University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Face Minutemen in Charlotte Tournament
December 29, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2000
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vs.
Massachusetts Minutemen
Date & Time: Saturday, December 29, 2000, 9:15 p.m. ET
Site: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, N.C.
Records: Carolina 7-2, Massachusetts 2-7
Rankings: Carolina 14th Associated Press, 16th ESPN/USA Today
Series Record vs. Massachusetts: UNC leads, 3-1
UNC Records vs. Others in Field: 1-1 vs. College of Charleston, 15-2 vs. Richmond
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Radio Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play) and Mick Mixon (color) provide the call. A live broadcast also is
available on the University of North Carolina's official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com
Television: Raycom
Websites: North Carolina (TarHeelBlue.com), UMass (umassathletics.com)
Tar Heels Return to Charlotte
Carolina returns to action following a brief holiday break by playing in the Hardees' Tournament of Champions, a two-day, two-game event in Charlotte, N.C., hosted by Raycom Sports. The
Tar Heels begin play on Friday, December 29, against the University of Massachusetts in the second game of a doubleheader. The College of Charleston plays Richmond in the opener.
Winners and losers play on Saturday evening.
This is Carolina's 11th appearance in this event since it began in December 1988. The Tar Heels have played in this event every season except 1989-90 and 1991-92. UNC has a 18-2 record in this event, winning the tournament title in 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999. The Tar Heels won both of their games in the event in 1997, but it was not a tournament format.
Carolina's two losses in the event were to South Carolina in 1990 and the College of Charleston in 1998.
Last year, UNC defeated the College of Charleston, 72-54, in the first round, and UNLV, 102-78, in the championship game.
Tar Heels in Charlotte
The University of North Carolina is 155-17 in games played in the city of Charlotte, N.C. That includes a 2-1 record in games played here a year ago. Carolina's winning percentage in
Charlotte is .901.
The Tar Heels have won 18 of their last 21 games played in Charlotte.
UNC is 31-7 in games played in the current Charlotte Coliseum.
Lang MVP in Last Year's Event
Kris Lang endured an injury-filled sophomore season, but he was at his best in the Food Lion MVP Classic (as the event was then known). He scored 15 points and grabbed three rebounds in
the first round win over the College of Charleston and had 16 points and four rebounds in the championship game win over UNLV.
Lang had six points and six rebounds against Wake Forest in the Charlotte Coliseun later last season.
Capel's Strong Play in the Raycom Event
Jason Capel has averaged 17.8 points in the four games he has played in this tournament over his first two seasons. Capel had 16 points against both Old Dominion and the College of
Charleston as a freshman, and added 16 points against the College of Charleston and 23 against UNLV a year ago.
Capel was the MVP of the Food Lion MVP Classic as a freshman, despite UNC's loss to Charleston in the final.
In addition to 16 points, he had six assists and six rebounds in the championship game loss to Charleston. In last year's championship game against the Runnin' Rebels, he was 9 for 13 from the floor and added nine boards and three steals.
Capel is shooting 61.1 percent from the floor in his career in the eight games in which he has played in the Charlotte Coliseum.
He had 13 points (including 3 for 3 from three-point range) against Maryland in UNC's win in the 1999 ACC Tournament semifinal. Last year against Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal, Capel led the Tar Heels in scoring with 14 points, in assists with seven and in rebounding with five.
Owens' Career Highs in Charlotte
Senior Max Owens is another Tar Heel with a history of strong perfomances in the Charlotte Coliseum.
The Macon, Ga., guard scored a career-high 23 points in the Coliseum in UNC's win against Maryland in the 1999 ACC Tournament semifinal and matched that career outing with 23 versus UNLV in the Food Lion MVP Classic last December.
Owens followed his 23-point outing against the Terps in the 1999 ACC Tournament with 22 points against Duke in the championship game. Three of Owens' four career 20-point games have come in the Charlotte Coliseum.
