University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Preseason NIT at Home
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 1998
GAME 2 VS. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL MON., NOV. 16, 1998 AT CHAPEL HILL
TAR HEELS OPEN PRESEASON NIT AT HOME
After opening the season with an 87-64 victory over Appalachian State, the Tar Heels turn their attention to Florida International in the first round of the Chase Preseason National Invitation Tournament on Monday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game will be televised by Home Team Sports, Sports Channel Florida and can also be seen on WFBC in Greenville, S.C. and WAXN in Charlotte, N.C.
The winner of Monday's game will face the winner of the Georgia vs. College of Charleston game on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 9:30 p.m. The NIT semifinals and championship/consolation games will be played Nov. 25 and 27, respectively, in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Carolina is playing in the preseason NIT for the first time since the 1993-94 season and the third time overall. In 1993, Carolina played the first two rounds at home and beat Western Kentucky, 101-87, in the first round and Cincinnati, 90-63, in the second round. In the semifinals in Madison Square Garden, Carolina dropped a 91-86 overtime decision to Massachusetts, but came back to defeat Minnesota, 90-76, in the consolation game to finish third.
Carolina also participated in the preseason NIT in 1988-89, finishing third. The Tar Heels beat UT-Chattanooga and Georgia in the first two rounds at the Smith Center, dropped a 91-81 decision to Missouri in the semifinals at Madison Square Garden and beat Indiana, 106-92, in the consolation game.
CAROLINA OPENS SEASON WITH VICTORY
North Carolina opened the 1998-99 season at home with an 87-64 victory over Appalachian State, improving to 84-5 in alltime season openers. Eight Tar Heels played at least 12 minutes and two freshmen, forward Kris Lang and shooting guard Jason Capel, started the game. They became the 12th and 13th Carolina freshmen to start their first career game as a Tar Heel.
Center Brendan Haywood led the Tar Heels with a career-high 19 points on 6 of 11 shooting and added a career-high nine rebounds. His previous career-highs were eight points three times last season and eight rebounds at Bethune-Cookman a year ago. He was 6 of 6 from the floor in the first half and scored 11 of the Tar Heels' first 13 points in just over five minutes. Haywood was one of four Tar Heels in double figure scoring along with Lang (15 points), Ed Cota (17), and Michael Brooker (10). Freshman Jason Capel had an impressive debut, scoring seven points, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists. Carolina shot 49.2 percent from the floor and held Appalachian State to just 33.8 percent. Carolina had an assist on 24 of its 31 baskets, a percentage of 77.4.
50 CONSECUTIVE OVER NON-CONFERENCE FOES
Carolina has won 50 consecutive games vs. non-conference opponents entering Monday's game vs. Florida International. The Tar Heels' non-conference record in the Smith Center is 65-2. Carolina's only losses came to Temple in 1988 (83-66) and Iowa in 1989 (98-97).
REGULAR-SEASON TOURNAMENT TITLES
When Carolina faces Florida International in the first round of the Preseason NIT on Monday, the Tar Heels will be attempting to win their third consecutive regular-season title. Carolina won the Carrs Great Alaska Shootout last season with wins over UCLA, Seton Hall and Purdue and captured the Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions in 1995 with victories over Tulane and Stanford.
Carolina has won a total of 34 regular-season titles, including six in the 1990s. The Tar Heels won the Red Lobster Classic in 1990, Tournament of Champions in Charlotte in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
COTA NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC
Point guard Ed Cota was named to the preseason All-ACC team along with Duke's Elton Brand and Trajan Langdon, Maryland's Laron Profit and Clemson's Terrell McIntyre. UNC forward Ademola Okulaja was named honorable mention all-conference.
Cota is a preseason candidate for the John Wooden Award, which is presented to the nation's best collegiate player and was won last season by UNC forward Antawn Jamison.
Cota is ranked seventh in school history with 514 assists. Jimmy Black is sixth with 525 assists.
CAPEL NAMED ACC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Freshman swing man Jason Capel led all balloting for the 1998-99 ACC Rookie of the Year with 48 votes. Duke's Corey Magette and Georgia Tech's Tony Atkins tied for second with eight votes.
HEAD COACH BILL GUTHRIDGE
Guthridge is 35-4 as the Tar Heels' head coach. He is in his second year as head coach, but 32nd as part of the UNC program. He was an assistant coach for Dean Smith for 30 seasons before taking over last year following Smith's retirement.
Guthridge, the 1998 National Coach of the Year, has won a total of 822 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 915 collegiate victories.
Last year, Guthridge set the NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach with 34.
CAROLINA HAS WON 51 OF 56
Carolina has won 51 of its last 56 games dating back to Feb. 1, 1997. That run includes a 16-game winning streak in 1996-97 and a 17-game win streak to open the 1997-98 campaign. The only five losses were to Arizona in the 1997 Final Four, Maryland on Jan. 14, 1998, N.C. State on Feb. 21, 1998, Duke on Feb. 28, 1998 and Utah in the 1998 Final Four.
Carolina has won 27 of its last 30 ACC games, including the 1997 and 1998 Tournaments.
IN THE POLLS
Carolina is ranked 11th in both the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press preseason polls.
The Tar Heels have been ranked by the Associated Press in 144 consecutive polls. That is the longest active streak in the country and is the fourth-longest overall streak. Marquette had the third-longest poll streak with 166 weeks in the AP rankings.
