whose seven national titles make her something of an expert.

JaJuan Smith hit four straight free throws in the final 13.6 seconds of overtime and the Vols barely won a game they at times threatened to turn into an East Regional rout.

The Vols will play Louisville on Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.

Tennessee scored 38 points in the paint, had five players with multiple fouls by halftime and made only two 3s in the final 40 minutes against the Bulldogs.

"Fatigue was a factor for them at some point, because of the way we guarded them," Pearl said. "We really played great defense tonight and did what we needed to do on the boards."

LOUISVILLE 78, OKLAHOMA 48

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Louisville got so revved up, Rick Pitino settled down.

No need for the Cardinals (26-8) coach to shout, stomp his foot or stalk the sideline. He simply watched and enjoyed the show yesterday while his team played to near-perfection, romping past Oklahoma (23-12) in the second round of the East Regional.

"Offensively and defensively, we did a beautiful job," he said. "You really can't find a weakness in the way the guys played."

Louisville harassed freshman star Blake Griffin with double teams down low, trapped the Sooners and ran every chance it got. The Cardinals neatly zipped passes in the paint — that bit of insider trading paid off with easy baskets all game.

Little-used Will Scott captured a loose ball, twisted his body and hit a heave from near half-court at the halftime buzzer for a 44-22 lead. While the Cardinals ran off hollering, Pitino walked away with a wry smile.

"It looked like it was going to be our night when that shot went in. Everything was going well for us. It was one of those nights," Pitino said.

Said Scott: "Everybody has their 15 minutes of fame and I guess this is mine."

Starting five players born outside Kentucky, the third-seeded Cardinals reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2005. They will take on Tennessee on Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C.

Reserve Earl Clark had 14 points and Jerry Smith 12 points for a team that relies on balanced scoring. Most everyone took part, and Louisville shot 59 percent for the game.