Carolina and the Minutemen
The Tar Heels have won three of the four previous games played against the University of Massachusetts. The teams have not met since an 83-69 UNC win in the Meadowlands on December
20, 1996. That was during Dean Smith's final year as Carolina's head coach. Senior center Serge Zwikker scored 17 points, added seven rebounds and five blocked shots to lead the Tar Heels.
Antawn Jamison led all scorers with 21 points. The Tar Heels held a 44-29 lead at the half and made 27 of 38 free throws for the game.
UMass defeated defending NCAA champion North Carolina, 91-86 in overtime, in the semifinal of the 1993 Preseason NIT in Madison Square Garden. Louis Roe led four Minutemen in double figures with 28 points and 14 rebounds (Marcus Camby had six points and seven boards). Donald Williams led the Tar Heels with 22 points.
Three Weeks, Three Different Tar Heels Earn ACC Player of the Week Honors
Joseph Forte and Maryland's Lonny Baxter shared ACC Player of the Week honors for December 18-24. That marks the third straight week a Tar Heel has won the award and Forte is the third
different UNC player to be named. Brendan Haywood (Dec. 11) and Jason Capel (Dec. 18) were previously honored.
This is the first time Carolina has had three different players earn ACC Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks since Serge Zwikker, Antawn Jamison and Shammond Williams were named in February and March 1997.
Duke accomplished the feat earlier this season.
Forte, Capel Shine at the Line in Win at UCLA
Carolina let a 16-point lead at the half slip away, but held off the UCLA Bruins, 80-70, at Pauley Pavilion on December 23. Joseph Forte led the Tar Heels with 29 points on 10 of 20 shooting
from the floor and 8 of 10 from the free throw line.
The Tar Heels played brilliantly in the first half, shooting 55.9 percent from the floor (19 of 34) and led 46-30 at intermission. Forte was 6 for 11 from the floor and had 14 first-half points.
Brian Morrison and Will Johnson came off the bench to combine for 12 points in 2:43 span in the first half. Johnson sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a Kris Lang layup, then Morrison made three consecutive jump shots to give Carolina a 34-15 lead with 6:06 to play.
Foul trouble for Lang and Brendan Haywood, six missed free throws by Haywood and turnovers by the Tar Heels fueled UCLA's second-half comeback. The Bruins had second-half runs of 8-0, 7-0, 5-0 and 6-0, the lst of which gave UCLA its first lead of the game at 58-56 with 7:09 left. UCLA led 62-60 with 5:30 remaining when Carolina began a 16-0 spurt to pull away for the victory.
Capel tied the game with two free throws, Forte gave Carolina the lead for good with a steal and 10-footer, then Capel and Forte added two more free throws apiece for a 68-60 lead. Capel hit two more freebies, Haywood spun around Dan Gadzuric and slammed, Forte dunked on a steal and breakway and Ronald Curry finished the 16-0 run with a steal and layin.
Haywood was limited to just six points, but had a game-high 13 rebounds. It was the first game all year he did not score in double figures. Lang played only 22 minutes due to foul trouble and had a season-low seven points.
The Tar Heels shot 50.0 percent from the floor and held the Bruins to 33.8 percent.
Three in a Row for Forte
Joseph Forte scored 29 points in Carolina's 80-70 win at UCLA. That was the third straight game Forte has scored 20 or more points. That is the first time in his collegiate career that he has
scored 20 or more in three consecutive games. He had 23 versus Texas A&M and 23 against Buffalo before the UCLA game.
Forte has scored 20 or more points 14 times in 45 games as a Tar Heel. He did it nine times last year and has five such performances as a sophomore.
The last Carolina player to score 20 or more in three consecutive games was Antawn Jamison, who accomplished the feat against Wake Forest, Duke and Georgia Tech in 1998. Jamison had streaks of six, five and three that season. Shammond Williams also had a three-game stretch that season.
Capel's Best Day at the Line
Jason Capel is the third-leading free throw shooter in Carolina history at 83.7 percent. He made all nine of his free throw attempts, all of which came in the second half, at UCLA. That was the
best free throw shooting performance of his career. He was 9 for 10 from the line twice as a freshman (Hampton and Louisville) and was 8 for 8 last year at Georgia Tech.
