University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Basketball Prepares for Middle Tennessee State
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
November 30, 1998
North Carolina vs. Middle Tennessee State
Monday, November 30, 1998
9 p.m. * Murfreesboro, Tenn.
ON THE AIR
Television: Regional Sports Networks
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network (Woody Durham, Mick Mixon)
TOP 25 RANKINGS (as of Nov. 23)
AP: North Carolina 9th
USA Today/ESPN: North Carolina 8th
SERIES INFORMATION
Carolina vs. Middle Tennessee State: Carolina leads, 3-0 Last Meeting: Carolina 84, Middle Tennessee State 56 on Nov. 11, 1997 at the Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.
UNBEATEN TAR HEELS TRAVEL TO MIDDLE TENNESEE STATE
Just three days after defeating No. 11 Purdue and No. 2 Stanford to win the Chase Preseason NIT, undefeated North Carolina (6-0) travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to face Middle Tennessee State (1-3) on Monday, Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. The Blue Raiders are coached by former Tar Heel Randy Wiel who played at Carolina from 1976-79 and was an assistant coach under Dean Smith for seven years from 1986-93. Wiel also coached the junior varsity at Carolina. n This is the second game this season in which the Tar Heels face a former player as a head coach. Earlier this season, Carolina beat former UNC guard Buzz Peterson's Appalachian State squad, 87-64, in Chapel Hill. n The Tar Heels are off to a 6-0 start for the second consecutive season, fifth time in the last eight years and eighth time since 1980.
AGAINST FORMER UNC ASSISTANT COACHES
The only former UNC assistant coach to ever defeat a Dean Smith or Bill Guthridge-coached team was Roy Williams in the 1991 NCAA semifinal. Dean Smith was 11-1 against his former assistants and Bill Guthridge is 3-0 against former UNC assistants. n Under Guthridge the Tar Heels are 2-0 against Buzz Peterson (Appalachian State) and 1-0 vs. Wiel (Middle Tennessee State).
TAR HEELS WIN NIT IN NEW YORK
Carolina won its first preseason NIT in its third attempt as the Tar Heels knocked off No. 11 Purdue, 54-57, and No. 2 Stanford, 57-49, en route to the Chase Preseason NIT Championship. Point guard and Brooklyn native Ed Cota was named MVP and Ademola Okulaja and Brendan Haywood earned all-tournament honors. n Cota, playing in his first two games in Madison Square Garden, scored 11 points and had eight assists and four rebounds in the Tar Heels' win over Purdue. Two days later he netted 17 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to propel the Tar Heels past Stanford. In the two games, Cota averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 50 percent (8 of 16) from the field. n Against Purdue, Cota played all 40 minutes. He is the first Tar Heel to play an entire game since Rasheed Wallace played 40 minutes at Wake Forest on Jan. 28, 1995. Cota had five assists and scored seven points in the second half to rally Carolina past Purdue. Carolina trailed by seven points at halftime against the Boilermakers but shot 52.6 percent in the second half and held Purdue to just 32.0 percent. n In the final vs. Stanford, Carolina led nearly the entire game and was up by nine points at halftime. Carolina held the Cardinal to just 28.6 percent field goal shooting and forced Stanford's starting frontcourt to go a combined 7 of 27 from the field. Ademola Okulaja had 14 points and Brendan Haywood swatted away six shots. Max Owens came off the bench to score seven points. n Carolina improved to 22-6 in games played in the current Madison Square Garden. The Tar Heels have played in three preseason NITs (1988-89, 1993-94, 1998-99), three postseason NITs (1969-70, 1970-71 and 1972-73), two ECAC Holiday Festivals (1968-69 and 1983-84) and regular-season contests against Notre Dame, Florida State, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Fordham.
CAROLINA VS. MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
Monday night's game is the fourth meeting between the Tar Heels and Blue Raiders but the first ever in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Carolina leads the series, 3-0, including last year's 84-56 win in the season opener in Chapel Hill. n Carolina also defeated Wiel's Middle Tennessee State squad two years ago in Chapel Hill, 99-49. That win was the first of a 17-game win streak that ended with a loss to Arizona in the 1997 Final Four. n Carolina also defeated MTSU in the first round of the 1985 NCAA Tournament, 78-57, in Notre Dame, Ind. n In last year's 84-56 victory, five Tar Heels scored in double figures led by Ademola Okulaja, Vince Carter and Ed Cota who each had 15 points. Shammond Williams led all scorers with 17 points. Carolina shot 55.4 percent from the field and opened up a 17-point lead at halftime. Antawn Jamison did not play because of strained elbow.
GOOD STARTS
Carolina is off to a 6-0 start for the second-consecutive season and fifth time in the last eight seasons. Last season, Carolina rattled off 17 straight victories before falling at Maryland. n Since 1980, the Tar Heels have opened the season with six consecutive wins on eight occasions, including the following seasons: 1997-98 (17 in a row), 1994-95 (9), 1992-93 (8), 1991-92 (6), 1985-86 (21), 1984-85 (8), 1983-84 (21), 1981-82 (13).
