University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Season Monday At Maui Invitational
November 18, 1999 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 1999
TAR HEELS OPEN 90TH SEASON
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina opens the 1999-2000 season in Hawaii on Monday, November 22 at 9:00 p.m. EST vs. Southern California in the Maui Invitational hosted by Chaminade in Lahaina, Hawaii. The game will be televised by ESPN. Carolina will play either Georgetown or Memphis on Tuesday, November 23, and will play Chaminade, Florida, Purdue or Utah State on Wednesday, November 24, at times to be determined. If Carolina defeats Southern California, it will play Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. HT (9:00 p.m. ET) in a game televised by ESPN. If UNC loses to Southern California, it will play at 11:00 a.m. HT (4:00 p.m. ET) Tuesday.
After finishing 24-10, reaching the finals of the ACC Tournament and earning its NCAA-record 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament berth with a very young team last season, Carolina returns four starters in 1999-2000. Leading the returnees is senior point guard Ed Cota, who has led the ACC in assists in each of the last three seasons and could be the first player in conference history to do so four times. Other starters returning include junior center Brendan Haywood and sophomore forwards Jason Capel and Kris Lang. Junior shooting guard Max Owens and junior forward/center Brian Bersticker both also return after seeing extensive action in 1998-99.
Carolina must replace seniors Ademola Okulaja, Brad Frederick and Scott Williams, plus rising junior Vasco Evtimov, from last year's squad. Okulaja was named first-team All-ACC after leading the Tar Heels in scoring, rebounding, three-point field goals and steals. Evtimov opted to play professional basketball in Greece.
UNC is one of only two schools with at least 1,700 victories entering the 1999-2000 campaign. Carolina enters its 90th season with an overall record of 1,733-609 (.740). Only Kentucky has more victories with 1,748 in 96 seasons.
SEASON OPENERS
Overall, Carolina is 79-10 in season openers. The last time UNC lost to open the season was an 83-72 loss to Arizona on Nov. 22, 1996, in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass.
TAR HEELS AND TROJANS
Carolina leads the series with Southern California, 5-0. The Tar Heels won games over the Trojans at the Dixie Classic in Raleigh, N.C., in 1951-52 and 1954-55, in 1981-82 in Greensboro, N.C., at the Central Fidelity Holiday Classic in Richmond, Va. in 1987-88 and in the Harris Teeter Pepsi Challenge in Charlotte in 1996-97.
In the most recent meeting on Dec. 6, 1996, in Charlotte, center Serge Zwikker tallied 22 points and 20 rebounds in a 99-84 Tar Heel victory in the Harris Teeter Pepsi Challenge. Antawn Jamison had 26 points and 12 rebounds for Carolina, while Shammond Williams had 19 points and seven assists. Ed Cota started for the Heels and finished with 12 assists and four points.
TAR HEELS PICKED TO WIN ACC IN 1999-2000
Carolina received 74 of the 90 first-place votes and 792 points overall as it was picked to win the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1999-2000 in a vote of ACC media. Duke finished second with 16 first place votes and 712 points. Wake Forest (577 points ) was picked third, followed by Maryland (481), NC State (442), Georgia Tech (396), Virginia (358), Florida State (179) and Clemson (113).
COTA NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC
Point guard Ed Cota was named to the preseason All-ACC first team along with Maryland's Terrence Morris, Wake Forest's Robert O'Kelley, Duke's Shane Battier and Georgia Tech's Jason Collier. UNC center Brendan Haywood was named to the second team while Kris Lang and Max Owens were honorable mention all-conference. Cota was the fourth-leading vote-getter for preseason ACC Player-of-the-Year honors.
Cota is a preseason candidate for the John Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, both of which are presented to the nation's best collegiate player.
Cota enters the 1999-2000 season third in school history and eighth in ACC annals with 746 assists. Phil Ford is second at UNC and seventh in ACC history with 753 assists and Kenny Smith holds the Carolina record and is fifth in ACC history with 768.
HEAD COACH BILL GUTHRIDGE
Guthridge is 58-14 as the Tar Heels' head coach. He is in his third year as head coach, but 33rd as part of the UNC program. He was an assistant coach for Dean Smith for 30 seasons before taking over in 1997-98 following Smith's retirement.
Guthridge, the 1998 National Coach of the Year, has won a total of 845 games as a member of the Tar Heel staff. Including 93 wins as an assistant coach at Kansas State, Guthridge has been on the sidelines for 938 collegiate victories.
Guthridge won more games (58) in his first two seasons than any coach in NCAA history and reached 50 wins faster than any coach in Carolina history.
In 1997-98, Guthridge set the NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach with 34.
IN THE POLLS
Carolina is ranked fifth in the ESPN/USA Today preseason poll and fifth in the Associated Press poll (as of Nov. 15).
The Tar Heels have been ranked by the Associated Press in 163 consecutive polls. That is the longest active streak in the country and is the fourth-longest overall streak. Marquette has the third-longest poll streak with 166 weeks in the AP rankings.
THIRTEEN FORMER TAR HEELS IN THE NBA
Thirteen former Carolina players were on 1999-2000 NBA opening day rosters: Vince Carter (Toronto), Pete Chilcutt (Utah), Hubert Davis (Dallas), Rick Fox (L.A. Lakers), Antawn Jamison (Golden State), George Lynch (Philadelphia), Eric Montross (Detroit), Sam Perkins (Indiana), J.R. Reid (Milwaukee), Jerry Stackhouse (Detroit), Rasheed Wallace (Portland), Scott Williams (Milwaukee) and Shammond Williams (Seattle).
In addition, seven former Tar Heels are in NBA administration this season: Larry Brown (Head Coach, Philadelphia), George Karl (Head Coach, Milwaukee), John Kuester (Assistant Coach, Philadelphia), Mitch Kupchak (General Manager, L.A. Lakers), Bob McAdoo (Assistant Coach, Miami), Mike O'Koren (Assistant Coach, New Jersey) and Donnie Walsh (President, Indiana).