Capel is 24 for 29 from the line (82.8 percent) this year and 216 for 258 (.837) in his career. The only Carolina players with better career percentages from the lin are guards Shammond Williams (.849) and Jeff Lebo (.839).
Capel One of Sports Illustrated's "Glue Guys"
Jason Capel continues to do a lot of everything for the 7-2 Tar Heels. Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis recently named Capel one of six "Glue Guys." Davis defined them as players who is
versatile and tough and possesses a knack for knowing exactly what his team needs at any given moment. Other players mentioned by Davis were Sergio McClain of Illinois, Nate James of
Duke, Luke Walton of Arizona, Justin Hamilton of Florida and Marcus Toney-El of Seton Hall.
Capel leads Carolina with 38 assists, is second in rebounds with 6.1 per game and steals with 18, and is fourth in scoring at 9.8 points per game.
Peppers is Back
All-America football defensive end Julius Peppers played his first basketball game of the season in Carolina's win at UCLA. Peppers rejoined the team for practice on December 20 after he
finished his first semester exams.
Peppers played 12 minutes at UCLA and had six points and four rebounds. His play was crucial since Kris Lang and Brendan Haywood were plagued by foul trouble. Lang was limited to 22 minutes of action.
Peppers had two dunks and hit both of his free throw attempts against the Bruins.
He played in 31 games last year and was a key ingredient in Carolina's run to the Final Four.
In football this year, Peppers led the ACC in sacks (15) and had a school-record 24 tackles for loss. Peppers was a first-team All-ACC selection and was named a first-team All-America by CNNSI.com and CollegeFootballNews.com. He earned second-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Associated Press and Football News.
Peppers started every game in 2000 and finished with 64 tackles, 24 tackles for loss for 146 yards and 15 sacks for 117 yards. His 15 sacks were one shy of Lawrence Taylor's school-record of 16 set in 1980. He was twice named ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performances vs. Wake Forest and Virginia.
He scored two touchdowns this year, including a 12-yard fumble return at Wake Forest and a 27-yard interception return at Duke.
Hot Shooting Big Men
The head coach may be relatively new, but the long-standing Carolina philosophy of getting easy shots inside is just as true today as when Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge directed the Tar
Heels. Matt Doherty's Tar Heels are shooting 48.9 percent from the floor in the first nine games, including 52.4 percent in the last four games (all wins).
Carolina has shot 45 percent or better in six of the first nine games. In the last four contests, the Tar Heels have shot 48.0 percent against Miami, 51.7 percent against Texas A&M, a season-high 58.0 percent against Buffalo and 50.0 percent at UCLA.
Brendan Haywood is shooting 64.5 percent from the floor and Kris Lang is connecting at 61.5 percent.
Defense Limiting Good Looks
Over the last four contests, the opponents have made just 33.9 percent of its shots from the floor. Miami shot just 23.4 percent (a Smith Center low), Texas A&M hit 37.3 percent, Buffalo
made 44.8 percent and UCLA shot 33.8 percent.
The four opponents have made a combined 86 of 254 shots from the floor.
Only two teams - Michigan State and Kentucky - have shot better than 45 percent against the Tar Heels and both of those teams defeated Carolina. Kentucky shot a season-high 50.7 percent and the Spartans made 46.6 percent from the floor.
Another Triple Double
It took awhile, but suddenly the Tar Heels have gotten the hang of the "Triple-Double." When Brendan Haywood registered 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks against Miami, it was the first
official triple-double in Carolina history. A mere two games later, Jason Capel tallied 16 points, 11 boards and 10 assists in the 95-74 win over Buffalo for the school's second triple-double.
Capel had five assists on Carolina's first nine field goals. He scored a season-high 16, grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds and had a career-best 10 assists. It was the second game in a row in which Capel tied or set his career-high for assists. He had seven at Texas A&M on December 9.
An ACC First
Brendan Haywood and Jason Capel are the only two players in ACC history to record triple-doubles for the same team in the same season. Capel's triple-double is only the 18th in ACC
history.