A LOT OF GAMES EARLY
y advancing to New York for the Preseason NIT, Carolina is guaranteed to play a record 14 games before the Christmas Holidays. The most games Carolina had played prior to Christmas before the season was 12 games last year. n For the first time since 1953-54, Carolina played its first three games of the season at home, posting wins over Appalachian State, Florida International and Georgia.
REGULAR-SEASON TOURNAMENT TITLES
The Tar Heels won their third consecutive regular-season title by beating Stanford in the final of the Preseason NIT. 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. n Carolina has now won a total of 35 regular-season titles, including seven in the 1990s. The Tar Heels also won the Red Lobster Classic in 1990 and Tournament of Champions in Charlotte in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
COTA AT IT AGAIN
Junior point guard Ed Cota leads the ACC with 8.5 assists per game and is on pace to break Kenny Smith's school record of 768 career assists in just three seasons. n Cota averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists to earn MVP honors and lead North Carolina to the NIT Championship with wins over Purdue and Stanford. Cota scored 11 points and had eight assists to help Carolina overcome a 7-point halftime deficit to Purdue. He then posted his eighth career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against No. 2 Stanford. It was the first time Cota had ever posted a points-rebounds double-double. He has seven career double-doubles of points and assists. n Cota had a season-high 13 assists (just one off his career high) and just one turnover in 37 minutes in Carolina's 86-75 victory at Hampton on Monday. Cota also had eight points and was 5 of 6 from the free throw line. n Against Georgia, Cota recorded his seventh career double-double with 14 points and 11 assists. Cota, who now has 559 career assists, moved past Jimmy Black into sixth place on UNC's career assist chart. Jeff Lebo (1985-89) is fifth at UNC with 580 assists. n Cota is now tied with former UNC standout Phil Ford for the most double-figure assist games in UNC history with 16. Cota posted double-figure assist games six times as a freshman, eight times as a sophomore and twice this year. n Last year, Cota set the single-season school record with 274 assists, passing Smith's record of 235 in 1984-85. n Cota is scoring more this season while at the same time keeping his assist average high. After averaging 8.0 and 8.1 points per game in the last two seasons, Cota is scoring 12.3 points per game. n In 77 career games, Cota is averaging 7.26 assists per game. That is the third-highest averaging in ACC history behind N.C. State's Chris Corchiani (8.37 from 1988-91) and Duke's Bobby Hurley (7.68 from 1990-93). The previous career assist per game high by a Carolina player was 6.1 by Phil Ford. n Cota also leads the team with 2.0 steals per game.
COTA EARNS PRESEASON RECOGNITION
Point guard Ed Cota was named to the 1998 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. n 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. n The Sporting News named Cota the ACC's Best Playmaker in their 1998-99 preseason publication.
FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTIONS
Tar Heel freshmen Kris Lang and Jason Capel have contributed significantly in Carolina's 6-0 start. Capel is second on the team with five three-point baskets and is averaging 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. He is also second on the team behind Cota in assists and steals. Lang is shooting 65.7 percent from the field and is averaging 9.7 points per game and 4.0 rebounds. n A native of Gastonia, N.C., Lang scored 21 points in Carolina's 65-58 win over Georgia in the Preseason NIT quarterfinal. With just 40 seconds remaining in the game vs. UGA, Lang scored one of the game's biggest buckets dunking Ed Cota's perfect pass for a four-point UNC lead. Lang played great defense and had seven rebounds in the Tar Heels' 57-49 victory over Stanford in the Preseason NIT final. n Capel grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds in the Tar Heels' 87-64 win over Appalachian and scored 14 points three nights later in UNC's 65-44 victory vs. Florida International. n Another freshman, Ronald Curry, will join the basketball team full-time following the football season. Curry is playing quarterback for the UNC football team. Curry, a native of Hampton, Va., did play one minute and had one point in Carolina's 86-75 win at Hampton on Nov. 23.
OKULAJA'S GREAT START
Forward Ademola Okulaja has grabbed at least seven rebounds in all but one game this season, including a career-high 17 vs. FIU. He has scored in double figures in four of the first six games this season and is third on the team with 12.0 points per game. n Okulaja has never missed a game in his four years as a Tar Heel. He has played in 111 consecutive games at UNC. The Tar Heels are 89-22 in his career. n In Carolina's 65-44 win vs. Florida International in the first round of the Preseason NIT, Okulaja grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds. He also added 15 points to post his sixth career double-double. n Okulaja had 18 points at Hampton, just one shy of his career high.
HAYWOOD IMPRESSIVE EARLY
Sophomore center Brendan Haywood has been impressive in helping Carolina to a 6-0 start. The Greensboro, N.C., native leads the team in scoring (13.2) and is second in rebounds (7.2). He also leads the team with 18 blocked shots. Last year, as the Tar Heels' seventh man, Haywood averaged 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds. n Haywood is shooting 53.8 percent from the field (28 of 52) and 71.9 percent (23 of 32) from the free throw line. n Haywood scored a career-high 21 points and pulled down a career-best 11 rebounds in Carolina's 54-47 win over Purdue in the NIT semifinal. Haywood made 8 of 10 shots from the field and was five of seven from the free throw line against the Boilermakers. He also blocked two shots, one of which was a critical block at the end of the game that resulted in a shot clock violation by Purdue with 1:19 to play. n In the NIT final victory over Stanford, Haywood had six blocked shots and seven points. He helped hold Stanford's starting frontcourt to 7 of 27 from the field. n In the Tar Heels' opening win vs. Appalachian State, Haywood was 6 of 11 from the floor and had a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds. He followed that performance with his first career double-double, registering 12 points and 10 rebounds against Florida International. He was held under double figures for the first time this season with nine points at Hampton.