Clemson's Sharone Wright, Maryland's Derrick Lewis and Virginia's Ralph Sampson each had two triple-doubles in the same year.
Prior to Capel, the last ACC player to record a triple-double in points, rebounds and assists was Florida State's Bob Sura, who turned the trick against NC State in 1995.
Capel Earns Second ACC Weekly Honor
Jason Capel was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week following his "Triple-Double" outing against Buffalo.
This is the second time in his career that Capel has been named ACC Player of the Week. Last year he received the honor after he had 20 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two steals against the Miami Hurricanes.
Career Charts
Brendan Haywood is first alltime at Carolina in field goal percentage at .656, is second in blocked shots with 216 and is in 41st place in scoring with 1,134 points. Pete Chilcutt is 40th in
scoring with 1,150 points.
Jason Capel has moved back into third place in UNC history in free throw percentage at .837. He began the year in third place at .838, but slipped after a relatively slow start (for him) at the line. He was 9 for 9 at the line, however, in the win at UCLA.
Kris Lang is 18th in Carolina history in field goal percentage at .557.
Joseph Forte needs just 19 points to reach 800 career points. The sophomore is averaging 17.4 points per game in his two years as a Tar Heel.
Scoring Up for Carolina
Through nine games, the Tar Heels are averaging 80.0 points per contest. That is the highest scoring mark for UNC in the last three years and the highest since the 1997-98 Final Four squad
led by NBA standouts Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter and Shammond Williams averaged 81.9. The 80.0 average is Carolina's second-highest mark in the last six years.
Last year, the Tar Heels averaged 75.4 points per contest. Two years ago, UNC netted 71.4 points per game.
So Are the Steals
Carolina has stolen the ball 10 or more times in four of the first nine games this season and is averaging 8.8 steals per game on defense. Last year, the Tar Heels had 10 or more steals four
times in 36 games and averaged 5.5 thefts per contest.
Joseph Forte and Jason Capel lead the Tar Heels with 18 and 16 steals, respectively. Forte has had three steals in three different games. Capel had a career-high four against Appalachian State and Texas A&M.
Sophomore guard Ronald Curry had a career-high five steals in the win at UCLA. Carolina had nine steals against the Bruins.
Haywood Earns Second ACC Honor
Brendan Haywood was named ACC Player of the Week for his performances against Miami and Texas A&M. He was 14 for 18 from the floor, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked 11 shots in
the two wins. He averaged 17.5 points and shot 77.8 percent from the floor.
This was the second time in his career that Haywood was named ACC Player of the Week. Last year, he received the award after wins over Maryland and Georgia Tech. Joseph Forte earned ESPN's National Player of the Week honors earlier this season.
Brendan's Triple-Double a First
Brendan Haywood did something against Miami that no other Tar Heel player had ever accomplished in the storied history of the program. He recorded a triple-double with 18 points, 14
rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
It was the 17th triple-double in Atlantic Coast Conference history and Haywood became the 13th player to accomplish the feat. The last triple double in ACC history was by Wake Forest Tim Duncan against Maryland in 1996.
A complete listing of ACC triple-doubles appears on page 4 of this release.
School Record for Blocks
Brendan Haywood set a school record with 10 blocked shots against Miami. The previous record was nine by Warren Martin against Stanford on December 20, 1985. Haywood's 10 blocked
shots were two shy of the ACC record.
New Student Section Debuted
The baseline student cheering section made its debut in the Kentucky game. The five-tiered riser has room for approximately 400 students, more than double the number of students who sat
along the same baseline in the previous seating arrangement. The riser cost $150,000 to design and manufacture. The cost was provided by the Educational Foundation. Several members of the
Foundation also moved seats to enable the students to assume the complete baseline position.
Doherty Returns to Lead Alma Mater
Matt Doherty is the second former UNC player in history to serve as head coach of his alma mater. He is the only active Atlantic Coast Conference head coach who won a national
championship as a player. Doherty, a 1984 UNC graduate, is in his first season as Carolina's head coach. He took over the program on July 11, 2000, following Bill Guthridge's resignation.
Guthridge led the Tar Heels to an 80-28 record in his three seasons as head coach.
He has a 29-17 record as a head coach at Notre Dame and Carolina.
Doherty was head coach at the University of Notre Dame last year and led the Irish to a 22-15 record and a berth in the NIT championship game.
He was the starting small forward in 1982 when the Tar Heels won the NCAA championship by beating Georgetown, 63-62. In 1984, he tri-captained UNC to a 14-0 record in the ACC and a No. 1 berth in the final regular season Associated Press poll.
The East Meadow, N.Y., native began his coaching career with a three-year stint at Davidson College and then spent seven years alongside Roy Williams at the University of Kansas. He served as an assistant coach at KU in 1993 when the Jayhawks advanced to the Final Four.
Doherty played in four NCAA Tournaments and has coached in seven, all at Kansas.
As a player, he was part of Carolina teams that posted an overall record of 117-21. He averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and totaled 1,165 points, 446 rebounds and 446 assists in 129 games played.
What a Difference a Year and a Healthy Lang Make
Junior Kris Lang equalled his career scoring high when he netted 22 points in UNC's 95-74 win over Buffalo. Just four games earlier, Lang scored a career-high 22 points on 11 of 16
shooting in the 77-64 loss at Michigan State. Lang previously had scored 21 points as a freshman against both Georgia and Florida State.
The 6-11 junior followed had 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting against Kentucky and 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting against Miami. He added 10 rebounds against the Hurricanes, one off his career high, for his fourth career double-double.
Lang is second on the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game and in field goal percentage at .615. He has converted 64 of 104 attempts from the floor in the first nine contests. Lang has made more than half his field goal attempts in eight of the nine games this year. He made at least half his shots in the first eight games before going 3 for 7 at UCLA. That was the longest such streak in his career. He made better than half his shots in a five-game span his freshman season.
He is third in the ACC in field goal percentage and 11th in the conference in scoring. He is the leading scorer in the ACC among players who have not hit a three-point basket this season. Lang is eighth in the ACC In offensive rebounds (2.6) and 13th in overall rebounds (5.9).
Haywood, Lang Form One of the Nation's Best Tandems
Center Brendan Haywood and power forward Kris Lang are one of the most potent one-two frontline forces in college basketball. Together they combine for an average of 29.4 points, 14.0
rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game. They have made a combined 113 of 180 field goal attempts, a percentage of .628.
Haywood and Lang have scored 113 of Carolina's 261 field goals this season, or 43.3 percent of Carolina's baskets.
Haywood and Lang are No. 1 and No. 3 in the ACC this year in field goal percentage.
Forte Preseason All-America
Sophomore guard Joseph Forte was one of five players named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America Team. Last year, Forte led the Tar Heels in scoring with 16.7 points per game,
was the ACC Rookie of the Year and the MVP of the NCAA South Regional. He had 28 points against Tulsa in the regional final.
Forte is joined on the AP Preseason All-America squad by Iowa State's Jamaal Tinsley, Notre Dame's Troy Murphy, Duke's Shane Battier and Arizona's Loren Woods.
Forte Adding to All-Around Game
It says something about Joseph Forte's growth as a player when head coach Matt Doherty said his best game may have been his eight-point performance in the win over Miami. Forte had a
career-high seven assists that night to go along with his eight points, six rebounds and three steals.
Forte leads the ACC in scoring at 20.1 points per contest. He scored 23 points against Texas A&M and Buffalo, had 29 at UCLA in Carolina's last game and had a Smith-Center record 38 points against Tulsa on November 11.
Forte made 6 of 17 three-point tries in the three contests prior to Texas A&M, but has made 29 of 53 shots from the floor in thelast three games, a percentage of .547. Forte's field goal percentage is actually higher this season than it was a year ago (.468 in 2000-01, .459 in 1999-2000).