TAR HEEL TRENDS
After averaging 81.9 points per game last year, the Tar Heels are scoring 69.0 points a game this season and have scored over 65 just twice. n Carolina is shooting just under 50 percent from the field this season (49.2). The opponents are shooting just 36.8 percent from the field. Hampton is the only opponent to shoot better than 40 percent against the Tar Heels this year. The Pirates made 47.5 percent in a UNC victory. Five of the six opponents have shot less than 40 percent, including FIU who shot a season-low 26.5 percent. n In the last 79 games (beginning with the first game of the 1996-97 season), only four opponents have made 50 percent or better from the field against the UNC defense. The Tar Heels have played 21 games since Maryland shot 51.5 percent against UNC in College Park, Md., last January. Three teams (South Carolina, No. 2 Wake Forest and Florida State) shot 50 percent or better against UNC in 1996-97). n In the last 79 games, Carolina has limited its opponents to less than 40 percent shooting from the field on 41 occasions.
EVTIMOV OUT FOR A TOTAL OF 16 GAMES
North Carolina sophomore forward Vasco Evtimov must sit out a total of 16 games as a result of playing in 16 games in the French National A League as the tryout for the French National Team, it was determined by the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. However, one matter still pending with the NCAA could potentially lessen the number of games Evtimov must miss. n Evtimov played at Carolina in 1996-97, but spent 10 months in the French Military beginning in July 1997 to fulfill a mandatory stint in the armed forces. While in France, Evtimov played for a club team near his base. The NCAA said it was a violation of the NCAA Bylaw which states student-athletes are not allowed to play with a professional team, even if the student-athlete is not getting any compensation, which Evtimov was not. n Evtimov would be eligible to return to action Wednesday, Jan. 6 at Florida State.
52 CONSECUTIVE OVER NON-CONFERENCE FOES AT HOME
Carolina has won 52 consecutive home games vs. non-conference opponents, including a 65-58 win over Georgia on Nov. 18. The Tar Heels' non-conference record in the Smith Center is 67-2. Carolina's only losses came to Temple in 1988 (83-66) and Iowa in 1989 (98-97). n The Tar Heels have non-conference home games remaining this season with Buffalo, UNC Charlotte and Louisville.
CAPEL NAMED ACC PRESEASON ACC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Freshman swing man Jason Capel led all balloting for the 1998-99 Preseason 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 40-4 as the Tar Heels' head coach. No other UNC coach has reached 40 wins faster than Guthridge. 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. n Guthridge, the 1998 National Coach of the Year, has won a total of 826 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 920 collegiate victories. n Last year, Guthridge set the NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach with 34 and was named the National Coach of the Year by NABC, the Atlanta Tipoff Club, CBS/Chevrolet and The Sporting News. He was also selected the ACC coach of the Year after leading the Tar Heels to a 13-3 regular-season record and the ACC Tournament title.
CAROLINA HAS WON 56 OF 61
Carolina has won 56 of its last 61 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. n Carolina has won 27 of its last 30 ACC games, including the 1997 and 1998 Tournaments.
IN THE POLLS
Carolina is ranked 9th in the Associated Press poll and 8th in the ESPN/USA Today poll as of Nov. 23. n The Tar Heels have been ranked by the Associated Press in 146 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.
CAROLINA'S RECORD WHEN...
Leading at the half 5-0
Trailing at the half 1-0
Tied at the half 0-0
Leading with five minutes remaining 6-0
Trailing with five minutes remaining 0-0
In overtime 0-0
Scoring less than 70 points 4-0
Scoring between 70-79 points 0-0
Scoring between 80-89 points 2-0
Scoring between 90-100 points 0-0
Scoring over 100 points 0-0
Opponents score less than 70 points 5-0
Opponents score between 70-79 points 1-0
Opponents score between 80-89 points 0-0
Opponents score between 90-100 points 0-0
Opponents score over 100 points 0-0
UNC shoots 50 percent or better 2-0
UNC shoots under 50 percent 4-0
Opponent shoots 50 percent or better 0-0
Opponent shoots under 50 percent 6-0
UNC attempts more free throws 6-0
Opponent attempts more free throws 0-0
UNC attempts more three-pointers 0-0
Opponent attempts more three-pointers 6-0
UNC outrebounds opponent 5-0
Opponent outrebounds UNC 1-0
Rebounds are even 0-0
UNC commits more turnovers 5-0
Opponent commits more turnovers 1-0
UNC has less than 15 turnovers 4-0
UNC has more assists 5-0
Opponent has more assists 1-0