Forte is second in the ACC in scoring (20.1 ppg), is fifth in the league in free throw percentage (.829), tied for seventh in steals (2.0), ninth in defensive rebounding (4.3), 11th in assists (4.0) and 17th in rebounding (5.9).
Forte has scored 20 or more points in five of the first nine games this season. He had nine 20-point outings as a freshman.
He did not connect on a three-point basket in either win over Texas A&M or Buffalo. That was just the second time in his career in which he went back-to-back games without making a three-point basket. He hit one three-pointer in five chances at UCLA.
Forte is averaging 5.6 rebounds for the season.
Also, Forte has 22 assists and committed 10 turnovers in the last five games and has a season assist-turnover ratio of 36-24.
Forte named National Player of the Week by ESPN.com
Joseph Forte earned Most Valuable Player honors at the NABC Classic and was named the first recipient of ESPN.com's National Player of the Week award. Forte scored 48 points in the two
wins in the NABC Classic, including a career-high 38 against Tulsa. His previous scoring high also came against the Hurricanes. Last year, he had 28 in the NCAA South Regional final.
Tar Heels in the Rankings
Carolina is ranked 14th in the nation by The Associated Press and 16th in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The Tar Heels are one of five ACC teams currently ranked in the Top 25.
UNC was No. 6 in the country in the preseason AP poll. This is the 16th consecutive season the Tar Heels were ranked in the Top 20 or Top 25 in the preseason AP poll. The last time UNC was not ranked to open the year was 1984-85, but the Tar Heels joined at No. 19 in the second week and remained ranked the rest of the year. This is the 27th time in the last 35 years that the Tar Heels have been ranked in the Top 10 in the country in the preseason Associated Press poll.
UNC has been ranked in the preseason Top 10 17 times in the last 20 years. The only exceptions were 1984-85 (not ranked), 1995-96 (ranked No. 20 after Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace left early for the NBA), and 1998-99 (ranked No. 11 after Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter left early for the NBA).
Carolina's average preseason ranking in the AP poll in the last 20 years is No. 6.
Haywood Is the ACC's Alltime Leader in Field Goal Percentage
Senior center Brendan Haywood is the ACC's alltime leader in field goal percentage. Haywood has made 435 career baskets in 663 attempts, a percentage of .656. That is the highest
percentage in ACC history, ahead of former Tar Heel and current NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace (.635).
Haywood led the nation last year with a field goal percentage of .697, the highest in ACC history.
He averaged 15.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots in Carolina's five games in the NCAA Tournament last season.
Haywood has made at least 62.5 percent from the field in six of the nine games this season. He made a season-high 88.9 percent against Miami (8 for 9). Haywood was 15 for 19 from the floor against Kentucky and Miami.
He leads the ACC in field goal percentage. The last player to lead the ACC in field goal percentage in consecutive seasons was Clemson's Dale Davis (1988-89 and 1989-90). Duke's Carroll Youngkin (1959-60-61), Carolina's Bobby Jones (1972-73-74) and Davis are the only three players to lead the league in consecutive seasons.
Haywood Closing in on Blocks Record
Brendan Haywood is second alltime at Carolina with 216 blocked shots and needs just 30 more blocks to become the school's alltime leading shot blocker. Sam Perkins holds the record with
245.
He leads the ACC this year with 3.6 blocks per game.
The Greensboro, N.C., resident blocked 91 shots last year and 60 as a sophomore. He has 32 blocked shots in the first nine games. He had five in the opener against Winthrop, a then-career-high eight in the win over Tulsa and a school-record 10 versus Miami.
Haywood has twice this year set the Smith Center record for blocked shots in a game. The previous mark was seven by Sharone Wright of Clemson (February 17, 1993) and Rony Seikaly of Syracuse (March 17, 1988, in an NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina A&T).
Haywood is 13th in ACC history in blocked shots. He has passed 13 players thus far this season, including shot-blocking standouts Dale Davis of Clemson, Thurl Bailey of NC State and Corey Louis of Florida State. Duke's Cherokee Parks is 12th with 231.
